01.26.14

Mageia 4 Out Next Week, Mandriva and PCLinuxOS Still Very Much Alive

Posted in GNU/Linux, Mandriva at 4:33 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Long live RPM

Summary: Mandriva and its derivatives/relatives continue to produce good desktop distributions which are RPM-based

THE FAMILY of distributions derived from Mandrake (originally the ‘Red Hat camp’) are still contenders on the desktop, challenging the ‘Debian camp’ championed by Ubuntu and its derivatives (and other Debian derivatives like SteamOS). According to Mageia people who spoke to us last night, Mageia 4 is scheduled to be released in FOSDEM next week. There is already a release candidate [1,2] and a preview [3]. Mandriva, despite losing Charles-H. Schulz [4,5], is said to have just found an expansion route [6] and PCLinuxOS (a popular Mandriva/Mandrake derivative) is receiving good reviews [7] and releasing new magazines [8].

As we stated a few months ago, don’t discount the RPM/Red Hat camp just yet. It has plenty of potential and there are many eager, highly-motivated developers supporting it. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Mageia 4 Release Candidate Images Surface

   The release candidate spin of the upcoming Mageia 4 Linux distribution from the Mandriva/Mandrake lineage is now available for testing.

2. Mageia 4 RC Is Out, Mandriva Spirit Is Still Alive

   Mageia, a GNU/Linux-based free operating system that started its life as a fork of Mandriva Linux and that is supported by a nonprofit organization of elected contributors, is now at version 4 RC.

3. Kali and Quirky Reviews, Steam for Debs, and a Mageia Look

   Today’s stroll around the Linuxhood proved quite interesting as usual. First up are reviews of two distributions that get few reviews, so those are quite welcome. Debian developers get a free subscription to Steam if they want. And someone nicked Zoltan gives a nice overview of Mageia and its place in the Linux distro landscape. Today’s bonus is Matt Asay’s assertion that the Linux desktop doesn’t matter anymore.

4. Schulz Leaves Mandriva, Wishes OM Well

   Mandriva S.A. snagged the expertise of Charles-H. Schulz in May 2012 to help organize and basically sweep up after the restructuring of early 2012. Schulz, whose first job was with MandrakeSoft, left Mandriva S.A at the beginning of the year and wishes “success and good luck” to OpenMandriva.

5. Good Bye Mandriva

   The beginnings of the OpenMandriva project were rough. The very rationale for the existence of OpenMandriva were not overly clear to many people. After all, the Mageia project was already booming and the justification for such a project that was aiming at building upon the Mandriva Linux legacy was weak. On top of this, the team behind the project was small, and the mission was overwhelming: to continue, as a community, the development of the linux distribution formerly known as Mandriva Linux. I will not really go into details as to how the project evolved, but I am proud to have contributed in a significant way to build the home for this project, namely an independent French NGO (the OpenMandriva Association) and to have helped the community with establishing its governance and some of its sound principles and processes. But the question remains: why does the OpenMandriva Project matter? Why should we care?

6. Mandriva, The Distro-Zombie That Refused To Die

   Instead of being just a supplier of GNU/Linux, Mandriva has added plenty of software and services all its own aimed at businesses. They must even have salesmen… In their enthusiasm they wrote, “In 2006, hundred of millions of personal computers pre-installed with Linux were shipped, particularly to South America, East Europe, Russia, North Africa and India. Mandriva also participates in thematic projects with Intel, such as the Classmate PC.” With optimism/ambition like that they could go far. We await the next chapter…

7. PCLinuxOS 2013 KDE Desktop Review

   This quarterly release from PCLinuxOS delivers the latest from KDE, LXDE, and MATE. Or you can try the famous PCLinuxOS Full Monty ISO which includes most/or all of the desktops listed above. I am slightly behind on my KDE updates so I will be reviewing PCLinuxOS 2013.12 KDE. For those that are wondering, this distribution is available in 32 or 64 bit architecture.

8. The January 2014 Issue of the PCLinuxOS Magazine

   Download the PDF (10.7 MB) http://pclosmag.com/download.php?f=2014-01.pdf

   Download the EPUB Version (9.7 MB) http://pclosmag.com/download.php?f=201401epub.epub

   Download the MOBI Version (10.0 MB) http://pclosmag.com/download.php?f=201401mobi.mobi

   Visit the HTML Version http://pclosmag.com/html/enter2014.html

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