First 2023 post: OpenMandriva Lx ROME 23.01 is here!

Two days ago, Distrowatch published the announcement that OpenMandriva is making its debut into the world of rolling distros with its ROME (Rolling OpenMandriva Edition, I presume) release. 

I had upgraded the system not long ago, but I wanted to make sure that I am using this release, so I followed ben79's most detailed walkthrough here.  Big thanks, ben79!!!

Everything worked perfectly and my system is stable as a rock.

I checked with uname -a and kernel 6.1.2 is running, so everything is updated and working.  So far, no disruption whatsoever.

AWESOME!!

My #1 Reason to Love OpenMandriva Lx

I want to start this post with a disclaimer: I am aware that all Linux distros have their pros and cons, and my purpose is not to berate any OS choice readers have made.  I simply want to share with you what happened to me recently, as I upgraded to OpenMandriva Lx 4.3.  This experience reminded me why, after all these years, I still love OpenMandriva.

A second point I'd like to clarify is that I am not discussing benchmarks, compilers, package managers or any other technical matters here.  To be honest, they go beyond my understanding: I am a non-technical Linux user.

I was running the rolling version of OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 and I realized that a major upgrade was available.  So, I decided to upgrade and here is where my story starts.

After a whooping number of packages had upgraded in a process that took like 45 minutes (I do not have a very fast connection), I booted into a soundless system: the computer said that there was no sound. I did not panic and visited the OpenMandriva forums.  There, I found a post that I should have read BEFORE attempting the upgrade.  In it, ben79 described all the steps to have a successful upgrade.

Of course, I had not followed any of the steps, so my system was operational, but erratic. And, although I could enable the sound easily following the post instructions, I decided to roll back and start over.

So, I put my old OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 back in, upgraded following the steps and this time I booted into a far better system.  I corrected the sound issue by installing the pulseaudio package from the repository and then started to configure the system.

That's where, inadvertently, I messed up again.  When I tried to configure the printer, I put a third party package and later discovered that cups refused to work.  Regardless of what I tried, the system would say that there was a bad descriptor and it was impossible to have the printer to work.

This problem took me to the OpenMandriva forums once again, where I posted my situation to the best of my abilities without expecting prompt help.  But I was wrong, the reply came fast as lightning from ben79, who did all his best to point me into what had gone wrong and, after trying several approaches with no success, I decided to start from scratch by rolling back again to version 4.2.

With a professional, friendly and polite demeanor, ben79 suggested me to use the rolling snapshot and pointed me to it, which definitely was going to save a lot of time.  Indeed, in a matter of 20 minutes after the download, I booted OpenMandriva Lx 4.3 with sound and with no printer problems!

You see, this is the number 1 reason why I still love OpenMandriva: its community members!  I thank all developers for their work and community for their eagerness to help others.  And thank you very much to you, ben79, for your politeness, patience, and willingness to help me!

  

Some Issues and Challenges

The excessive amount of work has kept me away from my blog, that's true.  However, the fact that my Linux distros have been performing beyond my expectations has also, in a way, stopped me from writing here.  

I mean... There's very little to write about when nothing breaks.

But then I noticed several problems:

1.  Insync and OpenMandriva Lx:

The upgrade to OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 removed my Insync client on my laptop.  I do not know what the problem was (a Python issue, maybe?).  I have not been able to make it come back.

2.  Insync and PCLinuxOS:

The update I applied yesterday produced the same problem with Insync that I had in OpenMandriva.  So, my laptop cannot sync files with Insync in PCLinuxOS, either. 

3.  Mesa updates and sound problems in Mageia 8:

This is something I have seen before in my desktops.  Four Mesa-related packages ask me to uninstall Steam, which I do not want to do, so I've been postponing such updates for a long time.

Then I noticed that VLC stopped working and that my repo database in MCC was acting weird, refusing to install certain tainted packages.  This led to mute audio in videos played with SMplayer, Mplayer, and Kplayer.

I decided to experiment with these because I need the audio in the desktop to work, so I installed the four Mesa-related files and, sure enough, Mageia got rid of Steam.

My year with Fedora helped me there.  Instead of using MCC, I opened Konsole and used DNF following these instructions from the Mageia Wiki:

 

• If nonfree or tainted repositories are desired, they can be activated using dnf config-manager as shown with this example for 64 bit system (replace x86_64 with i586 for 32 bit):
  

dnf config-manager --set-enabled mageia-x86_64-nonfree updates-x86_64-nonfree
dnf config-manager --set-enabled mageia-x86_64-tainted updates-x86_64-tainted

• 32-bit repositories are turned off by default on 64-bit x86. If you need them:
  

dnf config-manager --set-enabled mageia-i586 updates-i586

With that, after running dnf-update, I could get steam, vlc, ffmpeg, and other packages back.  This repaired the problem with video sound, but VLC is still not operational.

I'll try to fix this.  When I get some time.

 

 

OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 "Argon": First Impressions after Install

Today is my second day using the newly released OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 Argon in my desktop computer and I'd like to start by saying that this is NOT a technical review. 

 

Please do not misinterpret me.  I do not mean that I under appreciate the hard work of the OpenMandriva developers and community in making sure that everything under the hood of this distro functions smoothly; it's quite the opposite.  I, for one, truly value their commitment and effort.  However, I cannot pretend to grasp the technicalities.  I am one of those users who do not understand what "Qt Framework 5.15.2, LLVM/clang 11.0.1, systemd 247, Java 15, Calamares 3.2.35, binutils 2.36.1, gcc 10.2." imply on the system.

My perspective is, then, one of a non-technical user and this is what I have seen so far:

1.  Installation

After booting the live usb on a computer with secure boot and UEFI, I ran the installation process, which I found considerably faster this time.  I believe that the whole process took less than 15 minutes from start to end and it was very straight forward (well, providing that I have some experience installing other distros and OpenMandriva Lx in the past).  The only weird thing was that, when the installation was complete, despite I clicked on "restart the system," nothing happened and I had to reboot the computer manually.

2.   Configuration

I chose to wipe out the root partition and keep the home partition.  In the past, this has given me some problems but this time was different.  Argon kept my desktop settings (wallpaper, effects, panel configurations, etc. with the obvious omission of the programs that were not installed) to the point that I doubting if I had booted to 4.2 or if I was still using 4.1.   Had not been for the Falkon icon pinned to the task bar, I would have assumed it was 4.1 even though I saw 4.2 in the splash screen.  

After I installed my personal use programs (Firefox, Steam, Insync, WINE), I was pleased to see that everything was preserved: bookmarks, games, and synchronized files.  This means that my computer was practically the same after less than an hour.

3.  Responsiveness

The system is working faster than before.  However, I did notice two issues:  the wired connection would come to a halt and the print screen key was not working.

I launched the network configuration and browsed over the tabs without knowing what I was doing.  Yet, I found that, under general configuration, the priority of the connection was set to -100.  I changed it to 3 and the issue was fixed.  

Regarding the print screen key, the situation is that the key assignation for that key points to "launch screen capture tool" and this instruction does not seem to call KDE Spectacle.  I reassigned that to "launch spectacle" and it took care of the problem.

There were some problems getting some Steam games to run.  Those are Windows games but I tweaked some WINE settings and managed to get Tomb Raider IV to function.  I did not have luck with Crayon Physics Deluxe.  Even so, the rest of the programs that I run with WINE are fine.   Bendy and the Ink Machine runs fine out of the box.

Conclusion

From my humble perspective as a non-technical user, I find OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 a solid release and I am extremely pleased with its practically seamless transition and usability.  It is going  to stay as the OS of my production desktop computer for sure.

Kudos to everyone who made it possible and BIG THANKS!!

 

Getting Ready to Deploy OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 "Argon"

 Yesterday, the release of OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 was announced.

I already downloaded the .ISO and right now I am putting it into a USB drive (with ROSA Image Writer, which makes the task very easy).

Unfortunately, I do not have time to install it now, so I will do that later today.

The RC was very good.  I hope that the last release is great.

First Distro Testing of 2021: OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 Argon RC

Yesterday, I read the DistroWatch announcement that OpenMandriva 4.2 RC had been released, so I decided to download it to give it a quick glimpse.

All the technicalities are found here.  To a non-technical Linux user like me, they do not say much, except for the upgraded versions of the programs I use, like Firefox, LibreOffice, etc.

I really want to see how this new release looks on my desktop, so I used the Rosa Image writer to create the live USB and ran it.  This is what I found:

1.  It does not have any problem to boot with my nagging UEFI PC.  That's great! 

 

 Notice the "rolling" text...

2.  OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 RC boots fast.  The DE was ready in the live session in around 30 seconds.  Is this what the zstandard does? The description reads "zstandard - new real-time compression algorithm, providing high compression ratios implemented in our kernel, provides faster boot- new real-time compression algorithm, providing high compression ratios implemented in our kernel, provides faster boot."  I remember the old days of Mandriva, when I had Mandriva InstantOn, which booted the computer in 30 seconds or less.

3.  Everything is working: sound, effects, USB headset, and even the WebCam (with VLC)

4.  It comes with the OM Feeling-like user interface changer, so that different users can quickly turn the DE into something that resembles Ubuntu, Windows 7, Windows 10, or Mac OS.  

 

5. You must install Firefox and GIMP because they do not come with the live version.  But Kdenlive has been upgraded to version 20.12.0!

All in all, this seems very promising!  Great job!!

UPDATE:  I also booted the live USB on my laptop and everything is running smoothly (including the wi-fi and the webcam via Kamoso). 

 

Steam client crash in OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 Fixed!

After fixing some boot problems (due to a careless update of another OS), I discovered that Steam is now working in OpenMandriva 4.1.

Great!!

Honestly, I do not know if it was fixed or if my installing of GRUB editor (which was removed in the new OpenMandriva) did the trick.

Whatever the case, Steam is now working!

Using a Gaming USB Headset on Linux (OpenMandriva, Mageia, PCLOS, Fedora and Elive)

I bought a new headset for my laptop two days ago.  Since the store did not have many options available, I went for a Combat Argom Tech piece that is more expensive than the headsets that I normally buy.

However, I did not pay attention to one detail: this headset does not have a plug to a standard headphone jack, but has a USB connection.  When I plugged it to one of the USB ports of my laptop, which I booted with PCLinuxOS, the computer speakers reproduced sound but I could hear nothing with the headphones. I looked at the audio icon on the task bar, where there was an entry for "Multimedia headset [Gigaware by Ignition L.P.] and noticed that I could listen to sound by sliding the volume control, but there was no audio from YouTube videos and audio players.  So, I clicked on the audio settings and selected the Multimedia headset option as default.  This simple action solved the problem both on PCLinuxOS, Mageia 6, and Fedora 29:

Settings on Plasma--PCLinuxOS

Settings on Plasma--Mageia 6

OpenMandriva Lx 3, however, required no action from me because the headset was working out of the box.

Settings on Plasma--OpenMandriva Lx 3

With OpenMandriva, the headphones were also functional for playing on Steam without any intervention from me.

On Fedora 29, I had to change to Windowed screen in each game individually to be able to tick the box in Plasma like this:

Plasma settings for Steam game "Melody's Escape"--Fedora 29

UPDATE:  Fedora 30 was released two days ago.  Just as with OpenMandriva Lx, the headset was fully functional for Steam games.

I could not do this on Mageia, so no sound for Steam games on that OS.  UPDATE: Almost a week after I posted this, I booted Mageia and ran Steam.  The headset is working perfectly now and I did not do anything.  Steam is not available on PCLinuxOS, I believe, so I did not try on that OS.

As for Elive 3, to enable the headset, one has to go to the sound configuration from the menu:

After doing this, you might need to logout and log back in to listen

Once completed the process, the audio players can send sound to the headset

I do not run Steam on Elive, so I do not know if this process can work for that particular purpose.

Something Happened to My OpenMandriva Lx OS

Yesterday I booted my laptop with OpenMandriva Lx and went to look for a book.  When I returned to the machine, a kernel panic was waiting for me on the screen.

Apparently, something went very wrong with the updates that I performed last week, but I did not notice.

This has happened before, though.  As the laptop boots seven OSs (OpenMandriva, Mageia, PCLinuxOS, Pisi, Elive, Fedora, and PicarOS), when I install a system that changes the OMV-controlled GRUB2, OpenMandriva gets a panic.

I do not have the expertise to rectify things other than by performing a re-install.  So, I reinstalled OpenMandriva, updated it (the process did not last more than an hour or so) and, sure enough, the OS was bootable again.

I added my favorite programs in a snap and checked that Steam was working. So was InSync.  Everything was OK.

Then, I remembered the all-in one Epson XP-231 printer.

I located the driver and installed it.  After that, as the printing functions are not normally the problem, but the scanner, I went to set up the latter.  As usual, it was not detected, so I added one from the list and that helped the OS find the scanner and configure it properly.  I tested it and it worked.

As I said before, getting the scanner to work has always been the headache, not printing.  However, this time, the printer would spit illegible code instead of the simple line I typed in LO Writer.

Nothing I tried worked.

Suddenly, I remembered how I managed to get the XP-231 to work in Fedora and Elive... The CUPS approach!

I opened CUPS and added the printer from there.  I chose the driver, checked the settings, and asked it to print a test page.

This time, I saw Tux come out from the printer, smiling on the page.

 ********************
If I had remembered before, I could have saved some time.  But, truly, since nothing had failed in so long, I have already started to forget what to do if one of my OSs misbehaves.

I am getting rusty.

Maybe it is time for me to start experimenting with BSD, Haiku, or something.

December Distro Upgrades and Headaches

This month, I have been trying to fix certain weird issues that ocurred after upgrading Fedora 26 to 26.

The first problem was that, because of space, I had to do a fresh install, so my Mageia GRUB2 was replaced.

Luckily, the problem was not that hard to solve.  Getting my scanner to work was more complicated, but I solved it by getting the iscan bundle from Epson.

*********************

OpenMandriva is giving me headaches with some packages that have an invalid key signature or something... Because of that, LibreOffice is not working properly, I guess..

I reinstalled the distro several times and, when I try to update the packages via OMV control center, the first error message I get reads:
 "Sorry, the following packages cannot be selected:
- gdb-headless-8.0.1-2-omv2015.0.x86_64 (due to unsatisfied urpmi-debuginfo-install)"

I tried to avoid that package and then I get a more worrisome message saying that the package systembase-minimal has an invalid key ID signature.

I have also tried upgrading using the CLI with no luck.

Discover alerts me of 469 packages that must be upgraded.  I will try upgrading from Discover to see what happens this time.

*******************
UPDATE:
Discover installed 177 packages, but stopped. Let's try again with the pending 269...

No luck.  We go back to 469 packages to install.

Openmandriva Lx 3.03... Nice!

Yesterday I saw that Openmandriva Lx 3.03 was released. 

The version that I had installed on my laptop was 3.0.  I tried 3.1 and 3.2 but they simply would not launch properly and it was until much later that I found a way to circumvent the problem.

I gave this new version a try and I can happily report that:

1.  This version is considerably faster.
2.  It launches without any problems.
3.  Despite the fact that the Openmandriva GRUB 2 replaced my existing Mageia GRUB 2, Mageia now does not have to run the check that makes the system wait for 1:40 before starting.

In addition, Steam works perfectly and Openmandriva picked up my Epson scanner/printer perfectly, too.

Temporary fix for Insync problem not running on OpenMandriva LX 3.1

After the Christmas update, Insync has refused to run properly on my OpenMandriva Lx 3.1 install.

When one first installs the package, it runs, syncs, and seems to be OK.  However, after closing the session, Insync is gone from the panel and nothing can summon it back.

To circumvent this issue, I uninstalled the package and, using the terminal, installed it again as root using the urmpi command.

After it synchronized and everything, I closed the session and it was gone again.  However, this time, one can bring it back from Konsole as root.  It is not the most elegant fix, but it is easy enough.

I guess this solves that problem for the time being...

Playing Terrordrome on OpenMandriva Lx 3.0

Today, as my daughter was watching YouTube videos, she found one about a fighting game called Terrordrome. This is a fighting game with a retro look that features several characters of horror films, such as Chucky, Pinhead, Jason, and Pumpkinhead.

I found it sort of cute and looked for it.  Much to my surprise, it is free and it provides a Linux installer via Wine here.

After downloading it (it is rather large, 1Gb), I installed it and played it.  It works perfectly.

Of course, my daughter came to play with Chucky, her favorite character, and won pretty much every single match against me.
 

It was fun because the game incorporates special moves based on the movies and there are sounds that come from the films, too (careful with Chucky's swearing!).

Steam crashing in Openmandriva LX 3.0? Try this solution

I have been using Openmandriva LX 3.0 for some time now and I am very happy with it.  Since I installed it, this distro has fulfilled most of my requirements as a non-technical Linux user.

I did find a big problem, though.  The Steam client refused to work, complaining about Steam runtime not working and missing dependencies.  Even when I located the missing dependencies, nothing worked.

Yes, I know that some would call this a show-stopper.  However, I decided to go to the forums to ask for help.  The community is the power of Linux.

My cry for help was received promptly and courteously.  They suggested me to file a bug, and so I did.

Today, I got a response with the solution.  Now, Steam is working again!  This is how you do it (thanks to drosdeck for the help):

1. First, one has to make hidden files visible. Open Dolphin and go to the menu View.  Check the box "Hidden files".
2. Go to the hidden folder .local.  Once inside of it, move to "share" and "Steam".
3. Locate the file steam.sh and right click on it.  From the pop up menu, select Open with / Kwrite (root).
4. The system is going to ask you for your root password.  Type it and Kwrite will display the contents of the file.
5. Use the menu Edit and select Find from the drop down menu. In the search space, type tar -- 
6. You will be taken to a section that reads:

   >tar --blocking-factor=${BF} --checkpoint=1
   >--checkpoint-action='exec=echo $TAR_CHECKPOINT' -xf "$2" -C "$3" | zenity
   >--progress --auto-close --no-cancel --width 400 --text="$1"

7. Carefully delete the above section and paste this instead:

   >tar --blocking-factor=${BF}  -xf "$2" -C "$3" |
   >zenity --progress --auto-close --no-cancel --width 400 --text="$1"

8. Click on the icon Save and close the program.  That is all.  If the problem you had with Steam was like mine, the client should be working now. 

Big thanks to the guys at Openmandriva for taking the time to help me with this.  You all rock!

OpenMandriva Lx 3.0 on my laptop

Before anything else, let me just say upfront that this is not a technical review.  I am a non-technical Linux user, so what I say here comes exclusively from the perspective of someone who, without understanding much about what is under the hood, appreciates Linux for the smooth ride that it provides.

My previous OpenMandriva Lx 2014 install

My old OpenMandriva Lx 2014. x install was working perfectly: it made the ZaReason Strata laptop work efficiently.   It also looked beautiful, with the four different wallpapers on each workspace, the Ghost KDE theme, and the Cairo dock.  The only problem I had with this system was that I could never manage to make it type in Japanese (I tried SCIM and iBUS to no effect).

Using ROSA Image Writer, I copied the ISO to an USB drive and went to adventure land, installing OpenMandriva Lx 3.0 twice on the same machine, first keeping the home partition of my previous OpenMandriva  and then a clean install.

Now, after I installed OpenMandriva Lx 3.0, this is what I noticed:

1. The installation is fast!  I knew that some Linux OSs can install quickly (Mx took like 5 minutes), but I consider that completing all the process in less than 15 minutes is not bad at all.  And it was very simple, too.  The most complicated part was, as usual, partitioning, but that is because my  laptop is a heptaboot.
2. It is best to do a clean install.  Although it was convenient to have all the files

   

   Visual problems

   and most of the settings there after the installation, I noticed several visual problems with Firefox.  There were unreadable message windows and elements were not properly located. These problems disappeared after I performed a clean install, so they were caused probably by previous settings overlap.
3. With Plasma 5, you must say good-bye to certain aesthetic preferences.  We already know that the KDE team eliminated the possibility of having an independent wallpaper on each workspace, which is a big disappointment.  However, I also saw that the Ghost theme is not working.  Well, one must compromise here with Plasma 5.  You lose some, win some.  But what exactly have I won?
4. OpenMandriva now comes with Japanese input support.  Sort of.  There is a
   mysterious keyboard icon on the task bar.  It turns out that it is Fcitx, an IME. 
   
   With it, one can, in theory, input Japanese characters.  However, I have not managed to make it work, except with a virtual keyboard with kana symbols.  I tried to install iBus, but could not manage to make it work. UPDATE :  Fcitx works perfectly!  I just had to learn how to use it. Here is a tutorial I wrote to that effect.

I am keeping OpenMandriva Lx 3.0 for sure.  In general, I must say that I like the OS and, what I do not like about it is related to my very own Plasma 5 aversion instead of something particular to the OS.  I mean, the OS picked up the wi-fi with no problems, the sound works, effects are working, I saw no crashes, and speed feels good.  Kudos to the OpenMandriva team: their work is awesome.  Of course, I must test other areas; for instance, I need to assess how the OS works with games.  So, my next post will be about that, I guess. 

My new OpenMandriva Lx 3.0 desktop.  Yay!

The truth is out there... and so is OpenMandriva Lx 3.0!

The wait is over for those of us who appreciate the hard work of the developers at OpenMandriva: today, this blog announces that the new release is ready!

OpenMandriva Lx 3 comes with KDE Plasma 5.6.5, three launchers (Kickoff, Kicker, and a full screen one) and F2FS support for SDDs.

I am presently downloading the ISO to install it to my machine.  I really want  to see how the new release of this beautiful Linux distro behaves.

In the meantime, the brand new site of OpenMandriva has a download link and more info.

Congratulations to all those who participated to bring OpenMandriva Lx 3 unto the world!

New Releases!

According to this post, the second beta of OpenMandriva Lx 3 is ready.

I am curious to see what the new release will bring.  Like I said before, I personally do not like Plasma 5, but we will see.

I did not know that K3b did not work with Plasma 5.  It is good that program is now available.


Oh, and there is a new AntiX in town, too!  Code Named Berta Cáceres, AntiX 16 is ready to be downloaded.

April is almost gone

This month brought several bittersweet surprises to me.

The first one was that I could see the slow death of Firefox OS on phones.  The marketplace lost two of the most significant apps: Loqui IM and OpenWapp, both which provided a way to  use Whatsapp on the platform.

The second one was the release of pre-release isos of Mageia 6 and OpenMandriva Lx 3.  I must say that both distros are doing a great job; the systems performed so well that they did not seem beta versions to me.

I did not like Plasma 5, though...  I am sure the KDE team is doing a great work, but I truly do not see what the point of this tablet-ready interface is.  After all, KDE missed the tablet train (the Vivaldi tablet never saw the light of the day) and tablets are already in decline...

Last, Yahoo's struggle seemed to have reached my mailbox with its readiness: messages urging me to connect a Hotmail account to my Yahoo account, hotmail-sent messages from my students went to the twilight zone...

Boy... some months do not come gently on us.

OpenMandriva Lx 3 is coming!

A new beta is available.

This release also includes plasma 5...

OK, I need to download the .iso to see how it behaves.

Playing on OpenMandriva LX 2014.2

I reinstalled OpenMandriva LX 2014.2 today.  Last time I did, I had some problems updating: many packages were not found but, even so, I proceeded with the upgrading.

The OS was working perfectly except for the performance of games on Steam.

Today, I followed what I learned yesterday and, when I hit the first problem, I stopped the update and deleted all the repos. Then, I retrieved them again (they were marked as phosphorous 2014.0, which I believe was the previous version), but the update went on smoothly and I got the most recent packages, like Firefox 44.

With that, my problems with Steam disappeared: the games that I play are working perfectly now, yay!

But the best part is that I can now play Never Alone Kisima Ingitshuna, one of the most beautiful and enlightening games I have seen.  As the official site states about the game:


"Inspired by the rich art and imagery of Alaska Native cultures, Never Alone brings the atmospheric and compelling world of Iñupiaq stories alive."

As you play, you can learn about Alaska Native cultures, which is simply AMAZING.