What sets Mageia apart from other distros, and your choice?

[tallship]

What makes Mageia Linux your choice when it comes to Linux distros? Specifically, what sets Mageia apart from other distros, making it the distro of your choosing?

In offering answers, let's think about the things that Mageia has to offer that other distros don't, or don't do as well as Mageia does. If we say, "community", well there are many distros that have community - the largest being Debian. So why Mageia's community over that of Debians, if "community is one of your reasons.

If it's "Ease of Installation", Then what about the ease of installation compared to the ease of installation one might experience with other distros (most of which are in fact easy to install too)

If it's "Package management", then what about the aspects package management system that makes Mageia so desirable for you.

You get the idea

I'm asking because this discussion came up earlier on one of the team lists and it seemed most appropriate to take this question to the users themselves and ask them directly.

So, without further ado...

What set Mageia apart from other Linux distros, making it YOUR distro of choice?

I'm looking forward to reading everyone's responses

Kindest regards,

.

[wobo]

Some of the answers are given in an earlier survey which asked for issues which are essential for the users in a distribution. As this survey was done among Mageia users you could probably take some hints from there (if an essential feature was not provided by Mageia this user would probably not be a Mageia user (that's an easy assumption, I admit).
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1661

As for your questions, I would not know what to answer. For me there is no special single reason to use Mageia (apart from my earlier involvement in the project). As for the distribution itself there is nothing I could not have with others of the popular distributions as well - this is Linux after all and I can always change settings and visual appearance to my preferences.

So why do I use Mageia? I think it's the overall package, where (honestly speaking) the organisation, the community, and surely certain people are ranking even before the technical features. I can make most of the popular or not so popular RPM based distros look and act like Mageia (as salready said above). But changing into another community and leaving people I've been communicating and working with (some people I know for many years) is much more difficult.

So, in the end, the distribution of Mageia could do a lot worse before I would think about leaving as a user!

[isadora]

For me Linux was Mandrake/Mandriva from the early years 2000.
Now, there is only one choice left in that regard.

[cmj]

Mageia has a little bit of everything. It can be as easy as you want it to as advanced as you make it. Good gui installer and a better cli installer when it comes to packages. Nice options when it comes to the dvd or network installer. It just feels proffesional even if it's community based.

[benmc]

1/ the people that make up the community

the posts [ q + a ] are from real people

2/ A quality professional product. I use KDE version
The not waiting for Windows[tm] to do what you so desperately need for it to do. RIGHT NOW!!!! I have yet to have Mageia hang or freeze after a year.

[PiElle]

The Mageia Control Center!

[Kold1981]

I've been trying out the beta since beta 1 on my laptop and beta 2 on my second computer and what surprises me and is making me think about leaving Mandriva for good is just how stable it is .... this is a beta and yet i've not had any bugs like in Mandriva, Kubuntu (i'm a KDE user) or OpenSuse and so i'm using it as a normal system ... i would never have done this with Mandriva or any other distro... can't wait to get the final release and try it on my main computer

[Anakin]

I had Mageia/Mandriva as a favourite since Mandrake 8 and have seen the great improvments.
Mageia is the most userfriendly distro in the game at the moment except for the lack of Wubi or someting like that.

If it wasn't for the trubble for linux newcomers to test Mageia as simple they can test Kubuntu with Wubi i honestly think the world is ready for Linux as a real alternative on the desktop for everyone with Mageia.
Not just geeks like us.

Just my 50c

Have a nice day an be nice
Anakin

[lomion]

The Mageia Control Center!

+1

[tkmm]

My very first Linux distro was Mandrake 8. I got tired of distros like Ubuntu where flashiness is a priority over functionality. I've also had hardware issues (wifi and video) with various other Linux distros. I left Linux in favor of FreeBSD, but soon became tired of a new version being released for the sake of a new version being released. BSD has terrific documentation, but I grew tired of having to do things manually.

For Mageia seems to be more stable than the other distros(BSD included) and it allows for things to be as simple and GUI based as I want or as intricate and involved on the CLI as I want. For me Mageia is about Stability, Balance, Functionality, and a great community of users and developers who really seem to have the spirit of FREEDOM that Linux was first formed in. Mageia worked for me perfectly straight out of the box. It allows for plenty of customization, but it isn't necessary to have to go tweaking just so things will work.

[andre]

I really don't know... Maybe it is because it just works (sometimes breaks, like the time my /etc disappeared).
The community? I'm really not a social guy and I have little participation. So, it's not the community (as said, there are more communities).
The Control Center? Come on, other distros were just as easy for me. So, it's not the Control Center.
The Repos? Heck, no! I came from deb based distros with their huge repos. I sometimes get mad having to compile apps just because they are not in the repos (or are too outdated). So, it's not the Repos.

My route to Mageia was Ubuntu (I loved it, until it started crashing too often), then PCLinuxOS (KDE) (never worked for me), then Kubuntu (KDE with Ubuntu repos woot!, then it started crashing and there was little support), then Mageia (KDE) just days after the first release. I got mad (with repos) many times and I confess that I searched for alternative distros, but in the end I'm sticking with Mageia. I guess this distro has "un je ne sais quois" that keeps me hooked.

[Garthhh]

I had been using ubun since 08, when the hdd on my laptop broke [no xp install discs]
the ubun community is very big & helpful
over the years I watched the deep pockets of MS [mark shuttleworth] take it off in what he considers the "best" direction
the Unity DE being the most blatant example
as I looked at different distros a year or so ago, my priorities:

close to the source, can't very well use a fork if the parent is going a strange direction
there is a whole discussion about Debian or RedHat
a couple of things made my decision
RH has a stable income stream
Debian not so much

Community
most of what a community is manifests in the user forum
debian has a great community, but is a little sanctimonious, more open than thou, not very noob friendly
ubuntu has a great community of users, admin will lose their tiny reptilian brains if you dare to speak in less than glowing terms about the organization.
Mint is a funny place, as long as you don't point out that you can't do some things across a network all is well.
every forum it's quirks & characters
give & take is normal
Our little goat rodeo is developing nicely

the distro itself is needs to be user friendly
for me, that means I don't want to muck about with configuration files or CLI
this is more about the advice you receive, than the actual tools available
MCC & drak tools, compare well, I suspect that with the continuing downward spiral of mandriva, the devs will make them their own...
part of user friendly is some measure of stability, so 6 month release cycles are out
I would have to say, I find it comforting that the release of M2 was delayed until it was ready

the magic continues

[PietroTux88]

Hi folks and people,

i have choose Mageia because is very simple and faster than Debian, but Debian begim be slow with repository testing and sid or stable i can't every day have a system very buggy with rolling updates. I like project Mageia because is maintance on community free. Im very bored od dists deb based ubuntu,mint,debian,and other. I like now RPM very faster much and stable and very stable and secure.

[wintpe]

For me personally, I love KDE4 and really churn at the thought of using gnome (any version) and its derivatives.

I administer/maintain the build system on a large redhat installation, and hence, the familiarity of the underlying code/config
makes my life easy, but I dont really like fedora, although if Mandriva had not been saved by Mageia (my opinion)
I would have probably moved to fedora, with KDE4, and spend weeks trying to get it to look like M*.

Thats leads me on the another aspect of Mageia, it takes me two mins to install the themes i like under KDE (win7 and vistar7) (yes i like the windows look, just not the product) and its exactly like i want it.

Then theres my friends and neighbours and relatives.

I can install Mageia in place of windows, and almost (maybe spend an hour showing them) walk away, and not have to return.

Thats what windows is supposed to be like.....

I noticed (although we should ignore it) that the last 7 days of distrowatch put Mageia at no 2 bellow Mint and above ubuntu. Nice while it lasts......

Ive just finished loading Mageia 2 64 on a jetway atom 230 with 1 gig of ram and a sloooow harddisk, just to make sure that my fav apps all work, etc.

looks quite nice.

not sure i like the kde slide/side bars, need to see if i can change those.

otherwise really nice.

regards peter

[oldator]

Just installed Mageia 2 on a new, homebuilt machine. MSI 760 GM-P23, 64 bit mobo, AMD FX 8120, octa core processor, Nvidia 210, 1 gig video card, Samsung 128 gig SSD, 8 gig DDR3, 600 watt power supply, and a Seagte 500 gig HD. I have Win 7 64 bit, and Peppermint 2, 64 bit, on the SSD. Mageia 2, 64, bit is on the Seagate. Boot up time for Peppermint 2 is under 15 seconds. Mandrake/Mandriva was my OS of choice for many years, and switched to Mint in 2009. Gotta see how Mageia stacks up, really not a big fan of Gnome.

[rehcla]

its European and seems to be focused on stability. reliability and security!
I am a long tine Fedora user (around 9 years) but Mageia 2 may convince me to switch

[PiElle]

its European and seems to be focused on stability. reliability and security!
I am a long tine Fedora user (around 9 years) but Mageia 2 may convince me to switch

I use both.
And both are very good.
Surely Mageia is more stable and reliable for every day work, while Fedora seems to be more focused on being the most cutting edge and up to date Distribution ...

[djennings]

Lots of good points here.

For me it is not just the Mageia Control Centre (which is still IMO the best out there), but there are other often neglected features such as the fact that Mageia makes a darned good server. Most server packages install 'out of the box' with sane configuration and security settings. I also maintain an Ubuntu server, but would swap it out in an instant for Mageia if my hosting provider supported it.

I am sure most Mageia users are not even aware about some of the tools in our distro. For example install the drakwizard package and your Mageia Control Centre will expand to include a number of server setup wizards.

[fredrik]

I started using Linux with Red Hat 6 or so, in the times where I also used Unix at the university. I have been using/trying a lot of different distros during my time, but always favoured RPM based distros. it probably boils down to what one is more used to. So why Mageia (with KDE):

It feels familiar as it is RPM based and things like config files are as I am used to.

I like the way Mageia configured the KDE desktop, it is new and fresh but keeps basic functionality like in the days of KDE 3. The menu is easy to use, the desktop is usable and no plasmoids are there by default, but can be added if I like.

It has a very good balance of ease of use and configurability. I dont have too much time to "play" with my systems, so that things work out of the box or are easily and intuitively configured is good, but still there is the full potential to tweak as much as one wish. Sometimes I go the extra mile to change something to just like I want to have it.

Basic Linux things are still there and havent been hidden like multiple desktops, the basic setup with a root user and then normal user etc. Like the multiple desktops is one of the greatest Linux usability features. If I have to use any other operating system, say at work, I always miss the additional desktops (There I need to have all open windows crammed in one desktop). And being able to log in as root is for me a basic right, to lock the user to use sudo is not the way I like it. As well as the option to log in via several TTY:s. To be honest I still find it quite cool to be able to use my PC as a multiuser system (like to old DEC or VAX machines).

The Control Center is good and also the package manager. Again there is this balance of an easy GUI but still you get the information of whats going on, so I can monitor what packages are installed etc. Searching and selecting packages in the package manager works well and I can even check from which repo it will be brought in.

Security features are not preventing me from using my system (as some distros may have it being too restrictive and protective). Like USB devises are mounted to a normal user and things like that.

The balance between free and non-free is also good. I am a strong believer of free software and I think a distro should be held as free as possible. But then again I am also practical, if a web page requires flash or my video card needs a non-free driver then by conscious decision it can be chosen. So if a free alternative is available and works well enough I think that should be used, but sometimes for practical reasons one should be able to also chose a non-free alternative.

The repos are quite complete, of-course there have been times I missed a package or two, but most of the time I have found what I need. The scientific packages are quite well represented btw.

Stability is important, there have been distros I have thought looks very nice and works well for me until the stability problems have started and I have left the distro. Again its a balance between bleeding edge and stability, but my preference is more to the stability side. Especially now when I think Linux has matured to such a state that new features and changes to packages are more nice to have things than really critical features (this depends on the package of-course, but in general).

These are things that came to my mind just now, maybe there is more, but I think its the balance (ease of use / configurability, stability / bleeding edge, desktop / server).

Happily having Mageia 2 as my main distro.

[macxi]

I'm just a user, I'm not a developer ou technician. I use Mageia for production, not test, so I need it to be easy and stable. So, I use Mageia because:

1 - is a great KDE, which is the environment I like to use;

2 - the Mageia Team keeps the distro Mageia updated and with stability, this is the ideal distro for me;

3 - have a great manager software which is the MCC - Mageia Control Center;

4 - have a great repository system software (with many software and stable), increasing the number of packages and getting better;

5 - have an excellent community support, with great participation, great technical quality and solidarity, both in English and in Portuguese Brazil (pt_BR). The faults I have found in Mageia I have discussed here in the forums and many people help me. The errors reported here or in bugzilla are corrected by Team Mageia after updates;

6 - is simple to obtain, install, configure and use and is all translated into my language Portuguese Brazil (pt_BR), since the installation process up to the interface after installation;

7 - is a great continuity of Mandriva 2010.1, except that the Mageia is made with the participation of the community and is getting better;

8 – its communication policy is transparent and open, with website, blog, forums, mailing lists, IRC, wiki, etc;

9 - the values ​​of this projec Mageia is of non-profit organizations, free software and collaboration crooss-distros;

10 - is a standalone distro (the development of Mageia not directly dependent on other distros). Mageia to have their own packages, have a whole infrastructure of its own, have a great team specializing in this type of work (developing linux - Mageia.Org founders and community volunteers) coordinating the development of Mageia. All this quality makes me believe in this project, which is professional and long term. What makes me want to participate and help this project. Is a community distro, but with deadlines, discipline and organization of a distro very professional.

There are other distros with some of these qualities, but for me, all these qualities that I listed above, I find together in Mageia, creating a set of very positive factors. So, I have celebrated because Mageia expands my freedom of choice in a positive way. These are some reasons I use Mageia.

Note: the same topic in portuguese in Mageia do Brasil Forum: Depoimento: meus 10 principais motivos para usar a MAGEIA - Mai 05, 2013

[lectus]

As a Debian/Ubuntu lover this is why I moved to Mageia:
* Mageia Control Center: All configurations in one place.
* Best KDE implementation. Runs stable and fast without crashing. After Unity and Gnome3, KDE conquered my heart (previously I was a Gnome2 lover).
* Good choice of applications on the LiveDVD.
* Allows installation to run inside a live session so I can test the hardware and browse the net and not be bored. And the installation is fast too!
* Allows proprietary codecs and drivers. NVIDIA worked out of the box. This is great. I like free software, but I don't want my distro to be fanatic about it to the point of sacrificing usability.
* Supports my language. I wouldn't use a non-localized distro.
* Independent community distro, which I hope will make sane choices together with the community. The choices include: default desktop environments, privacy settings, applications, etc.
* Easy to use, but flexible too. As I could see I could grab the minimal CD and later install Fluxbox if I wanted a lighter alternative to KDE.

[R_Head]

I am a Mandrake/Mandriva user since 7.0
Became Club Member in 2002 and always ran the Power Pack

After the Mandriva debacle it was natural to gravitate to Mageia.

Tried the new OpenMandriva Lx and to be honest Rosa is not a big deal to me.
Installed fairly easy and quick; just no good CODECs and Media Players.

What drove me here is the familiarity with Mandriva 2010.2 and back (feel and look).
The repositories are as good as before (PLF rocks!).

And as stated before... MCC rocks !

[linuxradio]

Just saw this thread, and as a long time Mandrake/Mandriva and now Mageia user who also has a lot of experience with other distros, I'll put my two cents in. Here is what I want from a distro:

1. RPM based. For my money it is the most reliable and (theoretically) standardized package format going related to *nix operating systems.
2. Committed to FOSS principles while giving users the choice to use non-free software if they so choose.
3. Uses a fixed release cycle and is stable enough to use for work.
4. Uses a stable, full featured command line package manager. I have always been a big fan of URPMI over YUM (and now even Red Hat is preparing to use a different package manger). In all these years, I've yet to have an issue with urpmi, it allows me to search packages from the command line, and IMHO is the best RPM package manager utility due to the stability and plethora of features.
5. Does NOT pay bogus Microsoft patent license fees/ransom money. No offense meant to certain other RPM distros that do this, I think anyway.
6. Plain and simple, works and detects my hardware.
7. Supports an ample amount of desktop environments.
8. Gives me relatively new software, while still being stable.
9. Allows enough flexibilty to be customizable for a power user while intuitive enough for a Linux newcomer to use.
10. Does not track my searches/traffic/data/whatever for marketing purposes.
11. LEAVES MY KDE ALONE!

So anyway, you could find all of those features, in part, in other distros. Mageia is the only one that satisfies all of them, and I say this as someone who has always used my older rig to play with other distros while relying on my trusty Mandrake, and now Mageia, install.

EDIT: A few odds and ends I forgot to mention -
* Mageia still allows you to choose other bootladers during install (I'm a diehard LILO user because of its ability to just work and ease of manually re-writing my .conf file). Some other notable Mandrake forks/descendants have chosen to lock you into GRUB2, I might add.
*Option to choose the proprietary video driver during install. Not a huge deal, but it's nifty to have everything ready to go when you boot in.
*Ability to use a mirror for a net install.

So again, I can find these features/options in some other distros, but not all of them which is what really sets Mageia apart. It's the total package, so to speak.

[daniewicz]

Well stated linuxradio.

I am a Mandrake/Mandriva user since 10.0 back in 2005.

[yankee495]

The Mageia Control Center!

I told ya so!