[SOLVED] complaints about constant modernization (Mageia 2)

[jos]

Hello,

Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy, and should not use a young and dynamic system like Mageia ... sigh ...

I switched to Mageia 2 to be able to be up to date, I really appreciate all the work people invest in making such nice, reliable, powerful systems ...
I learned to use Linux only in 2004 or so, which is not that long ago, isn't it ? I was rapidly convinced, even if I had to learn a lot of things, they were really powerful tools, I learned how to reduce the use of the mouse because it's not adapted to human hands and arms ... I was happy with it ! One has to do a lot of tweaking, it's true, to get the system "as I want it" ... well it never really is, but I keep improving.

This is where the updates hurt : my tweaks that were valid in an old system aren't anymore in the new, so each time I have to go through some more or less laborious searching on how to do this in the new system ...
I moved to Mandriva, because I'm used to redhat-like systems, I was using Fedora before but got tired of it's "bleeding edge" philosophy, which isn't really useful if your computer is your main tool for work, so here I am with Mageia

Examples of small but annoying changes with Mageia 2, or Gnome 3.4.1 (I'm using Gnome classic) :
- I just found out that the graphical X session I'm working in is under Ctrl+Alt+F1, this used to be Ctrl+Alt+F7
- the mount location of removable drives has changed from /media/ to /run/media/USER/, obliging me to update all my links
- a usb drive that I keep attached to the computer does not get automatically mounted after boot, even if I told gnome to do mount removable drives ... if I attach one later it gets mounted, but konqueror started listing its content instead of nautilus ? How do I get nautilus back, it's perfectly able to list files ?

Well, this was mainly to express my frustration, I'm feeling better now ...
If anyone has a suggestion on how to get nautilus back, I'd be grateful. And equally, if someone could suggest me a system that is old-fashioned in user interface but up-to-date on security ...

Have a good day / evening / night !
jos

(PS and thanks you, all people around, for the efforts of making good systems ... I really appreciate it ! I do !)

[tux99]

And equally, if someone could suggest me a system that is old-fashioned in user interface but up-to-date on security ...

I think in your case long term distros like Centos 6 or Scientific Linux 6 (both Redhat EL clones) would match your requirements more closely.
They are supported with security and bugfix updates until 2020, use Gnome 2 and will get no disruptive changes for their whole lifespan.

That said they aren't perfect either, the choice of packages in the official repos is a lot more limited and while there are several third party repos that compensate for that, you have to be careful when mixing packages from third party repos as they are often incompatible with each other.

[wobo]

How about Slackware? It is not moving so fast as your average user distributions and it seems to be quite conservative.

I'm in a similar but also different situation. If I took a liking to a distribution (like Mageia 1) I hate changes which will force me to change my workflow and settings, especially the changes you mentioned which came with Mageia 2. And I will even hate it more when Grub2 will enter Mageia 3.

OTOH I understand the constant process of development and the need for improvement (although being "new" does not automaticalle mean "better"). And I am also interested in progress in general.

So I can only cite Mr. Goethe who wrote, "Zwei Seelen wohnen ach in meiner Brust" (there are 2 souls living in my breast).

[jos]

Alles Vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichnis ...

CentOS was actually the first distro I worked with, but they have (had?) a smaller user community, so in case problems arise (they did), you're pretty much on your own ... that's why I switched to Fedora at some point ...

I guess there is no ideal solution, but it helps to talk about it, especially when people start quoting Goethe ... thanks !

[tux99]

CentOS was actually the first distro I worked with, but they have (had?) a smaller user community, so in case problems arise (they did), you're pretty much on your own ... that's why I switched to Fedora at some point ...

Actually the Centos forum is quite lively these days, with quite a few very experienced and helpful veteran posters.
I rarely post there but I do keep an eye on it regularly.

Even Scientific Linux now has a user forum and I must say it's one of the friendliest easy-going Linux forums out there currently, it reminds me of mandrivausers.org during their good years. See here: http://scientificlinuxforum.org/

Also a lot more people seem to use SL as desktop OS while Centos is used more as server OS (not sure why since they are almost identical).

I guess there is no ideal solution

True but there is always at least one solution that comes closest to someone's particular ideal Linux distro. You just need to find yours.

"Probieren geht über studieren!" (not from Goethe )

[jos]

Thanks !
I'm trying CentOS know, I'm sure there will be many things that will not work, and many things that are not available ... maybe I'll be back to mageia one day

Cheers,
jos

[isadora]

Good luck jos. Hope to see you around some day.
Can you please mark the topic as [SOLVED] for the time?

[jos]

OK, I edited the topic ... I wouldn't call it a "solution", though...

Bye !

[dyfi]

If you want an OS that will work out of the box like magic try SolusOS based on Debian.

[wobo]

What a pity, just looked at the requirements of SolusOS because it looks like the right one for my netbook - it needs a 1024x768 display which rules out most 10" netbooks.

[dyfi]

Post a query on the forum - Ikey, (project leader), is very active and obliging.

[wobo]

Do you think he will change the requirements for me?

[dyfi]

I only use desktop PCs - but am fairly sure I have read somewhere in the forum whereby it has been installed to a netbook - not sure of the screen size. One of my old PCs uses a 14inch 800x600 resolution screen and that works OK.

The link below was posted this morning.


http://forums.solusos.com/viewtopic.php ... 1001#p7692

[wobo]

Thanks. The link isn't helpful but I joined the forum nevertheless to inquire more about a workaround. If Mageia can support 1024x600, others can do it as well

[doktor5000]

If you want an OS that will work out of the box like magic try

Mageia?

[dyfi]

Yes, Mageia as well! I always have two distros on my PC - Mageia and Solus.

[fraterlinux]

I hope that the pressures for modernization in Mageia not sacrifice the stability of the distro. Many distros releases its biannual as a test for your commercial versions. Mageia is different because it is stable, functional and clean.

[wintpe]

I Agree with DoKtor

there is no better desktop than mageia, ill say mageia 1 for now......as thats stood the test of a years use.

I also use Centos 5.8 and 6.2 as well as redhat 5.4-> 6.2

Centos is realy a server OS not a desktop, hence why it is so stable, and so very conservative.

all the redhat 6x derived versions have given up a significant amount of conservatism, with the aim of taking advantage of some needed updates.

this was in response to many people in the high performance low latency buisnesses.

so RH/Centos/Scentific 5.8 is for servers that are stable and reliable.

6.x is for servers that are cutting edge.

These products dont make good workstations unless you are stuck in the 90's , stuck in your ways, and dont like change.

regards peter

[doktor5000]

At work i need to use a custom version of RHEL 6.2, and oh boy, what would i give to have a more recent/better working version of KDE, like with Mageia 1.

[fraterlinux]

A Mageia's differential is be very stable, polished and well compiled. Lightweight the system runs, the kernel-desktop is fast and has no bugs and crashes common in these types of kernels ... But many complain that the distro is conservative and does not bring innovations.

[doktor5000]

But many complain that the distro is conservative and does not bring innovations.

Mind to give some specific examples?

[fraterlinux]

Some talk about the innovations of Mandriva 2011 and Rosa Marathon 2012 in appearance and tools. The system got several bugs and MCC does not work perfectly. But changed ...

I prefer 1000 times Mageia to fulfill what it promises: an easy system and functional ...

[Brodo]

I know how the OP feels.

I have no problems with upgrades but WHY do the developers have to change shortcut keys and config programs in a seemingly random fashion ?

The classic example is the totally different config programs between KDE 3.x and KDE 4 (and I know this is an old and tired whinge). After battling with it for nearly 2 years I still consider the KDE 4 config program a total PITA. It is nowhere near as intuitive as the earlier version and the adjustments are scattered around like a deck of cards thrown into a cyclone with very little in the way of logic or continuity.

Unfortunately, KDE is not the only organisation guilty of such actions (Can someone please tell me where the "find file" search function has gone in Dolphin ?).

At least with Windows there has been some continuity through the different versions. i.e. If you can drive Win 95 you can muddle your way through Win 7.

Improvement is good but change just for the sake of changing things is total disrespect to the end user [/rant]

Brodo

[doktor5000]

Unfortunately, KDE is not the only organisation guilty of such actions (Can someone please tell me where the "find file" search function has gone in Dolphin ?).

Press Ctrl+F and find out
One of those standard keyboard shortcuts ...

But for sysemsettings, i feel with you. FWIW, you can switch it to the old layout, so that it represents a tree structure, did you know?
Apart from that, there are definitely quite some things, which are regressions in KDE and loss of function, which is quite sad and could be avoided.