I have been using Linux since 2006, mostly Debian and Ubuntu flavors. Plus I test many distros as well. I just installed Mageia 5 MATE 32-bit yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised. It seems to be a well polished distro. I have managed to install virtually everything I currently have on my Linux Mint MATE & Ubuntu MATE laptops (4 Lenovo Thinkpads T61 & T400). I have tested other RPM based distros in the past. But Mageia 5 seems to be easier to use and more user friendly than any of them, although installation did take considerably longer than Mint or Ubuntu MATE.
My one suggestion to the developers is to make installation of various packages easier than it currently is with Mageia. I had to go on the web and take considerable time to find a couple of the packages I use, rather than finding them in the package manager as I do with Mint & Ubuntu MATE.
As far as Mageia 6 goes, how does one do a release upgrade? Can it be done straight from the web or does one have to do a fresh install from media such as a DVD iso? Thanks in advance.