Mageia forum

I was waiting for 8 to come out before getting a new machine and upgrading to 8. Alas, the old laptop didn't quite make it (screen broke). It's running 7. I got a new laptop. Now the question is:

1) Should I install 7.1? Or,

2) Should I try 8beta and upgrade to 8 when it's out?

Either way, I intend to do a fresh install and copy my user data over from the old machine. And either way, I intend to upgrade to 8 as soon as it's available. I'm comfortable/happy enough working around minor issues for a while, but I need overall usability. Is 8 beta1 generally working? I don't see big show stoppers on the errata. Any insights, especially from those running 8 so far, would be appreciated.

V-

I have been running M8/cauldron XFCE 32 for some time, fingers crossed, no issues yet.

in the very near future, expecting new desktops Plasma, Gnome and XFCE versions,
also a large LO upgrade.

the new DEs will also likely include DMs as well.
so plenty of chances for breakage.

suggest that you should be regularly taking a backup image, if going for M8/cauldron

unless you are planning to use the damaged lappy for something special, just swap the system drive across.

M7 is still in support, M8 is some time away - suggest staying with M7

Thank you for all that.

Bummed to hear M8 is some time away. I do want the benefits (new Plasma, etc. etc.). But I also need it to not break. Sounds like I ought to go with 7 and wait for the dust to settle on 8...

Alas, I can't simply swap the drive. Going from HDD (2.5") to SSD (m.2). I wish I could...

Thank you again for the feedback.

V-

I myself am looking forwards to moving off-of Mageia 1 (due to Kmail) to Mageia8. Trading drives back-n-forth is crazy (and currently trading between 1 and 6 at this time. LOL).

If you are determined to run on 8, I recommend you having more than one desktop available and keep an up to date external backup because there is a strong possibility you will run into something bad along the way and need to revert back to an earlier working copy.
I've run into black display screens, but this could be cured by rebooting, going to another (Plasma/XCFE/other) desktop, then updating until a fix comes, and soon you can return back to your preferred desktop. There might be times you need to revert to a fresh install.

Your best solution is set the update checks from 5min to later, like 3 hours, and only checking once per 24hours, and then resist the temptation to update your PC as soon as updates are available, but you should do it periodically. Before you actually run an update, you need to do two things - first, backup your home directory (you should be doing this regardless of updates or not), and second thing, take a photograph of your harddrive onto a secondary external harddrive (dd is very good at doing this but I recommend using bs=1M to make it go much faster, or alternatively, use clonezilla - use a USB stick with clonezilla, Knoppix, or Mageia-Live).
If all goes well - great - if not, you have a backup and photograph of your harddrive you can revert back to, then wait a little longer for further updates to happen which may get you past this "bump in the road".

On the plus-side, you're right in the midst of all the action, so if there are bugs you see, file bug reports, and be pretty accurate and helpful where you can, so that the final release is as good as it will be when announced

Somewhat concerned with mageia 8 since one essential package for working these pandemic days at home to me, the chromium web browser, is not found at cauldron core repositories...

You could use chrome in the meantime. Also, why do you use cauldron if your box is essential for working ?

doktor5000 wrote:You could use chrome in the meantime. Also, why do you use cauldron if your box is essential for working ?

That's it, I'm using Mageia 7.1 yet since I cannot take the risk with cauldron. But I know cauldron will turn into Mageia 8 and I will have to make a decision then...

I could not easily install 7 on a new laptop ryzen 7 integrated gpu, but Mageia 8, which is now past beta 2, installed like butter and runs like silk.
If seven is hard to do, make a home back up and use 8 beta 2.

Make back ups more often. Also always make back ups.