Two Nice Discoveries on PCLinuxOS 2021

Today I bought a wireless mouse.  Truth be told, I did it because, long ago, I had read that Linux had problems running such devices and I wanted to experiment.

I had booted my laptop with PCLinuxOS and, in my ignorance, I got ready to struggle with Bluetooth to configure it.  I placed the batteries and plugged in the USB connector.  That was all it took for PCLinuxOS to start using the device correctly, he, he.  No struggle whatsoever. 

Then I remembered that I could no longer type in Japanese using PCLinuxOS because iBus simply would not be displayed in the task bar (even after a correct installation of all the packages).  So, I decided to tinker a bit to see if I could get Japanese IME to function once again.

All I did was to go to the PCLOS control center, System, Manage localization and, once there, select iBus after choosing the language.  A message asked me to restart the session, so I logged out and back in.

But the iBus icon was not in the task bar.  I looked in the menu and found "run iBus," so I ran it.  Still, no icon in the task bar.

Then, I tried to type something in the menu search space and this was my input:

PCLINUXOSはやっぱり日本語を書くことができますよ。(Of course PCLINUXOS can write in Japanese.)

The problem was that, since there was no iBus icon showing, I could not disable the Japanese IME... until I found that, in the UIM configuration, the keys to toggle iBus are meta+space:

So, that was it.

I can now type in Japanese using PCLinuxOS again... Funny that I could have done it all this time, but I just did not know how to.

One is always learning!

A Week with Mageia 8: Two Success Stories

Mageia 8 was released not long ago and I installed it as soon as it was out.  However, I took a week to work with it and see how it plays with the other distros in my laptop.

I have a multi-boot system in which I always keep  4+ distros.  Before this new install, I had PCLinuxOS, OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 (my latest install), Elive 3, MX Linux (Patio Feo), and Mageia 7.  I logically wanted to upgrade Mageia 7 to 8.

Historically, this set up has meant several grub 2- related headaches: if I installed OpenMandriva after Mageia, Mageia would boot very slowly.  If, on the other hand, Mageia controlled the grub post installation, OpenMandriva would get a kernel panic.  As I lack technical knowledge, I could never fix those problems myself.

This time, I passed on the live version and decided to install the complete release, which I nostalgically call the PowerPack.  If I recall correctly, one cannot upgrade from a live version, so I chose "install" instead of "upgrade," which wipes out the root partition.  Still, I kept /home intact.  With this distro image, the install takes more time, but it was not bad. A plus is that the process has remained pretty much consistent all these years and this makes the installation a familiar path.

When everything was done, I rebooted and Mageia 8 took over grub control.  I booted this new release and all was working great: internet connection, desktop effects, sound, and screen edges. My personal settings were preserved, so I installed my preferred programs and the system was ready. Even Steam games were kept and working.

I restarted the laptop to see if Mageia gave the other distros a problem at boot.  Nothing!  All started normally!

So, the Mageia 8 install in the laptop was a major success.  But I had one more trial: I needed to repeat the process in my daughter's desktop, which also ran Mageia 7 live version.

This attempt implied two major risks.  The first one was that, unlike the laptop, my daughter's desktop has UEFI, which complicates matters and the system language must be Spanish.  Second, my daughter was delighted with Mageia 7 since she discovered two weeks ago that she can actually plug in the PlayStation 4 controller and play her favorite Steam games with it.  

After jumping a couple UEFI loops, the installation process was completed without any major hassle. As with the laptop, I replaced the live install with the full version keeping /home and the system was working perfectly when I finally booted it.

I reinstalled the missing programs, tested everything, including Spanish translations, and all was perfect.  Then I tested Steam with the controller and, to my dispair, the buttons were not working, the sound was muted, and only the pad was recognized.  My daughter was not happy at all.

I tried to recalibrate the controller without any luck... And when I was giving up, the Mageia update alert showed me some updates that the system wanted to install.

I installed them and called it quits. I turned off the machine feeling defeated.

Today, I mustered some courage and, plugging the controller in, I started my daughter's PC and Steam to try again (with very low expectations, to be completely honest).

But behold!  The controller was working perfectly!!

I can say with all confidence that Mageia 8 is a wonderful release.  These two success stories with two different systems provide evidence of how hard the Mageia developers and community have worked to release a product of high quality that can satisfy multiple needs for different people.

Great job, Mageia team!!