Fedora KDE Guide

This is an abbreviated practical guide for getting the most out of Fedora KDE. It covers the things I actually use — package management, enabling extra repos, Flatpak, useful KDE tweaks, and a few quality-of-life settings worth knowing about.

DNF — Fedora's Package Manager

DNF is the command-line package manager. Most things you'll need are available through it.

sudo dnf install firefox        # install a package
sudo dnf remove firefox         # remove a package
sudo dnf update                 # update all installed packages
sudo dnf search vlc             # search for a package
sudo dnf info vlc               # see package details
sudo dnf list installed         # list everything installed
sudo dnf autoremove             # remove unused dependencies
sudo dnf clean all              # clear the package cache

Make DNF faster by adding this to /etc/dnf/dnf.conf:

fastestmirror=True
max_parallel_downloads=10
defaultyes=True

Enable RPM Fusion

RPM Fusion provides packages that Fedora can't ship for licensing or patent reasons — most importantly, multimedia codecs and some proprietary drivers.

sudo dnf install \
  https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm \
  https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

After enabling RPM Fusion, install multimedia codecs:

sudo dnf install gstreamer1-plugins-{bad-\*,good-\*,base} gstreamer1-plugin-openh264 \
  gstreamer1-libav --exclude=gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-devel
sudo dnf install lame\* --exclude=lame-devel
sudo dnf group upgrade --with-optional Multimedia

Flatpak and Flathub

Flatpak is enabled by default on Fedora KDE. Add the Flathub repository to get access to the full app library:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Then install apps from Flathub via terminal or the Discover software centre:

flatpak install flathub org.signal.Signal
flatpak install flathub md.obsidian.Obsidian
flatpak install flathub net.ankiweb.Anki
flatpak install flathub org.blender.Blender
flatpak install flathub org.kde.kdenlive
flatpak install flathub org.darktable.Darktable

Update all Flatpak apps:

flatpak update

KDE Plasma Tweaks Worth Making

Single-Click vs Double-Click to Open Files

By default KDE opens files with a single click, which surprises people used to other desktops. To change it: System Settings → Workspace Behaviour → General Behaviour → Clicking files or folders → "Selects them".

Global Theme

System Settings → Appearance → Global Theme — download and apply new themes from here. Breeze Dark is the default dark theme and is fine; there are many community alternatives.

Virtual Desktops

KDE's virtual desktops are excellent. Set them up at System Settings → Workspace → Virtual Desktops. Switch between them with Ctrl + F1, Ctrl + F2, etc., or with keyboard shortcuts you define.

KRunner

Press Alt + Space to open KRunner — a quick launcher that searches apps, files, web, calculations, and more. It's like Spotlight but more configurable. Configure its plugins at System Settings → Search → KRunner.

Disable Baloo File Indexer (Optional)

Baloo indexes your files for search. If you don't need desktop search and want to reduce background disk activity:

balooctl disable

Useful Packages to Install

sudo dnf install vim neovim git htop neofetch fastfetch \
  curl wget unzip p7zip p7zip-plugins \
  ffmpeg vlc mpv \
  gnome-disk-utility  # useful GUI disk tool even on KDE

Firmware Updates via fwupd

Fedora includes fwupd for firmware updates on supported hardware (many ThinkPads included):

sudo fwupdmgr refresh
sudo fwupdmgr get-updates
sudo fwupdmgr update

System Info and Monitoring

fastfetch           # quick system summary (CPU, RAM, OS, kernel)
neofetch            # similar, with ASCII art
htop                # interactive process monitor
df -h               # disk usage
free -h             # RAM usage
lscpu               # CPU information
lsblk               # list block devices / drives
journalctl -xe      # view system logs (recent errors)

Terminal Tips

Fedora KDE ships with Konsole as the default terminal. A few useful things:

cd ~                # home directory
cd -                # go back to the previous directory
!!                  # repeat the last command
sudo !!             # repeat the last command with sudo
ctrl + r            # search command history
alias ll='ls -la'   # create a shortcut (add to ~/.bashrc to persist)

To make aliases permanent, add them to ~/.bashrc (bash) or ~/.zshrc (zsh) and run source ~/.bashrc.