XPost: alt.os.linux.pclinuxos, alt.os.linux.mageia   
   From: bliss@mouse-potato.com   
      
   On 07/01/2017 04:21 PM, Doug Laidlaw wrote:   
   > On 19/06/17 13:06, Bobbie Sellers wrote:   
   >>       I was favorably impressed from the startup of the installer.   
   >> It was so much like Mandriva.   
   >   
   > Mageia still has the feel that Mandriva had before it disappeared for a   
   > while.  Mandriva was designed to be user-friendly, and Mageia has   
   > carried on the tradition.  Choice is part of what Linux is about.   
   > OpenMandriva wants to create a usable desktop with only KDE.  That seems   
   > to be next to impossible.  KDE is no longer just a DE, but tries to   
   > configure the underlying system as well.  Its applications are good, and   
   > I run them in Xfce.  GNOME's tools are second-rate by comparison.  Its   
   > official TV player is one man's personal creation, and lacks any usable   
   > menus.   
      
   	Every thing you say of Mageia could be applied equally well   
   to PCLinuxOS64 KDE 2016.03.  The 2014 versions were good as wall   
   but it could not yet handle the (U)EFI system nor was there clear   
   understand of those points by myself and a large number of users   
   nor of the Globally Unique ID Partition Table.   
   	If my old Compaq Presario had not broken down and if I had   
   not been able to secure a HP Pavilion more easily than a competent   
   used machine I might have continued to use PCLinuxOS 2014.  But   
   I needed a software machine that could live with Windows 8.1   
   and Mageia 4.1 worked for me then Mageia 5 until PCLinux 2016.03 got   
   out to the mirrors(and I picked up a single line in the Distrowatch   
   Weekly) when I learned about it...   
      
   	So far I don't like KDE's Plasma 5 as it is far from finished   
   with the tools I have used for about 11 years now since I started with   
   Mandriva 2006.  Some reviews say it is beautiful or even pretty but   
   for me beauty is in functionality and Plasma 5 extends itself in   
   the wrong directions as you mention.   
   	I tried Gnome tools for 3 weeks or thereabouts on Mandriva.   
   I found it inconvenient and the tools unreliable and I like that   
   version of Gnome 2.4 a lot more the present versions.  Mate   
   is my choice of runner-up to KDE.   
      
   >   
   > I have tried several alternative distros, and keep coming back to   
   > Mageia.  I currently have OpenSuse running as a second system.  It   
   > filled up my /boot partition with kernels, and even the community  had   
   > no real idea how to remove the oldest ones.  I install a package, and   
   > find that all the dependencies are bundled with it.  Mageia lets you   
   > know what is happening.  PCLinuxOS has a mixture of RPM and apt, and   
   > like all compromises, it doesn't work as well as either one alone.   
   > synaptic seems to be the best graphical installer I have come across,   
   > but it doesn't have Mageia's urpmi.  LinuxMint is a preconfigured   
   > system, good for those who want to accept what it gives.  Packages are   
   > preconfigured to work "out of the box,"  with reasonable default   
   > settings.  Proper configuration tools are omitted from the basic DVD,   
   > leaving the user who wants to be a little bit different, out in the cold.   
      
   	Synaptic using RPM packages works just fine for me.   
   	I will say that the repositories have been cut considerably   
   but there are still as much as most folks could hope for.  Linux   
   Mint is ok for Windows leavers but I would never use it for anyone   
   with developed preferences.   
      
   	I don't know much about OpenSuse but I would just make   
   sure I had the current kernel installed and then use Midnight   
   Commander to go to the boot partition and clean out most of the   
   older kernels.  Here Synaptic with the Search/Name/kernel lets   
   me see what is at hand and remove the old stuff with a few   
   clicks as soon as the new kernel is selected for installation.   
   I actually like it better than the old system on the Mandriva.   
      
   >   
   > I acknowledge that preferences are a personal thing, and being a   
   > long-time user of Mandrake/Mandriva/Mageia, I tend to see that as a   
   > reference distro.  Being in my 70's, I have become somewhat inflexible.   
   > But Mageia still seems to be the most usable distro of them all.   
      
   	Well I will only be in my 70s for another 39 days and while   
   I am less than youthfully flexible I try out other systems on my test   
   bed at least weekly.  Some are good and others like the early sta of   
   Mageia and the Open Mandriva 3.xx version will not survive their first   
   batch of updates.   
   	   
   >   
   > (The patchy roll-out of the Australian NBN in my city forced me to delay   
   > posting this message.  Entire streets have been overlooked, and my   
   > connection is intermittent. The Council made representations to the   
   > Authority, and was told it is "all too difficult.")   
   >   
   > Doug.   
      
   	Sounds like the Authority is a bunch of second-raters if indeed   
   they are Aussies.  Enhancing services is a hard thing to do but it gets   
   done including rebuilding physical systems even by the modern   
   Californians.  Hope your connectivity improves, Doug.   
      
   	bliss "running light (as well as fast)" on PCLinuxOS64-2016.03   
   GNU/Linux 4.11.8-pclos1 #1 SMP Thu Jun 29   
      
   --   
   bliss dash SF 4 ever at dslextreme dot com   
      
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