OpenMandriva, the beloved open-source GNU/Linux distribution, has just released its latest OpenMandriva Lx 5 “Iodine”. As an independent project, OpenMandriva prides itself on simplicity, user-friendliness, and community-driven contributions.
For those unfamiliar, OpenMandriva Lx 5 is the stable version of the distribution, designed for day-to-day use with popular desktop environments such as KDE Plasma, GNOME, and LXQt. The significance of this release lies not only in its user-friendly interface but also in the array of updates and improvements that have been integrated over the 1.5 years since the last fixed point release.
In this review, we delved into the key features of OpenMandriva Lx 5, which caters to both novice and seasoned users.
Table of Contents
OpenMandriva Lx 5 Review
Installation
OpenMandriva Lx comes with three main desktops and their separate ISO files for easy installation. It uses the customized version of the Calamares installer.
Installing in a virtual machine or in a physical system is easy since Calamares does most of the jobs. In addition, the ISO files consist of all the necessary packages, reducing your effort on installation.
Key features of OpenMandriva Lx 5
OpenMadriva has two major variants based on their release mode. The rolling release model is “ROME”, and the stable one is “Lx”, which we are trying out in this article.
This version is arriving after 1.5 years of development and brings several critical core updates.
This includes a shift to kernel 6.6 LTS, Mesa 23.3.0-rc4, Qt 5.15.11 KDE Patches, KDE Frameworks 5.112, Plasma 5.27.9.1, and LibreOffice 7.6.3.
One notable change is the merging of the / and /usr filesystems, enhancing system efficiency. Security-conscious users will appreciate promptly addressing recent vulnerabilities, ensuring a robust and secure computing environment.
GNOME edition features the latest GNOME 45, which brings new libadwaita styles, faster search in Files and many additional features.
Applications
One of the highlight features of OpenMandriva is that it packages many applications built-in. For example, the KDE Plasma flagship edition comes with all popular KDE apps (KDenlive, Krita, KWrite, etc.).
GNOME edition also pre-installs several packages apart from the default GNOME apps. For example, GNOME games (2048, Aisleriot, etc), Empathy messenger, Evolution email client, Foliate ebook reader, Fractal, GParted, etc.
This release also features Un-Googled Chromium 119 as the default browser for all variants. For office works, LibreOffice is installed by default.
OpenMandriva also brings in-house apps such as OM Control Center to manage software in your system and perform necessary system maintenance from one single point. Since we are talking about installing packages, it comes with the dnf version 4.18, which is the current stable release at this moment.
The OM Control Center also features dnfdragora and dnfdrake, offering you several options to install and use applications.
The look and feel can be immediately configured using the custom UI tool to match macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu.
It’s worth mentioning that these two apps are available for KDE Plasma. If you are using GNOME, you can easily perform system maintenance using the Software app.
Performance
At idle, OpenMandriva Lx 5 (KDE Plasma) uses 1.45 GB of RAM, mostly consumed by plasma-shell and KWin. This is in a virtual machine scenario. GNOME uses a little higher i.e. 1.8 GB of RAM at idle. The LXQt desktop should be smaller since it is a very lightweight desktop.
It uses around 6 GB of disk space for a default installation.
Closing notes
As per the release notes, the team also outlined several future plans. Some new variants, like a server-centric spin and versions tailored for various ARM boards, are on the horizon. The promise of a fully open graphics stack, even for GPUs like the Mali G610 found in Rockchip 3588 boards, is also in the works. Furthermore, a RISC-V port is in progress, showing the project’s commitment to evolving with emerging technologies.
In conclusion, OpenMandriva Lx 5 “Iodine” stands as a solid release to the community-driven spirit of open-source software, which is independent (not dependent on Ubuntu/Debian or Fedora or anything else). With its perfect blend of user-friendliness and cutting-edge features, this release caters to the diverse needs of Linux users.
You can download this version from the official Sourceforge page or from the below links.
- ISO files
- openmandriva.5.0-lxqt.x86_64.iso.torrent
- openmandriva.5.0-gnome.x86_64.iso.torrent
- openmandriva.5.0-plasma.x86_64.iso.torrent
Via release notes
