here are some basics for setting up Fedora. Actual Version: 43

Useful Docs also: https://github.com/devangshekhawat/Fedora-43-Post-Install-Guide

Out of the Box there are not all multimedia codecs installed.

To use h264 and vlc, you need to:

sudo dnf config-manager setopt fedora-cisco-openh264.enabled=1
sudo dnf install vlc
sudo dnf install python-vlc

There are different interfaces that are important

This is the most used interface for video acceleration and decoding itself. The example here is a very old card still supported by AMDGPU:

root@pc-000700080009:~# vainfo
Trying display: wayland
Trying display: x11
libva info: VA-API version 1.22.0
libva info: User environment variable requested driver 'radeonsi'
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib64/dri-nonfree/radeonsi_drv_video.so
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib64/dri-freeworld/radeonsi_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_1_22
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 1.22 (libva 2.22.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Mesa Gallium driver 25.3.6 for AMD CAICOS (DRM 2.51.0 / 6.19.11-200.fc43.x86_64, LLVM 21.1.8)
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Simple              : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Main                : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Advanced            : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline: VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High10             : VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileNone                   : VAEntrypointVideoProc

Please check to use the right driver (see beneath), and not maybe r600, which would be the first matching driver, if the environment LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME had not been set.

This is a library, that NVIDIA is using for their video acceleration. The NIVDIA packages may still offer them.

The Mesa-Project, which is the base-project for all desktops and many programs that did support the interfac, now does not any more, which is why that interface will die:

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=1177112

Post by grknight » Wed Mar 18, 2026 12:48 pm
Oh, so mesa removed VDPAU support with version 25.3.0

Now anything that depended on it should be removed. Please disable all vdpau on your system.

Edit: Try vaapi instead system-wide. Mesa should provide a vaapi driver for radeonsi

You may still use it, but don't count on it on LInux in the future.

This is the actual framework for using 3d graphics in Linux. It will be the best supported Interface in the Future.

To tes, use:

vulkaninfo | grep VK_KHR_video_

dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
dnf install libavcodec-freeworld --allowerasing
dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
dnf install mesa-va-drivers-freeworld --allowerasing

By default, most Linux deliver radeon- driver, which is open source and stable, but lacks some important features.

For AMD on should switch to AMDGPU if possible (supported card by that driver).

To do so:

root@pc-000700080009:~# sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Add to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX the following Parameters:

radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1 radeon.cik_support=0 amdgpu.cik_support=1

and update Grub:

root@pc-000700080009:~# sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

Environment: to make the Interfaces using the Driver

root@pc-000700080009:~# nano /etc/environment

and put the lines in it:

LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=radeonsi
VDPAU_DRIVER=radeonsi

Hint: Also the driver is changed to AMDGPU, you need to set radeonsi as value there!

Hint 2: Don't expect VDPAU to work. It will still give:

root@pc-000700080009:~# vdpauinfo
display: :0   screen: 0
Failed to open VDPAU backend libvdpau_radeonsi.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Error creating VDPAU device: 1

Thats because Mesa dropped VDPAU (libvdpau_radeonsi.so was part of Mesa).

Dont use any compatiblity-layer from va api to vdpau or other way round, those are very messy and most applications should use VA-API directly:

Do not install:

• libva-vdpau-driver
• libvdpau-va-gl

dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
dnf install libavcodec-freeworld --allowerasing
dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm
dnf install intel-media-driver --allowerasing

Environment: to make the Interfaces using the Driver

root@pc-000700080009:~# nano /etc/environment

and put the lines in it:

LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=intel
VDPAU_DRIVER=intel

to say it like a wise man did: fuck you nvidia

If you like BTRF because of its powerful Features and Snapshots, you need to set up BTRFs Assistant.

like weather and such:

sudo dnf remove kdeplasma-addons

i don't like those tools. Make your machine slow by scanning files and such… so remove it:

sudo dnf remove akonadi-server