Mageia 3 Released

Freshly Exhumed writes "Forked from Mandriva Linux back in 2010, Mageia Linux has hit a new release milestone. Trish at the Mageia blog announces: 'All grown up and ready to go dancing: Mageia 3's out! We still can't believe how much fun it is to make Mageia together, and we've been doing it for two and a half years. For people who can't wait, get it here; release notes are here. To upgrade from Mageia 2, see here.'" Adds reader hduff: "It offers cutting edge and stable versions of your favorite applications and desktop environments as well as a version of the STEAM gaming software."

Comments

Sounds like a game name

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one who thought this was the name of a game?

Re:Sounds like a game name

[lennier1]

Same here, though it's probably because I personally prefer the Debian area of the Linux family tree (currently Mint (Xfce) on Desktops and Debian on servers).

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here, though it's probably because I personally prefer the Debian area of the Linux family tree (currently Mint (Xfce) on Desktops and Debian on servers).

Oh, yes, because the Debian releases sound so much more mature, right?

Hell, half the time I don't know if they have a new release, or if a new rapper busted out on the scene...

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Anonymous Coward]

All went down the drain when they changed the name from mystical "Mandrake" to "Mandriva", which sounds like the name of a night club for french gay vampires.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[AliasMarlowe]

Hell, half the time I don't know if they have a new release, or if a new rapper busted out on the scene...

Crunchbang rocks!

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Anonymous Coward]

i thought it said mangina

Re:Sounds like a game name

[greg1104]

"Mandriva", which sounds like the name of a night club for french gay vampires.

Still a better love story than Twi...actually, that's almost the same story.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[fbobraga]

I personally prefer the Debian area of the Linux family tree (currently Mint (Xfce) on Desktops and Debian on servers).

I personally prefer the RedHat area of the Linux family tree (currently Fedora on Desktops and RHEL/CentOS on servers).

Re:Sounds like a game name

[jones_supa]

Scientific Linux (CentOS-like) also deserves a mention.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[lennier1]

Oh, yes, because the Debian releases sound so much more mature, right?

Get your head out of your ass before you step on your soapbox.

I simply don't keep track of all the distros out there because I have decided on ones I prefer.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[liamevo]

Not sure if bad joke or moron.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[fnj]

Springdale/PUIAS, man. The RHEL clone without the huffing and puffing.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[fnj]

What possesses a distro to do this? Sure, the name SHOULD be a minor thing, but it isn't really minor.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Anonymous Coward]

A lawsuit in this case.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[BrokenHalo]

I personally prefer the RedHat area of the Linux family tree

If this Mageia thingy is a descendant of Mandriva, which was a descendant of Mandrake, then you would presumably be using rpm anyway, so there should be plenty of common ground.

I tried out a few rpm-based distros back in the '90s, and while they usually functioned pretty much OK, I preferred (and still do) the simple Slackware "YAFIYGI" (You Asked For It, You Got It) approach with its simple *.t?z packaging.

The core packages just give you a world to stand on while you use the One True Package System for everything else (mostly):
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local && make && sudo make install"

Re:Sounds like a game name

[johnsnails]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cotCMqw1hrg&feature=player_detailpage#t=362s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cotCMqw1hrg&feature=player_detailpage#t=362s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cotCMqw1hrg&feature=player_detailpage#t=619s

Re:Sounds like a game name

[gl4ss]

What possesses a distro to do this? Sure, the name SHOULD be a minor thing, but it isn't really minor.

all the cool normal names are already taken.

so it was either mandriva, acorn or the gruntmaster 6000 that they had to change to.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[gfxguy]

I'm sick of the names, actually, but at least it's "Mageia 3" and not some totally new name, like everybody else seems to be doing. I guess it's hip and cool to give names like Ubuntu does, but I don't care enough to remember the names - if you're going to call it "dumbass dingo," fine, but tell me what version you're actually talking about or it's nonsense.

I used Mandrake way back when, but right now I use Ubuntu - although I used straight Debian, too, for a while. I'm just wondering "Why Mageia," and I don't see on their website any reasons why they forked or why I should try or support Mageia over anything else.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Lord Kano]

I thought of the cross dressing matriarch in a new generation of black exploitation films.

LK

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Lord Kano]

From what I remember they were looking at getting sued by the family of Mandrake the magician and when they merged with connectiva, it was the perfect time for a name change.

LK

Re:Sounds like a game name

[takshaka]

They would've called it Tasticles, but that sounds too much like those frozen Rocky Mountain Oysters on a stick.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux users are becoming a cult.

Endless variations on a down rated version of Unix created by socially inept and twisted geeks. Stupid arguments about irrelevant changes, personality cliques, etc.

Linus has to be embarrassed as hell at what his efforts have become.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[sconeu]

At the time, Mandriva was in serious financial trouble (but then, when was it ever not so?). And they had just announced yet another change in direction.

Mandriva seemed directionless, etc... so the Mageia team forked.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[kernelpanicked]

I've got a mangina. I'm old Greeeeg!

For the humor impaired
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxiVLNA3F7w

Re:Sounds like a game name

[lennier1]

Considering Mandrake is a comic character, that's quite an achievement! ;)
But you're right, it was because of a lawsuit from the Hearst Corporation (their comic subsidiary also holds the rights to The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Popeye and a ton of other classic stuff).

Re:Sounds like a game name

[roc97007]

Wasn't that a recent movie franchise?

Re:Sounds like a game name

[gfxguy]

Ok, but what do they bring to the table over, for example, Ubuntu?

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't suck like Ubuntu(and all Debian and Debian derivitives)

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Anonymous Coward]

Mandrake was Linux for People Who Don't Use Computers before Ubuntu came along and took over that role.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Lord Kano]

I should have taken the time to Google it but yes, it was pretty obvious that they were intruding on someone else's trademarked material.

LK

Re:Sounds like a game name

[fnj]

Wouldn't the EFF have something to say (i.e., DO!) about a frivolous suit like that? A mandrake is a particular plant of the nightshade family. Hearst can maybe register the name as a trademark in a particular limited context such as comic strips, but not throughout the entire spectrum of commerce. Sheesh.

Do we really think that because Dial Soap is a trademark, nobody can refer to instrument indicators as "dials", or that nobody can set up the Ame Speedometer Dial company?

Re:Sounds like a game name

[fnj]

It sure as BLOODY HELL isn't obvious to me. See above. If you mean that using a little magician icon was where the infringement occurred, surely that could have been trivially changed without changing the name of the distro.

Re:Sounds like a game name

[Lord Kano]

OK. So why would the distribution named Mandrake use a top hat and magic wand as their logo as well as producing a tool called Lothar (Mandrake's in comic friend) if they weren't referencing the comic book character with their efforts?

LK

Re:Fun putting together a distro?

[Anonymous Coward]

Give me a break! Dude, if you're ready to go dancing and having fun putting together a distro there's something wrong with you - get off the sauce!

It is fun, when you're putting together the Disney of distros...

what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Anonymous Coward]

a fork in a huge software project like mysql i can understand. but forking a distro sounds like a big case of "meee tooo" ok, I can understand the need for kubuntu... but they should not be forks, they should be installer time options.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it's a case of "you are unreliable and not very trustworthy, we'll take the code and do things the right way."

BTW; Kubuntu is probably one of the most pointless distributions around anyway. It's just Ubuntu with - usually - an exceptionally broken KDE on top. Sometimes I think the rationale for Kubuntu is to give KDE a bad name.

If you want a good KDE experience, Opensuse is probably the best bet, possibly together with Mageia.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Herve5]

I may be wrong, but I think the french-based original Mandriva was almost dying one year ago, for various reasons among which a basic economic one (founders split and close to bankrupcy, not reactive...). they apparently turned to other customers than the average end-user.
I did use Mandriva seriously 3 years ago then dropped it on the occasion of an update deleting everything and not recovering from the backup...
Mandriva was cooler than Ubuntu, actually automating many hardware handling, and less hegemonic -I'm going to look seriously into Mageia, yes.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[tripleevenfall]

There are so many forks to so many distros out there, the goal of getting a lot of people to coalesce around one distro so Linux can gain some momentum becomes a pipe dream. (as if it wasn't already)

I think it's probably a case of egos more than anything

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[flyingfsck]

Each Linux distribution is a different business entity, with different customers. Do you really believe that there should be only one Sirius Cybernetics Corporation that makes everything (badly)?

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your problem is assuming that the linux community wants all distributions (or even applications) to consolidate.

We don't.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[EmagGeek]

Forking a distro usually happens when one of the people working on it doesn't feel they are "in charge" enough, and they want to be "the boss," so they go off and create "their own" little fiefdom to rule over.

Re: what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Anonymous Coward]

But it's better than a named pipe dream.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Requiem18th]

Some do, obviously. There is value to consolidation.

The key question here is "what is the point?" If there is a point, then that point is the answer. If there isn't a point. Then indeed the distro is nothing but another point in the charts of desktop Linux fragmentation. It is bad for desktop Linux as a whole, it makes Linux less attractive as a platform.

On the other hand desktop Linux is so fragmented already that it's nothing serious, and the Mageia are having so much fun by their own admition, that Mageia turns out to be a positive thing overall.

Now if the Mageia guys could have fun making a better interface for the GIMP or optimizing LibreOffice, that would be much better for desktop Linux. But you can't choose what makes you have fun.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[MROD]

The reason for the fork was the Mandriva fired all their French developers, moved production to a cheaper country and then totally broke the distribution (Mandriva 2011.0).

The original programmers took the Mandriva 2010.x distribution, forked it, updated it and made the Mageia (mage-ee-ah) 1 distribution, which actually worked.

Mageia 2 moved to systemd (*spit*) but generally didn't break backwards compatibility. I've been running the pre-release version of Mageia 3 on a server for the last month or so (because the chipset needed a newer kernel than previous releases had) and it's been very stable.

Subsequently, Mandriva's management have had a small rethink and are now basing their server distribution upon Mageia (because it actually works).

Of all the Linux distributions I've found the Mandrake/Mandriva/Mageia family to be the least primitive and actually work, both in a scientific computing desktop role and a server roll. They're generally hassle free and the update and upgrade system practically flawless.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[serviscope_minor]

Mageia 2 moved to systemd (*spit*) but generally didn't break backwards compatibility.

I don't really get the point of systemd, it seems like change for its own sake. Can anyone offer an alternative perspective?

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[MROD]

It seems mostly to be a "me too" bragging right. MacOS has launchd, Solaris has svc.configd so someone thought that Linux needed one too.

On the whole it's also trying to boot marginally quicker, but not necessarily correctly. i.e. play fast and loose.

Let's face it, does it really matter if a server or desktop takes 20 seconds rather 30 seconds to boot if the machines going to have an uptime for several weeks?

Wouldn't it be better that it is guaranteed to be running correctly after 30 seconds rather than having services try to start up before the rest of the system is ready for them and failing?

Well, obviously I'm not hip and trendy enough and think that shiny-shiny is no substitute for correctly working.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Teun]

Kubuntu works fine, sure there are always wishes for improvement but to claim it's 'exceptionally broken' is utter drivel and an insult to the developers.

Especially now some core KDE development is paid for by Blue Shell in stead of Canonical things are even better.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[serviscope_minor]

On the whole it's also trying to boot marginally quicker, but not necessarily correctly. i.e. play fast and loose.

I do gather that was a supposed advantage. I've been a bit baffled, since mostly the boot scripts were terribly written. Compare the (e.g.) pre systemd boot times of Arch compared to ubuntu for example.

Why did my arch netbook runnung basically the same services boot vastly faster than my quad i7 ubuntu laptop?

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[BrokenHalo]

I may be wrong, but I think the french-based original Mandriva was almost dying one year ago

You aren't wrong, and neither is the symptom very new. I seem to remember the more originally original Mandrake begging for donations to keep it afloat back in 2001. Maybe I'm blind or stupid, but if they can keep dying for that long, there must be a workable business model in that.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that wasn't the purpose of systemd. The point was that every distro wrote their very own crappy bash scripts to handle starting and stopping processes, and that every single daemon needed to duplicate functionality for handling reloading, etc. And then you have the hack of inetd to do exactly the same thing as the SYSV init system, but dynamically for internet daemons. Systemd started as a rethink of the whole way of handling starting and stopping daemons so that any one could be started dynamically, and to also not require a bash interpreter (which is slow, cumberbose, and requires messy scripts that all duplicate the same damn thing).

I think systemd has gone off the rails with the whole "core OS" bullshit. Still, the original premise was logical and it was good... at first. They just couldn't leave well enough alone and then decided every single core process belongs in their source repository to prevent any deviation in startup between distros. Hell, I wouldn't be suprised if the next thing they absorb is a package manager.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Utter drivel? Most bugs filed wrt KDE are Kubuntu specific, ffs even Harald Sitter blogged back then about how they used old, known to be broken patches etc etc.

How about a big nice cup of STFU? And get over that "holier than thou" attitude while you're sipping on it.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Coeurderoy]

The base issue is that they hired a "manager" who didn't want to use any type of linux personally, and focused on cost reduction "while selling" not taking in account that once all the "expensive" people left there would not be anything to sell. Another issue is the disconnect between the interest of the company, or the investors and of the people representing the investors within the investment fund. ex: I buy a hot startup for 10 Million, the VC gets 5% (cheap) of 10M yearly "management fee" (maybe paid now, maybe delayed pay). The hot startup is not so hot goes down to 1M Option A) the VC sells right now and gets at least 1M, for the fund manager it's "game over", and no cigar (lost money you see) (at least for this revenue stream) Option B) the VC waits a little bit more, the fund manager gets what ever % of the "management fee" is paid up front, and gets to play one more year... guess what is the fund manager's prefered choice.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[geek]

Forking a distro usually happens when one of the people working on it doesn't feel they are "in charge" enough, and they want to be "the boss," so they go off and create "their own" little fiefdom to rule over.

In my experience it's usually the opposite. When the current dictator in charge refuses input from a large group of contributors, is abusive or otherwise tries to exploit the free labor being contributed to the project. Take XF86 for example and how that debacle ended up. Take OpenOffice.

A lone person not feeling like they are in control enough, as you say, isn't enough to create a fork. There has to be people behind him/her and willing to contribute to the fork. Take OpenBSD as an example of that or Cinnamon.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[101percent]

Well that is certainly a Grade A analysis.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Freshly Exhumed]

Take a look at Mageia's web site(s)/blogs where the history and rationale for the fork in 2010 is spelled out for all to see. It's been almost three years, dude.

Also, you have the question backwards. It is: "What is the point of not forking distros?"

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[roc97007]

Share and enjoy.

Re:what is the point of forking a distro ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or you can always use Debian with KDE CD.

Re:Fun putting together a distro?

[eric_herm]

Some people are happy to make something useful and find that activity to be great and interesting. Maybe your definition of fun include "posting snarky comment under no one name on a web site", and yet, that's your choice ( albeit a less weird one, everybody does it, so I can see why you think the easy way is much funnier ).

The man from Mars is eating cars

[tepples]

Rap music could just as easily have been named after "Rapture" by Blondie. The man from Mars is eating cars

Re:The man from Mars is eating cars

[Anonymous Coward]

That would be credible. Most people don't know that she was a rap pioneer .

Re:The man from Mars is eating cars

[Anonymous Coward]

"Rapper's Delight" was released before "Rapture" was recorded, so...no.

Re:The man from Mars is eating cars

[Anonymous Coward]

Pigmeat Markham would beg to differ

Thanks to all!

[valatar]

As a Mageia packager, I can report that it was indeed really fun and enriching working on Mageia 3.
We have to thank the whole friendly community, which provided code, tests, reports, fixes, documentation, translations, comments and donations. Our goal is to make a great community distribution for everyone, with an emphasis on the ease of use and on empowering users and making them part of a community.
We hope you'll like it if you give it a try!
Now let's start the work on support and on Mageia 4.

Re:Thanks to all!

[coats]

I really appreciate the job you've done.

As a software developer myself (software engineering for environmental modeling; high performance computing), the one thing I do wish for is more "devel" and "static-devel" library packages.

Which is one of the bones I have to pick with RedHat, by the way: it feels as though they've gone out of their way to make cross-distro software development difficult.

Re:Thanks to all!

[valatar]

Well, we would love to welcome you in the packager team!
We run an apprenticeship program to get you up to date with our infrastructure and policies, and off you go, adding and maintaining packages yourself for the benefit of all!
Otherwise, please open bug reports in the category "new package requests", so that we know what is missing for your use. Cheers!

Re:Thanks to all!

[unixisc]

One question - is it possible to have both .rpm and .deb supported in a distro? Since most software that is available for Linux is usually available in one package or the other but usually not both?

Re:Thanks to all!

[valatar]

There is no point supporting .rpm and .deb in the distro. The point of packaging is to be consistant in scripts, dependencies, etc. The archive format is not that relevant. Suse and Mageia and Fedora use rpm, but the packages are not usually interoperable. Ubuntu, Mint, Debian have somehow compatible packages, but it is not because of the deb format, it is because they are all Debian-based and follow its policies.
To answer your question, this is the job of packagers like me to take upstream software and make it into a rpm that will work for all Mageia users in a convenient way. Some upstream projects propose some packaged version of their software, either in rpm or deb, but it is not recommended to install those, as they usually cannot keep up with every distro out there. In short, it's not because it's a rpm that it is going to work on a Mageia, Fedora, or Suse system.
By the way (and to confuse you), alien (conversion between rpm and deb) and apt-get/dpkg are in Mageia repositories :-)

Re:Thanks to all!

[MROD]

Actually, other than a very few packages, I've not had any problems installing "generic" RPM packages on Mandriva or Mageia.

The biggest problem comes with dependencies which have different names, in which case you manually install the correct packages before forcefully installing the RPM with --ignore-deps.

Working in a scientific environment there are sometimes you just have to do this as the RPMs are only available for RHEL and nothing else.

Re:Thanks to all!

[Anonymous Coward]

Copmplete and utter bullshit

I have never had an issue installing a generic or distro specific RPM on opensuse. Not even once.

Testing times

[Wowsers]

I've been a tester (and Mageia user) since before Mageia 1 was released, having decided to take the plunge in the new forked distro instead of staying with Mandriva.

I think the distro is working well especially considering it's small community. Only recent "controversial" changes have been like changing the log files from easy read text files to binary rubbish, but I think many distros are doing that now, and using the new Grub2 still needs some ironing out of small issues.

The point of forking? In a word. Freedom.

[bdwoolman]

Distros proliferate in order to broaden freedom of choice. This allows users to choose the OS that will optimize their hardware to their needs.

It is the difference between a tailored suit and an off-the-rack suit that comes in only three sizes. Here, the unique bundle of task-targeted, tested, compatible, packages on a given Linux distro might be constructed to make it appealing for a special purpose. The user can have a distro for audio production, video production. T.V watching, math, science education etc etc. ad infinitum.

But, if a user wants an all-around distro, he or she also has plenty to choose from, too. And the hardware they have might make all the difference in what they choose. Perhaps they want something lean and mean for an older piece of hardware (Damn Small). Or something handsome and easy to use for Aunt Matilda (Mint). Sometimes one distro just installs better "out of the box" on a particular piece of hardware than does another. This, for reasons known only to the Flying Spaghetti Monster and, maybe, Linus Torvolds. For example: Quirky old PCLinux OS installed sweetly and completely on an old box I was repurposing when little else in the Distro Watch top 20 would even complete an install. And nothing (except PC Linux OS) would see anything near all the hardware. (I did not feel like engaging in a Gentoo marathon. Okay?) So, I just jumped distros until I achieved the best result. I, personally, am glad that there are lots to choose from.

I am sure that Mr Shuttleworth would have loved the world to continue to coalesce around Ubuntu, but it didn't. I do not know from whence comes the idea that all the distros are in a competition to dominate. Or even that Linux is in a competition with the commercial software sector. But IMHO such an idea is antithetical to the underlying ethos of the FOSS movement. Only the corporate distros have any interest in dominating. And that is in the enterprise sphere. But, all in all they have behaved pretty well it seems to me -- at least for a pack of suits. (Not that they care what I think.) Paradoxically (or perhaps understandably) corporate support has been crucial to a lot of the activity in the FOSS movement, too. After all money talks. Has it always been positive activity? Uhhhh... Can we not go there? Please? It makes my head hurt. It is like the "One Country Two Systems" thing in China.

It's. Just. So. Complicated.

Now, from the general to the specific subject at hand. This Mageia distro seems interesting because the distro's reason to be appears to rest not so much in the product, but in the process. The developers are stressing transparent governance and development community cohesion. To my mind it is a cool and very promising approach. Having witnessed so many good projects disintegrate and then self destruct this seems to me like a great place to be coming from. And as many have pointed out Mandrake - Mandriva was a pretty good distro. I am planning to repurpose my old Pentium 4 box soon (RIP XP) and will look at Mangeia because, judging from the website and the ethical values it espouses, the distro will progress apace and probably be around for a good while.

give it a try

[Anonymous Coward]

If you ask us, the users of Mageia, we will tell you that Mageia is the best linux distribution out there.
This is our (?)objective(?) opinion...

If you haven't try linux, I urge you to try Mageia. You will not want to go back to Microsoft Windows, again.

If you have tried linux in the past, and you were frustrated with various "issues",
then, again, I urge you to try Mageia. You will be positively surprised.

Mageia has the technical achievements of Mandriva,
but with the community deciding on "where this thing will go".

So, if you are interested, give it a try...

By the way,"Mageia" means "Magic" in Greek.

Good stuff, would install again

[water-and-sewer]

I'm generally an openSUSE/PCBSD/Bodhi guy, but I just wiped the computer clean last week and thought I'd take the opportunity to install something new, for fun. I installed Mageia 2, not realizing it was about to be replaced.

Conclusion: good distro! It installed cleanly/easily, had a good-looking KDE4 desktop with sensible defaults, and was intuitive and easy to use. The DVD came with a lot of software on it, but once I initialized the repositories I was able to find every package i need except one.

To the haters out there asking 'what's the point' I'd say it's a distro that's kind of a sure thing if you give it to a friend to install. They've done sensible, methodical, professional work and it shows. It's avoided going insane like Ubuntu, has tools that make configuration pretty straight forward, and was easy to use. "But it's no different than any other distro!" I'd say these days there's not a huge amount of software being written for Linux so increasingly all the distros are starting to look the same. It's not that different from Ubuntu but Ubuntu is not really that different from Fedora or openSUSE or Crunchbang or whatever.

They're also building a pretty good quality, constructive and helpful community - that counts a lot. Their forums are useful and full of helpful people, all there for a reason.

Good distro, would install again. A+

Re:Good stuff, would install again

[hduff]

They're also building a pretty good quality, constructive and helpful community - that counts a lot. Their forums are useful and full of helpful people, all there for a reason.

Good distro, would install again. A+

I've used it since Mandrake 5.1, as well as SuSE, RedHat, Fedora and Ubuntu. It beats those hands down for usability, friendliness and hardware support. It offers terrible decorative/desktop graphics, however, but those have been easy enough to change. Their URPMI wrapper to RPM makes RPM useable and essentially trouble-free.

Story behind the name

[hduff]

All went down the drain when they changed the name from mystical "Mandrake" to "Mandriva", which sounds like the name of a night club for french gay vampires.

They had to change from Mandrake for copyright reasons. At the same time, they acquired a "-iva" named Brazian distro and combined the names. When the asshats running Mandriva were about to tank the distro, many developers jumped ship and named the new spinoff Mageia, carrying on the Mandrake-ish "magic" theme. None of them ever claimed to be marketing geniuses and histiory has validdated that. It's a shame for such a good, solid distro.

Here's some more background on what makes Mageia unique.
http://maximumhoyt.blogspot.com/2013/01/mageia3-beta-vs-fedora18.html

I am not sure what niche they are trying to fill

[Anonymous Coward]

There is debian for the ancient neckbeards who think code written in the past 5 years is unstable.

There is Ubuntu/Mint for the hopelessly clueless and tasteless.

There is RedHat for the clueless businesses

There is Centos on servers

There is opensuse for a decent and modern server and the best desktop on the planet(with KDE, Gnome is shit) and has hands down the best integrated admin tools.

It seems that Mageia is trying to shoehorn themselves into all of these categories. That is a recipe for fail.

Re:BAN ALL GUNS!

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice off topic troll

Who has brought forward a ban on all guns? No one, nice strawman

Tax exempt organizations are barred by law from conducting political activity, it is illegal. You want a say? Pay taxes. Just because most of the offenders are right wing groups doesn't make it targeting. Pretty much since the 80's these right wing hate groups have been able to spew their vile tax-free.

i'm willing to give it another try

[Anonymous Coward]

if you promise me that it will work this time