Now you just need to click on Flathub repository file. Open the downloaded file with the Software Install application.
Flathub repository file button on flatpak.org/setup/Fedora
The GNOME Software application opens. Next, click on the Install button. This action needs sudo permissions, because it installs the Flathub repository for use by the whole system.
Install button in GNOME Software
Install the Steam flatpak
You can now search for the Steam flatpak in GNOME Software. If you can’t find it, try rebooting — or logout and login — in case GNOME Software didn’t read the metadata. That happens automatically when you next login.
Searching for Steam
Click on the Steam row and the Steam page opens in GNOME Software. Next, click on Install.
Steam page in GNOME Software
And now you have installed Steam flatpak on your system.
Enable Steam Play in Steam
Now that you have Steam installed, launch it and log in. To play Windows games too, you need to enable Steam Play in Steam. To enable it, choose Steam > Settings from the menu in the main window.
Settings button in Steam
Navigate to the Steam Play section. You should see the option Enable Steam Play for supported titles is already ticked, but it’s recommended you also tick the Enable Steam Play option for all other titles. There are plenty of games that are actually playable, but not whitelisted yet on Steam. To see which games are playable, visit ProtonDB and search for your favorite game. Or just look for the games with the most platinum reports.
Steam Play settings menu on Steam
If you want to know more about Steam Play, you can read the article about it here on Fedora Magazine:
You’re now ready to play plenty of games on Linux. Please remember to share your experience with others using the Contribute button on ProtonDB and report bugs you find on GitHub, because sharing is nice.
Ever wanted to create a HTPC from old computer laying around. Or just have some spare time and want to try something new. This article could be just for you. It will show you the step by step process to convert a Fedora Silverblue to a fully fledged HTPC.
What is Fedora Silverblue, Kodi and HTPC?
Fedora Silverblue is a system similar to Fedora Workstation. It offers an immutable filesystem (only /var and /etc are writable) and atomic updates using an ostree image, which offers reliable updates with ability to rollback to previous version easily. If you want to find out more about Fedora Silverblue visit https://silverblue.fedoraproject.org/ or if you want to try it by yourself you can get it here.
Kodi is one of the best multimedia player available. It provides plenty of features (like automatic downloads of metadata for movies, support for UPnP etc.) and it’s open source. It also has many addons. So if you are missing any functionality you could probably find an addon for it.
HTPC is just an acronym for Home Theater PC in simple words a PC that is mainly used as an entertainment station. You can connect it to TV or any monitor and just use it to watch your favorite movies, TV shows or listen to your favorite music.
Why choosing Silverblue to create an HTPC?
So why choosing Fedora Silverblue for HTPC? The main reasons are:
Reliability – you don’t need to fear that after update everything stop working and if it does, I can rollback easily
New technology – it is a good opportunity to play with a new technology.
And why to choose Kodi ? As stayted before it’s one of the best multimedia player and it’s packaged as a flatpak, which make it easy to install on Silverblue.
Conversion of Fedora Silverblue to HTPC
Let’s go step by step through this process and see how to create a fully usable HTPC from Fedora Silverblue.
1. Installation of Fedora Silverblue
First thing you need to do is to install Fedora Silverblue, this guide will not cover the installation process, but you can expect similar process as with standard Fedora Workstation installation. You can get the Fedora Silverblue ISO here
Create only the root user during the installation with some password. We will create a user for Kodi later without password.
2. Booting to terminal
This part will be a little tricky. You need to bypass GNOME and end the boot sequence in terminal. Otherwise you will end up in GNOME initial setup process, which will not allow you to create user without password.
To bypass the GNOME you need to press the ‘e’ key in GRUB menu to edit the GRUB entry. When editing the GRUB entry just look for the line starting with linux16 and add 3 to end of this line. Then continue the boot sequence with CTRL + x. Don’t worry about the changes, they are used only for this session.
GRUB menuGRUB entry edited
You will end up in terminal where you need to login as root.
3. Creation of user for Kodi
When you are in the terminal logged as root, you need to create a user that will be used by Kodi. This can be done using the useradd command.
useradd kodi
4. Installation of Kodi from Flathub
To install the Kodi in flatpak you first need to add a Flathub remote repository.
The last thing that will prevent for autostart to work correctly is the GNOME initial setup. To disable it just create a gnome-initial-setup-done file in .config directory of kodi user.
You can now switch back to root for the next steps.
exit
6. Set autologin for kodi user
This step is very useful together with autostart of Kodi. Every time you restart your HTPC you will end up directly in Kodi and not in the GDM or GNOME shell. To set the auto login you need to add the following lines to /etc/gdm/custom.conf to the [daemon] section
AutomaticLoginEnable=True AutomaticLogin=kodi
7. Enable automatic updates
For HTPC automatic updates you will need a cron job. But because cron is not part of the standard Fedora Silverblue installation you need to install it first. In this step I also recommend to do upgrade of the Fedora Silverblue first before layering the cron package.
rpm-ostree upgrade
rpm-ostree install cronie
After this you need to reboot your computer, to apply the new updates.
reboot
To be able to setup cron in this phase you need to do the second step again and log in as root. After this you need to edit the crontab.
This will create a new cron job, which will update any flatpaks (Kodi in this case), update Silverblue and does a restart to apply the changes.
This job will run at 4 AM on Wednesday. It is recommended to set this to a time when nobody will use the HTPC.
Restart the computer now.
reboot
8. Disable GNOME features
There are few GNOME features that could be annoying when using Fedora Silverblue as HTPC. Most of these features could be setup directly in Kodi anyway, so if you want them later it’s easy to set them directly in Kodi.
To do this exit Kodi and open the terminal. Press Super key (this is the key between ALT and CTRL) and type terminal. Once the terminal will be open and you need to type the following commands.
# Display dim dconf write "/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/power/idle-dim" false
# Sleep over time/ dconf write "/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/power/sleep-inactive-ac-type" 0
Do you like music? Then Fedora may have just what you’re looking for. This article introduces different music player apps that run on Fedora. You’re covered whether you have an extensive music library, a small one, or none at all. Here are four graphical application and one terminal-based music player that will have you jamming.
Quod Libet
Quod Libet is a complete manager for your large audio library. If you have an extensive audio library that you would like not just listen to, but also manage, Quod Libet might a be a good choice for you.
Quod Libet can import music from multiple locations on your disk, and allows you to edit tags of the audio files — so everything is under your control. As a bonus, there are various plugins available for anything from a simple equalizer to a last.fm sync. You can also search and play music directly from Soundcloud.
Quod Libet works great on HiDPI screens, and is available as an RPM in Fedora or on Flathub in case you run Silverblue. Install it using Gnome Software or the command line:
$ sudo dnf install quodlibet
Audacious
If you like a simple music player that could even look like the legendary Winamp, Audacious might be a good choice for you.
Audacious probably won’t manage all your music at once, but it works great if you like to organize your music as files. You can also export and import playlists without reorganizing the music files themselves.
As a bonus, you can make it look likeWinamp. To make it look the same as on the screenshot above, go to Settings / Appearance, select Winamp Classic Interface at the top, and choose the Refugee skin right below. And Bob’s your uncle!
Audacious is available as an RPM in Fedora, and can be installed using the Gnome Software app or the following command on the terminal:
$ sudo dnf install audacious
Lollypop
Lollypop is a music player that provides great integration with GNOME. If you enjoy how GNOME looks, and would like a music player that’s nicely integrated, Lollypop could be for you.
Apart from nice visual integration with the GNOME Shell, it woks nicely on HiDPI screens, and supports a dark theme.
As a bonus, Lollypop has an integrated cover art downloader, and a so-called Party Mode (the note button at the top-right corner) that selects and plays music automatically for you. It also integrates with online services such as last.fm or libre.fm.
Available as both an RPM in Fedora or a Flathub for your Silverblue workstation, install it using the Gnome Software app or using the terminal:
$ sudo dnf install lollypop
Gradio
What if you don’t own any music, but still like to listen to it? Or you just simply love radio? Then Gradio is here for you.
Gradio is a simple radio player that allows you to search and play internet radio stations. You can find them by country, language, or simply using search. As a bonus, it’s visually integrated into GNOME Shell, works great with HiDPI screens, and has an option for a dark theme.
Gradio is available on Flathub which works with both Fedora Workstation and Silverblue. Install it using the Gnome Software app.
sox
Do you like using the terminal instead, and listening to some music while you work? You don’t have to leave the terminal thanks to sox.
sox is a very simple, terminal-based music player. All you need to do is to run a command such as:
$ play file.mp3
…and sox will play it for you. Apart from individual audio files, sox also supports playlists in the m3u format.
As a bonus, because sox is a terminal-based application, you can run it over ssh. Do you have a home server with speakers attached to it? Or do you want to play music from a different computer? Try using it together with tmux, so you can keep listening even when the session closes.
sox is available in Fedora as an RPM. Install it by running:
