18 Things to Do After Installing Fedora 21 Workstation

If you’re a Fedora fan, I’m sure that you know that Fedora 21 has been released a few days ago, Fedora 21 came with many new changes which you can view in our last article about it. Also you may view the installation guide for Fedora 21 that we published few days ago.

Things to do After Installing Fedora 21
18 Things to do After Installing Fedora 21
  1. Fedora 21 Released – How to Upgrade to Fedora 21 from From Fedora 20
  2. Installation
    of Fedora 21 Workstation with Screenshots
  3. Installation of Fedora 21 Server with Screenshots

In this article, we’ll explain the most important things to do after installing Fedora 21 Workstation on your computer.

Just to make sure that you have the latest updates from Fedora 21 repositories, run this command.

$ sudo yum update

1. Configure Gnome Shell Interface

The default GUI for Fedora 21 Workstation is Gnome Shell, which is very customizable in fact. Now in order to configure it, you’ll have to use the “Gnome Tweak Tool” which is in the official repositories, to install it, run the following command.

$ sudo yum install gnome-tweak-tool

Open “Gnome Tweak Tool” from the applications menu, and you’ll be able to configure the GUI options easily, you can browse available tabs to see the available options.

gnome tweak tool for Fedora 21
Gnome Tweak Tool
Install Gnome Tweak in Fedora 221
Gnome Tweak Tool Options

2. Install Gnome Shell Extensions

Extensions are the most important add­ons to install after setting up Fedora 21. Extensions are very useful for the end-user experience because it help a lot modifying Gnome Shell interface just like what the user wants.

The easiest way to install Gnome Shell extensions is via “Gnome Shell Extensions” website, which is an official website owned by the Gnome project to provide extensions to Gnome Shell easily.

All what you’ve to do is to enter the website and choose the extensions you want and install them in a single click.

Gnome Extensions
Gnome Extensions
Install Gnome Extensions
Install Gnome Extensions in Fedora 21

3. Install YUM Extender

YUM Extender or “yumex” is a graphical package manager for the YUM system, it’s very easy to use and it’s available to install from the official repositories.

$ sudo yum install yumex
Install Yum Extender in Fedora 21
Install Yum Extender

4. Enable RPM Fusion Repository

RPM Fusion is a famous repository for Fedora, it contains some closed-source packages beside some programs that depends on non-free packages. It contains some packages that Fedora doesn’t accept in its official repositories (Like VLC Player).

To enable RPM Fusion repository on Fedora 21, run the following command.

$ sudo yum localinstall --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-21.noarch.rpm
$ sudo yum localinstall --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-21.noarch.rpm

After installed RPM Fusion repository, make a system update to update the repo database.

$ sudo yum update

You can view the available packages in the RPM Fusion repository from the official website at http://rpmfusion.org/RPM%20Fusion.

Install RPM Fusion Repsoitory in Fedora 21
Enable RPM Fusion Repository

5. Install VLC Media Player

VLC is the most famous open-source media player in the world, it can almost play any multimedia file you want no matter its format is.

Unfortunately, VLC (version 2.2) isn’t available to download from the official repositories, because of that, you must make sure that you’ve enabled the RPM Fusion repository from #step 4. After you do so, run.

$ sudo yum install vlc
Install VLC Player in Fedora 21
Install VLC Player

6. Install Yum Fastest Mirror Plugin

This plugin is very useful to people who have a slow Internet connection, this plugin will automatically choose the nearest mirror server available near you in order to speed up downloading packages process, it’s a plugin for the YUM package manager.

In order to install it, run.

$ sudo yum install yum-plugin-fastestmirror
Install Yum Fastest Mirror
Install Yum Fastest Mirror

7. Install Flash PLayer

Flash is important for you if you visit websites that uses Flash technique or if you want to play videos faster on Youtube (Well, there’s HTML5 support in Youtube but it’s not that good).

To install Flash Player (i.e. version 11.2) on Fedora 21 for 32-bit and 64-bit system.

On 32-Bit System
$ sudo rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
$ sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux
$ sudo yum install flash-plugin
On 642-Bit System
$ sudo rpm -ivh http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-x86_64-1.0-1.noarch.rpm
$ sudo rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-adobe-linux
$ sudo yum install flash-plugin
Install Flash Player in Fedora 21
Install Flash Player

8. Install Google Chrome

Chrome is a web browser powered by Google, it’s based on the “Chromium” browser which open-source. Today, Google Chrome is the most-used web browser in the world, of course, Google Chrome isn’t open-source, but it’s very fast in fact and it has the latest available version of Flash plugin pre-installed on it.

Running the following commands in the terminal will give you the latest available version of Google Chrome automatically (Current: 39).

On 32-Bit System
$ sudo yum localinstall --nogpgcheck https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_i386.rpm
On 64-Bit System
$ sudo yum localinstall --nogpgcheck https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm
Install Google Chrome in Fedora 21
Install Google Chrome

9. Install Other Desktop Environments

The default desktop interface for Fedora 21 Workstation is Gnome Shell, if you don’t like Gnome, you may install any other interface you want.

Fortunately, many famous desktop environments such as Mate, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, etc.. are available for download from the official repositories, to install any of these desktops just run the following command.

Install Mate Desktop
$ sudo yum install @mate-desktop
Install KDE Desktop
$ sudo yum install @kde-desktop
Install XFCE Desktop
$ sudo yum install @xfce-desktop
Install LXDE Desktop
$ sudo yum install @lxde-desktop
Install Cinnamon Desktop
$ sudo yum install @cinnamon-desktop
Install Desktop in Fedora 21
Install Desktop

10. Install Fedy Tool

Fedy is an graphical tool which tweaks & configures the Fedora system easily. it’s free and open-source. It can preform many tasks like installing the most important software, fixing some famous bugs and errors beside tweaking system settings, it’s very useful.

To install it on Fedora 21, run:

$ su -c "curl https://satya164.github.io/fedy/fedy-installer -o fedy-installer && chmod +x fedy-installer && ./fedy-installer"
Install Fedy in Fedora
Install Fedy Tool

11. Install VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a program which allows you to run any operating system you want using virtualization technology on the same system that you’re currently running, it’s useful if you want to test new Linux distributions or other OS’es quickly.

To install it, make sure that you’ve enabled the RPM Fusion repository from #step 4 and run.

$ sudo yum install VirtualBox
Install VirtualBox in Fedora 21
Install VirtualBox

12. Install Java

Java is a famous programming language to develop applications, if you want to run Java programs or if you want to browse websites that uses Java on the sites, you have to follow these following steps (for version 8 of Java) to install and enable.

First, go to Java Download page and download the latest version available of JRE (Download the .rpm package depending on your architecture), let’s say “jre-8u25-linux-i586.rpm”, after you download it, put the file in home directory and run.

$ sudo rpm -Uvh jre-8u25-linux-i586.rpm

Don’t forget to replace the package name with the file that you’ve downloaded.. After the package is installed, run the following command in the terminal.

$ sudo alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /usr/java/latest/jre/bin/java 200000

If you want to enable the Java plugin on Firefox browser.. Run the following command on 32-bit or 64-bit.

For 32-Bit System
$ sudo alternatives --install /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so libjavaplugin.so /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_11/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so 200000
For 64-Bit System
$ sudo alternatives --install /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so libjavaplugin.so.x86_64 /usr/java/jdk1.8.0_11/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so 200000

13. Install Gnome Music Player

Gnome Music is a graphical application which enables you to run and save music on your computer. It reads the music files from the Music folder in your home directory.

In order to install it, run:

$ sudo yum install gnome-music
Install Gnome Music Player in Fedora 21
Install Gnome Music Player

14. Install qBittorrent

qBittorrent is an application which aims to provide a free and open-source alternative for uTorrent; the famous torrent downloader. The program is a cross-platform application and is written in Qt4 library.

qBittorrent is available to download from the official repositories for Fedora 21, to install it, run:

$ sudo yum install qbittorrent
Install qBittorrent in Fedora 21
Install qBittorrent

15. Install Dropbox

Dropbox is a web service that enables you to sync your files & folders easily by uploading them to the cloud. Dropbox has a cross-platform add-ons which helps to upload files easily to your account on Dropbox.

To install it on Fedora, run the following command in your terminal.

For 32-Bit System
$ cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86" | tar xzf -
$ ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
For 64-Bit System
$ cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86_64" | tar xzf -
$ ~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd
Install Dropbox in Fedora 21
Install Dropbox

16. Install Popcorn

Popcorn is a famous program that lets you watch movies online for free, it streams movies from torrent websites (which may be illegal in some countries) and it provides many options like downloading the movies or adding subtitles.. etc.

First, you have to install some dependences.

$ sudo yum install nodejs rubygem-compass
For 32-Bit System
$ wget ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/ftp.sourceforge.net/pub/sourceforge/p/po/postinstaller/fedora/releases/21/i386/popcorntime-0.3.5.2-1.fc21.i686.rpm
$ sudo rpm -ivh popcorntime-0.3.5.2-1.fc21.i686.rpm
For 64-Bit System
$ wget ftp://ftp.pbone.net/mirror/ftp.sourceforge.net/pub/sourceforge/p/po/postinstaller/fedora/releases/21/x86_64/popcorntime-0.3.5.2-1.fc21.x86_64.rpm
$ sudo rpm -ivh popcorntime-0.3.5.2-1.fc21.x86_64.rpm
Install Popcorn Time in Fedora 21
Install Popcorn Time

17. Install Steam

Steam is a digital store for Windows, Mac and Linux games. It has many great games, some of them are free and some aren’t. If you’re a gaming fan, you’ll love trying Steam.

To install it, first enable RPM Fusion repository from #step 4 and run.

$ sudo yum install steam
Install Steam in Fedora 21
Install Steam

18. Install .zip & .rar Files plugins

If you want to deal with .zip & .rar files, you have to install some plugins to do that, running the following command will download all
the necessary packages:

$ sudo yum install unrar unzip

So.. That was a fast list of things to do after installing Fedora 21.. Tell us: What’s the first things that you do after you install any new version of Fedora? Do you suggest adding any other steps to this list? What do you think about Fedora 21 in general.

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Hanny Helal
A Linux & Foss user since 2010, working on many projects in the field of Free Software.

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67 Comments

Leave a Reply
  1. One month ago, I was a fedora newbie and your post help me to configure Fedora 21. Thanks.

    But now, with Fedora 22 it is not the same, your post is deprecated and some instructions doesn’t work. For example, rpmfusion. For exemple, the change of yum for dnf.

    Could you do a new post like this for Fedora 22?

    Thank you very much in advance.

    Reply
  2. Very new to linux, tried to install popcorn time using these instructions, but it gets stuck when opening saying it’s initializing and checking the database but does not appear to be doing anything. Could this be because I’m running the os off a disk (fedora 21 btw)?

    Reply
    • I have the same issue with popcorntime it starts to load and is stuck ‘initializing’. Maybe blocked by the firewall. I’m running 22.

      Reply
  3. Why on earth would you suggest installing an old barely maintained Adobe Flash 11? Flash is not better for Youtube:

    https://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/7926001/youtube-drops-flash-for-html5-video-default

    If you really want flash, just use chrome which has it built in, auto updated and sandboxed. If you need it outside of chrome, you have really odd requirements, but certainly not one common enough to include in a “18 things to do after installing fedora”.

    Plus you totally missed the firewall changes. Fedora automatically keeps higher ports *open* by default in workstations. Its really dumb, I wish they would change it, but until then, that definitely deserves to be on a “18 things to do after installing fedora workstations”.

    Reply
  4. ive got this installed with gnome on a x1carbon; but my google chrome looks really weird. the tabs are extremely small, the address bar is extremely small, and so are the regular tool bars.

    also, when I go here: https://extensions.gnome.org/ i get the following message: We cannot detect a running copy of GNOME on this system, so some parts of the interface may be disabled. See our troubleshooting entry for more information.

    any suggestions are muchhh appreciated1

    Reply
    • Hi there.

      Maybe it’s a font problem, try tweaking the fonts using “Gnome Tweak Tool” to see if it works.

      in https://extensions.gnome.org/ you need to be using Firefox in order to install extensions from it, because the Gnome Shell integration plugin is only installed on Firefox.

      Reply
    • I also have an X1 carbon and gave up on Chrome because of its lack of HiDPI support. If you google Chrome hidpi there are some workarounds but I find firefox to work better on the X1’s screen.

      Reply
    • Hi,

      The last versions of R and Rkward are update now.
      First, you need to install R (using the terminal or yumex)
      sudo yum install R

      To install rkward write:
      sudo yum install rkward

      Good luck

      Reply
    • Hi,
      R and Rkward are update now,

      First install R (use terminal or yumex)
      sudo yum install R

      Then install Rkward
      sudo yum install rkward

      Good luck!

      Reply
  5. Appreciate this write up, but so much of the stuff you have listed here can be installed from Fedy. Flash, Java, Dropbox, chrome, popcorn to name a few. Seems best to just install Fedy and then tick the boxes from it to install the rest.

    Reply
    • Sometimes it’s better for end users to learn how to do stuff by there own, the tools like Fedy are very helpful, but it’s a good idea to learn how to do those things by man’s own :)

      Reply
  6. Logically, installing the fastest mirror plugin should be the #1 first thing. If people follow step by step as-is, they will be half way done with several MB of upgrades before they use the fastest mirror.

    1. install fastest mirror
    2. yum update

    Reply
  7. I really like and appreciate the share, but feel that for some newbies like me, it would be great if a tutorial like the installation of JAVA would have a bit more instructions. Java is an imported tool and if you dont know you can have difficulty.

    Reply
  8. Guys, you could first install Fedy, it easy allows us to install most of the apps / tweaks described on this page instead of manually doing it.

    Reply
  9. Most of this advise is useful, but…
    First of all, why would you install all this GUI stuff, if you use Fedora, which is a kinda toy for Pro’s?
    Secondly, why would anyone want to use VB for virtualization on a Red Hat OS, if the native KVM is so much more powerful and better integrated into Fedora?

    Reply
  10. Thank you for this list! The yum is a bit different than the apt-get I am used to. There were things on this list that I hadn’t thought of for my Fedora 21 Workstation install. Thanks again.

    -Ethan

    Reply
  11. Please provide detailed steps to install java.

    The version in the blog is 8.25 whereby the current version is 8.40…

    Need baby steps please, thank you

    Reply
  12. Is there a LINUX/Fedora 21 like OS for Samsung Galaxy note 4? It will be nice to have my smart phone and laptop running with the same OS.

    Reply
  13. Oracle has an open source version of Java available.

    to install the web plug-in: sudo yum install icedtea-web

    to install the run time java: sudo yum install java-1.8.0-openjdk

    to install the java sdk: sudo yum install java-1.8.0-openjdk-devel

    It is the open source version. It works just as well. I have never had any issues.

    Reply
  14. following was installes already on my default fedora workstation: unzip, java

    please consider to remove flash from your list, only FB is forcing it and most of the ads

    Reply
  15. Oddly, I’m not finding two config issues needing to be done almost immediately post install:
    1) Configuring sudo. Perhaps adding the default user to administrator group (during install) covers this, but http://www.mjmwired.net (keyword search “mjm” & “fedora”) still details nuances such as not being prompted for a password.
    2) Much more importantly, configure systemd’s journal to a more sane setting. Changing /etc/systemd/journald.conf Storage=volatile won’t show an immediate benefit to an end user, but after 4-6 months of use, will solve the, “gee, what’s eating all my harddrive space?”

    Journald.conf page: http://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/journald.conf.html

    Reply
  16. There are ac couple of things that I would like to bring up.

    1) The standard virtual machine on Fedora, and all Redhat systems, is KVM not VirtualBox. To install it just install the Virtualization tools.

    2) Adobe has dropped support for Linux. The FLASH plugin is very out of date and triggers warnings on almost every website visit if you use Firefox (which I prefer). Chrome has a built in version of FLASH which is still maintained, but for how long?. Adobe no longer offers Acrobat for Linux at all. I have a copy of the RPM saved. For anyone who doesn’t already have a copy I suggest you search the web for the RPM and then save it. I also suggest that you save a copy of the FLASH plugin RPM, my guess is that Adobe will stop offering it on their website soon.

    Reply
  17. Your article title should read: “18 Things I Personally Prefer to Do After Installing Fedora 21 Workstation, Hone of Which Are In Anyway Either Needed or Necessary”.

    Reply
  18. Thank you for the information. This was very useful for setting up Fedora 21 as someone that is new to linux and coming from Windows!

    Reply
  19. Fedora includes a full open source Java implementation, there is no need to install Oracle’s proprietary build. Just do ‘yum install java-1.8.0-openjdk’. For the browser plugin, ‘yum install icedtea-web’.

    Fedora includes a full KVM-based virtualization stack as well, you do not need VirtualBox simply to do virtualization. VBox and KVM each have some features the other doesn’t; you might want VBox if you want to do 3D acceleration passthrough, but for some uses KVM is superior. Workstation should come with GNOME Boxes, one simple virt front-end, out of the box; another you can install with yum is ‘virt-manager’.

    FWIW I’m not a huge fan of installing Flash via Adobe’s repo because they bundle all sorts of other unnecessary crap with it (or at least they did last time I checked); I usually just get the .tar.gz and extract the Firefox plugin from it. You do have to keep that updated manually, though.

    We would probably advise people to be careful about using fedy – yeah, it does some stuff that a lot of people like to do, but experienced folks have expressed some reservations about both what it does and how it does it. In a sense it’s impressive how much stuff it manages to do with a bunch of shell scripts, but it’s also a bit hair raising at times :) Often it might be better to understand what it’s doing and know how to do it yourself.

    Thanks for the post!

    Reply
    • Thank you for your notes Adam. This tutorial is written for new users for Fedora and that’s why we recommended installing some property software beside fedy tool.

      Personally i don’t use those programs, but the new users may need it sometimes :)
      Greetings.

      Reply
      • A new user following your tutorial will end with a lot of things he does not need installed and with a lot of suboptimal alternatives (qBittorrent, Gnome Music Player, Oracle Java are some of them). Why not help make an informed choice instead?

        Reply

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