Flip Flopped to Fedora...

So, because I like a challenge, I decided to install Fedora 29.

Fedora is an excellent linux distribution but, they tend to eschew non-free software and drivers.  This means it can be a pain to install something like the NVIDIA drivers (like I had to do) and to get rid of Nouveau.  It isn't impossible, and in reality it is actually quite easy... just takes a little while to do and includes booting into a non-UI mode, etc.

[edit:  I should note that you must install the 32 bit NVIDIA drivers.]

I want to offer a word of warning for people though, if you are going to install STEAM on your Fedora box, PLEASE DO SO BEFORE you install your NVIDIA drivers.  Theoretically it will save you much pain.

For whatever reason, if you try to install Steam after installing the proprietary drivers it will not run.  I spent hours trying to figure out a work around to no avail.  The "touted" solution is to uninstall NVIDIA and reinstall Nouveau, and then reinstall Steam.  Again followed by installing the NVIDIA driver.

A royal pain.

There IS however a much simpler way of getting around all that.  Fedora comes with FLATPAK installed.  Flatpak is a way of installing applications in a stand-alone fashion, so one installation package can run on any version of linux (for the most part).  All you really need to do is enable the flatpak repository (https://flatpak.org/setup/Fedora/) and then it will show up in your software store.  Once it is there, simply install it.

Now, it will LIKELY fail the first time you start Steam.  If it does, open a terminal and "sudo flatpak update".  Then start Steam again.  It *should* work.

MUCH easier than the alternative.  I was also able to update to the latest BETA version of steam and also to run Proton.  Good stuff!

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So one of reasons I decided to try Fedora again was because I had remembered that of all the distros, when I had to manually install the NVIDIA driver as you do with Fedora, I did not see the screen freezes with You Tube videos and other types of video.  I do not know why that is, nor do I know if it is a "truth" or I have just not encountered a freeze on Fedora yet as it IS a random occurrence anyway.

Well, one thing I forgot to do and I am irked with myself for it, is I forgot to copy off my Borderlands saves before I installed and I wiped it out.  I am hoping I was saving to Steam cloud.  Guess I will find out tomorrow.   Now I am going to bed.