Installing Steam on Fedora Linux: The Complete Guide

Steam is the world‘s largest digital game storefront and gaming platform. With over 30,000 games in its catalog and 125 million active users, Steam is a must-have for any PC gamer.

While Steam traditionally focused on Windows, recent developments have made Steam much more Linux-friendly. Thanks to Valve‘s Proton compatibility tool, thousands of Windows games now run flawlessly on Linux through Steam.

In this comprehensive guide, we will walk through installing and setting up Steam on Fedora Linux.

Overview of Steam on Linux

Steam originally launched in 2003 as a digital storefront for Valve‘s games. However, it quickly grew into an extensive PC gaming platform and marketplace for games from thousands of publishers.

For years, running Steam on Linux required jumping through extra hoops compared to Windows. Games relied on Windows-centric APIs like DirectX, often making Linux support an afterthought.

That changed in 2018 with the introduction of Proton – Valve‘s Wine/DXVK-based Windows compatibility tool for Linux. When enabled, Proton allows most Windows games to run on Linux with near-native performance.

Between Proton and the growing trend of developers adding official Linux support to games, Linux has become a viable gaming platform. As of 2023, over 8,000 Steam games work on Linux, with more being added regularly.

Benefits of Using Steam on Linux

There are several advantages to using Steam on Linux compared to Windows:

• Access a massive game library: Steam gives Linux users access to over 30,000 games, rivaling even Windows. Proton expands the options even further.

• Better performance: Games often achieve higher FPS on Linux since the system resources are dedicated towards gaming rather than background tasks.

• Enhanced security: The Linux operating system offers stronger security, app sandboxing, and privacy over Windows.

• Customization & control: As an open-source OS, Linux enables full control over the gaming environment compared to Windows‘ restrictions.

For any Linux gaming enthusiast, having Steam installed is a must to unlock access to new and classic games across all genres.

Installing Steam on Fedora

Fedora features two main methods for installing software – the dnf package manager and Flatpak. We will cover installing Steam using both options.

Setting Up Steam with DNF

DNF (dnf stands for Dandified Yum) is Fedora‘s default package manager included out-of-the-box. It draws applications from the Fedora repositories.

However, the official Fedora repositories do not include Steam. Instead, we need to enable the third-party RPM Fusion repositories that offer Steam.

Here are the steps to install Steam on Fedora using DNF:

1. Enable the RPM Fusion repositories:

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

2. Update DNF cache after adding new repos:

    sudo dnf update

3. Install Steam package:

    sudo dnf install steam

And Steam is installed via DNF! Overall, it just takes enabling an external repository and running a quick one-line install.

Installing Steam as a Flatpak

Flatpak is a newer application distribution format designed to enhance portability across Linux distributions. Software is delivered in sandboxed runtime environments called Flatpaks.

Steam has an official Flatpak build available, making installs quick and self-contained. Here is how to set up Steam using Flatpak:

1. Ensure Flatpak is installed:

    sudo dnf install flatpak

2. Add the Flathub repository:

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

3. Install the Steam Flatpak:

    flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam

The main difference from the DNF method is Steam gets sandboxed into its own Flatpak runtime. This enhances security but can cause minor integration issues with things like gamepads or mods.

Overall, both DNF and Flatpak are great options for installing Steam on Fedora depending on your preferences.

Configuring Steam After Install

Once Steam finishes setting up the basics, you will reach a login screen. Sign in with your existing Steam account or create a new one to proceed.

Upon the first launch, Steam will prompt you to install some additional runtime dependencies. Allow the installations to proceed.

After logging in, the Steam client will automatically update itself to the latest version. Give it a few minutes to complete.

With those basics out of the way, there are a couple of settings worth adjusting:

Enable Proton for Gaming Compatibility

Proton is Valve‘s specially-tuned Wine distribution designed to run Windows games on Linux flawlessly. We need to explicitly enable it within Steam‘s settings.

1. Open Steam‘s settings
2. Navigate to the Steam Play section
3. Check the boxes:
   • Enable Steam Play for supported titles
   • Enable Steam Play for all other titles

This will make Steam automatically run any Windows game using Proton instead of the native Linux build. Proton typically offers better compatibility and performance.

I also recommend checking for Proton updates so you stay on the latest release. New Proton versions add compatibility for more games and fixes.

Set Steam Library Locations

By default, Steam dumps all installed games into ~/Steam which can quickly fill up space on a modest /home partition.

Luckily, Steam makes it easy to add new library folders. I recommend pointing libraries to a secondary data drive rather than root.

To add a custom Steam library location:

1. Open Steam Settings
2. Select the Downloads section
3. Click "Steam Library Folders"
4. Choose "Add Library Folder"
5. Select the desired install directory on a secondary drive

All new game installs will let you choose which custom library to use. You can even move already-installed games between folders without redownloading.

Uninstalling Steam on Fedora

In the event Steam is no longer needed, uninstalling only takes a simple command.

For DNF-based installs:

sudo dnf remove steam 

For Flatpak installs:

flatpak uninstall com.valvesoftware.Steam

And Steam gets removed while retaining all user settings and licenses. Games themselves persist in the Steam library folders until manually deleted.

As an optional cleanup step, you can remove the leftover Steam application support folders with:

rm -rf ~/.local/share/Steam
rm -rf ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam # Flatpak only

With that, there should be zero trace of Steam left on the system!

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Steam

Here are some handy tips for making the most out of the Steam client on Fedora Linux:

• Check ProtonDB to research compatibility ratings for Windows games before purchasing them. This independent resource logs user reports on how well titles perform under Steam Play Proton.

• For maximum compatibility, use wired Xbox or PlayStation controllers. Some games do not support Steam Input which is needed for mapping generic gamepads.

• Look into Lutris for managing non-Steam games like emulators & launchers. Lutris integrates directly with the Steam library.

• Install GameMode to automatically optimize Linux system resources before launching Steam games. It disables background tasks, boosts interactivity of games.

• Enable Feral GameMode in Steam Settings > Steam Play to further boost gaming performance using the Feral-optimized fork of GameMode.

• Check out Protonup-Qt for a handy GUI to manage Proton GE releases from GloriousEggroll with extra bleeding-edge Wine builds.

Closing Thoughts

Steam integration on Linux has reached impressive levels of polish in recent years. Powerful tools like Proton make the majority of Windows games playable out-of-the-box.

I hope this guide helped demonstrate how easy Valve has made gaming on Linux distributions like Fedora. The Steam client has all the features PC gamers expect right at their fingertips.

Let me know in the comments if you have any lingering questions about setting up or managing Steam on a Linux system!