Welcome, and feel free to introduce yourself

[isadora]

Great to have you in our community jbowles, a very warm welcome!!!!!

Applying for a job, well don't hesitate to exploit your creative side.
We are always, better say continuously in search-mode for new contributors, for example in our artwork-team.
Have a look at:
https://www.mageia.org/en-gb/contribute/

Anyhow, we wish you magical times with the distribution and the community that makes it all possible.

[doktor5000]

Reading my post back to myself; it sounds like I'm applying for a job

That's fine, you're hired - no questions asked. Feel free to grab anything from https://www.mageia.org/contribute/

[jbowles]

Thank you both for your warm welcomes and I will certainly have a look at those links

[xtapetae]

Hi everybody. I'm using Mageia for some time now (over a year I think) and I wanted to let you know, that I really like it. Becoming disenchanted with Kubuntu I have begun to use Mageia as my production system. It proved very reliable and I want to say thank you to all who are spending their time to make it as good as it is.

There are some minor annoyances, however, if you come from Kubuntu (or (Open)Suse as I originally do). I think it is legitimate and, may be, even useful if I share this part of my user experience, although there is absolutely nothing in the list that one would classify as severe in any sense. Actually, quite some of the issues are just my personal preferences that are different from the default settings.

* The biggest annoyance got away with version 5 anyway: the UID for the first user is no more set to 500 but to 1000 as in other distros. Thanks for clearing that!

* In general, the install program seems to be less polished and less visually elegant than that of Opensuse or Kubuntu. However, it works, and that is its requirement of course. No real complaint.

* When choosing a keyboard type different from language, the chosen type is not properly shown, although it is correctly handled.

* The hostname is not set in a decent way during installation. However, this can be remedied manually, without problems. The hostname should be not only set in /etc/hostname but also in /etc/hosts. Without the latter I experienced extremely long startup times of LibreOffice, Emacs and Midnightcommander obviously due to DNS problems created by DHCP.

* The user has yet to be registered in the sudoers group. Again, this can be done easily.

* Yakuake does not seem to remember user options. Can be corrected manually in the config file.

* The default for KDE when you move the mouse on the task bar results in something that I consider confusing window salad. First thing I have to change to avoid madness. However, basically a matter of taste.

* If you install Mageia from DVD the medium remains in the list of repositories. The entry has to removed manually if one wants to update the system without DVD.

* If you log out and log in again /usr/bin/drakconf does not start anymore when used before. I did not yet discover how to work around this.

* I did not get checkinstall to work on Mageia5 although it worked, albeit with some problems, on Mageia4. This is actually a bit of a major annoyance but it is probably a problem of checkinstall (not sure, though).

* The bash-prompt is not exactly pretty. Again this is a matter of taste and can be changed easily.

* It took me a while to get sound on firefox. In gereral I find the multimedia codecs stuff in the repos not very intuitively arranged. I relied on trial and error to get things working. Finally, however, everything worked.

* To my taste the process of updating software requires some mouse clicks too much. However, I use it for more than a year now and never ever experienced any problems with the updates.

* I also have not yet figured out how to safely get rid of the many orphaned packages I have.

* The login screen for KDE does not save an entry for the default user. I was used to that from both Kubuntu and Opensuse and therefore changed it.

* I did not use the Mageia Control Center a lot until now. However, as for the task of installing software, I find it much less confusing and much snappier than its famous equivalent Yast in Suse.

So again, that long a list of nagging does not mean Mageia is not working great for me. It does and, again, thanks everybody for the good work.

[isadora]

Quite some introduction xtapetae.
But also great to see, how you worked around many things.
Of course the forum is always there to ask for advise, but...........finding out yourself is adventurous and lets you learn the distribution in a challenging way.

Welcome to the Mageia-community and forum, and as for all newcomers: wish you magical times with Mageia!!!

[doktor5000]

Hi there, and thanks for the extensive feedback Some comments on a few selected points:

* When choosing a keyboard type different from language, the chosen type is not properly shown, although it is correctly handled.

* The hostname is not set in a decent way during installation. However, this can be remedied manually, without problems. The hostname should be not only set in /etc/hostname but also in /etc/hosts. Without the latter I experienced extremely long startup times of LibreOffice, Emacs and Midnightcommander obviously due to DNS problems created by DHCP.

Yes, the former is known. Although it lacks somebody doing bigger changes on the installer - which relates to the other point you brought up.
The installer is basically unchanged since several years, simply because we lack somebody re-writing it. And since it does the job, why bother?

For the hostname, that's a separate issue, and hopefully we can get that fixed for Mageia 6. See https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Feature:Add_ ... stallation)
FWIW, the hostname is not required in /etc/hosts - but it should be in /etc/sysconfig/network and /etc/hostname

* The user has yet to be registered in the sudoers group. Again, this can be done easily.

Why should the user be in the sudoers group? That is not required for sudo to work. Keep in mind that sudo is not configured by default on most distros, apart from *buntu. See also viewtopic.php?f=29&t=10225

* If you log out and log in again /usr/bin/drakconf does not start anymore when used before. I did not yet discover how to work around this.

Might be fallout from the polkit issues since the update, see viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9994 - workaround is simple, don't logout

* The bash-prompt is not exactly pretty. Again this is a matter of taste and can be changed easily.

You can install colorprompt, which at least gives green prompt for the user and red one for root.
But "pretty" is a matter of test and everybody who cares about the prompt likes a different one, as you noticed.

* It took me a while to get sound on firefox. In gereral I find the multimedia codecs stuff in the repos not very intuitively arranged. I relied on trial and error to get things working. Finally, however, everything worked.

Well, the mageia welcome applet which pops up after first login suggests to install most of the codecs via the task-codec-audio/-video packages. How do you suggest to make it even more intuitive?

* To my taste the process of updating software requires some mouse clicks too much. However, I use it for more than a year now and never ever experienced any problems with the updates.

Hmmm, requires two mouseclicks here - one to show all the updates, the second to do the update. How do you suggest less mouseclicks should be used?

* The login screen for KDE does not save an entry for the default user. I was used to that from both Kubuntu and Opensuse and therefore changed it.

What do you mean with "an entry for the default user" ? kdm and most other display managers remember the last chosen desktop session.


Apart from that, if you have any other issues for which you'd like some answers or help (e.g. the checkinstall issue) please create separate threads for those in the appropriate subforums.

[manseraider]

Hello everyone,
I'm a new Mageia user. For the past few years I've been using Arch, which I still love, but right now I need something more stable. This is the first time I've used a RPM-based distro in about ten years, and the first time going back to GNOME since Ubuntu implemented Unity. So far, so good. I'm looking forward to getting deeper into the Mageia experience.

[isadora]

A very warm welcome to the Mageia-forum and community manseraider!!!!!

Wish you great fun with your ahead experiences, have magical times around!!!!

[informal310]

Hi! I used to love Mandriva, the friendliness of the community, and those wonderful networking tools. I was upset when pretty much disappeared, but have been quite heartened by finding out about mageia. Installed without a hitch, has all those great tools intact (especially samba. Heck, even got pipelight stream Netflix in Chrome. Glad to be here, and I suppose really glad to be home. Thanks to all the devs who kept their dream alive. Vive le Francais!

[xboxboy]

Hi informal.

You'll find a lot of Ex mandriva users here. The tools are great aren't they?

And you're right about the community. The guys here are fantastic. Welcome "home"

[piratedpirate]

Hi Im SJ! I live in the USA. I cut the cord to Microsoft over 2 years ago and wished I knew about Linux years ago. I used openSUSE as a recovery tool on an old laptop infected by a nasty virus to get my data and installed Ubuntu.

I am a Linux user for over a year and half. I started off on Kubuntu to Linux Mint to Ubuntu Mate. I was the typical Debian Deviant Lover, and I wanted something different. So I jumped ship to openSUSE. I loved it for the first 7 months until the announcement of Leap. I left it after that announcement. The search was on for a new distro to call home.

I tried Manjaro, and was not a fan of the Arch User Repository. I tried Antegros, and I was stuck at the Plymouth screen. I was able to get Korora loaded, but Apper failed to get the software repos. So I hit distrowatch and continued to search for my new distro. It was there I found Mageia. I know if I contacted the distor communities, I would be able hurdle the problems. I just wanted something to work straight out of the box.

I think Mageia is a great distro. I have no issues so far, as a user for the past month. I am impressed by the stability of the entire system. I have yet to start up bash to fix an issue. Plus I like the timeliness of updates to my computer. Mageia is a well oiled machine.

I am a research coordinator to pay my bills, but I dabble in tech writing too. I write for a small time magazine that focuses mostly on Ubuntu users. However the editor allows me to write a small monthly article about Google's Chromebooks. I am a fan of cloud computing and seeing how it will change our society.

If you have any questions you can PM me.

-SJ

[benmc]

Hello piratedpirate and welcome to Mageia.

The forum users are a pretty friendly crew, so if you have a problem, feel free to post a query.
I hope that you find Mageia the "home" you have been looking for, as the Mageia team push for stability of the system over cutting / bleeding edge.

I left MS behind a few years ago.
There is a laptop here with Vista on in but I dont think it has been booted into since Mageia 1.
I have been a Mandrake, Mandriva and Mageia user for quite a few years, coming up 10yrs and have found that there is likely to be a non-windows program to do your favourite process, -audio, video or other.

[isadora]

Welcome to the magic of Mageia piratedpirate!!!!!

Great introduction, always interesting to know, how people make their way to Mageia.
As you might have noticed, Mageia is all about volunteering. It's completely open, anyone can stick into the process of the making.
And because of this, we are always searching for new power:
https://www.mageia.org/en-gb/contribute/

Have magical times around!!!

[doktor5000]

I will be contributing once I remember my Paypal password. IMHO the distro is only as strong as the community and the community involvement. I am fluent in the Chrome OS and Debian repos. I am still learning about the rpm repos. Chromebooks are not a desktop environment, Mageia is the desktop environment.

-SJ

[orbs28]

Hi I just wanted to say as a new Linux user I love mageia.I was using kubuntu but this is so much better as it is so much more user friendly from a long time windows user .I cant say enough good words about it.
I was so impressed with what the team has done i donated and I hope i can get off windows forever one day as I don't like the path they seem to be taking with windows 10.I discovered this distro on a linux mag from the uk and I had never heard about it before so I am happy as .Thank you.

[isadora]

Welcome to the Mageia-forum and community orbs28!!!!!

Great introduction, and even greater to hear about your first impressions.
Thanks for your donation!!! Spread the good news, and have magical times around!!!!

[Snubbi]

Hello everyone,

I have some Linux experience. I started using Red Hat 5.2 in frebuar 1999 and has been using Linux since.

I'm a new Mageia user. For the past few years I've been using Linux Mint, which I still love, but right now I will try Mageia.

I used Mandrake from autumn 1999 until spring 2001. So far, so good. I'm looking forward to getting deeper into the Mageia experience.

[isadora]

Thanks for your introduction Snubbi, and very welcome to the Mageia-forum and community.

To get into the ultimate deepness of the Mageia-experience, is by means of contributing into the distro.
So please also have a look at:
https://www.mageia.org/en-gb/contribute/

Have magical times around!!!!

[Snubbi]

Thanks for your introduction Snubbi, and very welcome to the Mageia-forum and community.

To get into the ultimate deepness of the Mageia-experience, is by means of contributing into the distro.
So please also have a look at:
https://www.mageia.org/en-gb/contribute/

Have magical times around!!!!

I sent an email to kristho to contribute translation too Danish

[isadora]

Much appreciated!!!

[filip]

Hi Snubbi and welcome.

I sent an email to kristho to contribute translation too Danish

If kristho will not respond in time please join i18n team mailing list and we'll gladly try to assist you.

[Germ]

Just so I don't miss anyone, I'll say.... Welcome Everybody!!

[isadora]

Please, prevent cross-posting.

Welcome Stephen, welcome back and magical times around!!!

[johnt11]

Hi everyone,
Not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question and if not then my apology.
I'm intending to but a system with an I3 6100 processor and a Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H motherboard.
I know that these specs are above the minimum cited on this site to run mageia. I also googled the net to research this topic as well.
I was confident that the above system would work till I read the following comment from the Gigabyte we site regarding this board which is as follows.

"Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, please download Linux driver from chipset vendors′ website or 3rd party website.".

About myself:
I'm relatively new to linux and have not experienced mageia before.
I certainly would like to leave "windows" behind.
I have retired, so I don't have money that I can waste.
I don't know enough about linux (mageia) to feel confident in my decision.
I'm also an Australian so I hope you don't hold that against me -LOL.

My question is: will I be able to run mageia on the above sytem without too many problems?

Once again, my apology if this is the wrong place to ask this question.

Regards
John.

[xboxboy]

Hi john. I too am australian. Welcome to Mageia. It will do everything you want, unless you have a special software use. I suspect it will run fine. I can't look into it right now sorry. Best if you post your questions in the beginners-simple questions section of the forum. You'll find a great community here.