New to Fedora: keyboard chatter, fan/RGB control, file locations, and automatic drive mounting
Asked by
MellowPine47
I've started moving from Windows to Fedora 44 while keeping a dual-boot setup, and I'm enjoying Linux so far, but I'm stuck on several things. My keyboard occasionally registers a key twice, and I haven't found a reliable keyboard-chatter filter or blocker that I can install easily. I'd also like to control the fans and RGB lighting on both my high-end desktop and budget gaming laptop. I've tried several fan-control and RGB applications, along with various suggested drivers, but they often fail to detect the hardware. On the laptop, the RGB keyboard works after a fresh boot but turns off after closing and reopening the lid, and rebooting is currently the only way to restore it.
I'm also still learning the Linux filesystem. Where should I look for equivalents to Windows locations such as AppData, Program Files, and Documents? I'm especially interested in game saves and configuration files. For Steam games running through Proton, I know there is a simulated Windows filesystem, but I keep forgetting where the prefixes are stored.
Finally, I'd like my internal SSDs and hard drives to mount automatically during startup without prompting for a password. One of my drives contains my desktop background, so it is unavailable early in the session and Fedora falls back to the default image. Is there a safe way to configure internal drives to mount automatically at boot, while still keeping removable devices protected?
Answers
For software, start with Fedora’s official repositories and package manager, or a trusted Flatpak source, rather than downloading random installers from search results. Hardware utilities may or may not be available depending on the manufacturer. I don’t have a good solution for keyboard chatter, but that issue may need a hardware repair or replacement if software filtering tools don’t support your desktop environment.
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The filesystem isn’t meant to be a one-to-one copy of Windows. System programs and settings are generally under /usr, /etc, and /var, while personal application data is commonly stored in ~/.config, ~/.local/share, and ~/.cache. Game saves vary by title. For Steam games using Proton, check steamapps/compatdata//pfx/; the pfx directory acts like that game’s fake Windows C: drive. Steam uses the numeric app ID rather than the game name, so finding the right folder can take a little searching.
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For automatic mounting, configure the drive with its filesystem UUID in /etc/fstab. Running lsblk -f will show the partitions, filesystems, and UUIDs. Since a typo in fstab can cause boot problems, GNOME Disks is a safer graphical way to enable mounting at startup. You can set internal drives to mount automatically while leaving removable media under normal manual-mount controls.
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Fan and RGB support is very hardware-specific. The motherboard, laptop model, keyboard controller, GPU, and lighting controller all matter, and a different distribution usually won’t help if the device lacks Linux support. OpenRGB works with some keyboards and other components, but compatibility varies. It’s better to identify the exact hardware first instead of continuing to install random drivers.
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