We are presenting our traditional Fedora release article – “10 Things to Do After Installing Fedora 37”, with post-install tweaks.
This post-install guide is primarily for Fedora 37 workstation edition. These tips are not ideal. But it should be a good starting for all types of Fedora user base. Here are the ten things you can do after installing Fedora 37 Workstation Edition (GNOME).
Table of Contents
10 things to do after installing Fedora 37 (GNOME Edition)
1. Update DNF Configuration
If you are a long-time Fedora user, you might be aware that dnf the default Fedora package manager is slow sometimes. This is because of some default configurations which were set.
To make it faster, you can change several settings. Here are some of them.
Open a terminal window and open the dnf configuration file via the default text editor.
sudo gnome-text-editor /etc/dnf/dnf.conf
Add the following line at the end of the file and save/close. This allows dnf to download that many packages in parallel. You can use any value from 3 to 20.
max_parallel_downloads=10
2. Switch to a faster dnf mirror
In addition to the above change, in the same dnf configuration file, add the following line at the end:
fastestmirror=True
Save and close the text editor. This is sufficient to make the dnf app performance faster.
3. Update your system
Once you make the above changes, it’s a good idea to refresh your system. This is to ensure that you have all the latest packages and modules before you start using them or making further changes.
To do that, you can open the Software app and hit check for updates.
Or, I would recommend you open a terminal and run these simple commands.
sudo dnf update && sudo dnf upgrade
4. Firmware Updates
If your hardware manufacturer supports a special firmware package for Linux, you can quickly check them and get those updates via the following sequence of commands. However, it may not always be available, but it is worth trying.
sudo fwupdmgr refresh --force
sudo fwupdmgr get-updates
sudo fwupdmgr update
5. Change Touchpad settings
It’s worth enabling the “Tap to Click” feature in the settings, especially if you are a Laptop user. Open Settings and go to Mouse & Touchpad settings. And enable Tap to Click.
6. Enable RPM Fusion
I recommend enabling the RPM Fusion repo since it provides additional packages (including non-free ones). It would help with the future installation of several applications. The RPM Fusion is a community-contributed repo, a collection of non-free and additional packages Fedora Linux can not ship in its official ISO file due to license and other terms.
To enable RPM Fusion in Fedora 37, open a terminal and run the following commands in sequence.
sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
After completing the above commands, run the following to update your system.
sudo dnf upgrade --refresh
sudo dnf groupupdate core
7. Install GNOME Tweaks
The GNOME Tweaks is the essential application for Fedora 37 Workstation. It helps you manage many areas of your GNOME desktop, such as changing fonts, applying GTK themes, etc. To install it, open a terminal and run the following command.
sudo dnf install gnome-tweak-tool
8. Enable Flathub
Fedora 37 pre-loads Flatpak by default. However, you need to enable the Flathub repo, the largest repository of Flatpak applications. Open a terminal and run the following command to install it.
Open a terminal and run the below command to enable Flatpak (detailed guide).
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
reboot
Once complete, you can now install thousands of applications from the Flathub official website.
9. Install Extension Manager App
After you set up Flathub in the above step, install the most needed app, i.e. “Extensions”. It allows you to search, install and remove hundreds of GNOME extensions right from the desktop. You do not need to visit the official web page to install it.
To install the Extension app, open a terminal and run the following.
flatpak install org.gnome.Extensions
Wondering which extensions to install? Check out the next tip.
10. Install these recommended GNOME Extensions
GNOME 43 in Fedora 37 brings unique quick settings with pill buttons. Something like this.
It looks very “default” and definitely requires additional customizations. So, to get you started, here are four extensions which enable you to customize the above quick settings panel with cool tweaks and features.
Quick Settings Tweaker: Add media controls, volume mixer, and remove buttons.
Bluetooth Quick Connect: This lets you connect to paired Bluetooth devices from the quick settings.
Battery time: Shows in hour:minutes the status of your battery – both charging and discharging mode.
Avatar in quick settings: Enables your user account avatar image in the quick settings.
Bonus Tip(s)
And finally, here are four bonus tips exclusively for you.
11. Install Recommended Applications
Default Fedora 37 workstation brings only default applications which are not sufficient for the functioning of the desktop. Here’s a quick set of commands which enables you to install them. They include a torrent client, a good media player, a little advanced photo editor, etc.
Copy and paste these into the terminal to install.
sudo dnf install -y vlc
sudo dnf install -y steam
sudo dnf install -y transmission
sudo dnf install -y gimp
sudo dnf install -y geary
sudo dnf install -y dropbox nautilus-dropbox
sudo dnf install -y unzip p7zip p7zip-plugins unrar
If you prefer Flatpaks, here’s the command for that.
flatpak install flathub org.videolan.VLC
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
flatpak install flathub com.transmissionbt.Transmission
flatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP
flatpak install flathub org.gnome.Geary
flatpak install flathub com.dropbox.Client
12. Enable Battery percentage in tray (not in quick settings)
If you want to view the battery percentage at the system tray, run the following command to show it via settings.
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface show-battery-percentage true
13. Install nice-looking fonts
GNOME desktop’s default font on Fedora 37 is perfect. But if you crave more, here are some of the cool fonts you can install. After installation, you can use GNOME Tweak Tool to change.
sudo dnf install -y 'google-roboto*' 'mozilla-fira*' fira-code-fonts
14. TLP
Last but not least, you should install TLP if you are a Laptop user. TLP is a great utility to help optimise your Laptop’s battery. This utility comes with various command-line options to tweak and view reports about power consumption. All you need to do is install and forget it. It takes care of the basic power-saving optimisations.
sudo dnf install tlp tlp-rdw
Closing Notes
I hope you enjoyed reading these tips and applying some of them. So, what is your favourite must-do post-install tip? Let me know in the comment box down below!
