Actually mageia 3 arrival has been past but I got some time to review.
The release of Mageia 3 banged with a brief notice at Linux magazine when it came out.
"All grown up and ready to go dancing" was the headline from the Mageia project, announcing the arrival of the Mageia 3 .
Mageia might be the newest distribution on this list, but its roots go back to July 1998 when Gaël Duval launched Mandrake Linux. At the time it was just a fork of Red Hat Linux with KDE as the default desktop, better hardware detection and some user-friendly features, but it gained instant popularity due to positive reviews in the media. Mandrake was later turned into a commercial enterprise and renamed to Mandriva (to avoid some trademark-related hassles and to celebrate its merger with Brazil's Conectiva) before almost going bankrupt in 2010. It was eventually saved by a Russian venture capital firm, but this came at a cost when the new management decided to lay off most of the established Mandriva developers at the company's Paris headquarters. Upon finding themselves without work, they decided to form Mageia, a community project which is a logical continuation of Mandrake and Mandriva, perhaps more so than Mandriva itself.
If you've been looking around for a different OS for a laptop or PC that doesn't spend all of its time gaming you have probably taken a look at some of the more famous Linux distros but one may have escaped your attention.
Mageia 3 has just arrived, the successor to the Mandriva project and as it offers both Gnome and KDE desktop versions you can chose the interface which you are most comfortable with . Perhaps you have a family member or friend that spends their time browsing that you support and are looking for an alternative to Microsoft .
If you are presently running Microsoft Windows on your PC and would like to try Mageia 3 Linux, just download and burn one of the DVDs or CDs mentioned, put it in your DVD or CD drive, and reboot. If you download a LiveDVD or LiveCD, you can even try Mageia 3 without disturbing your Windows system. Then, if you decide you like it, you can install Mageia 3 alongside Windows on your PC, and you can then choose which one to boot at every reboot.
Among numerous new updates in Mageia 3 are version 3.8 of the Linux kernel along with systemd 195, KDE 4.10.2, GNOME 3.6, Xfce 4.10, and LibreOffice 4.0.3. Steam for Linux is now available in the repositories.
Besides KDE, GNOME, and Xfce, in fact, the distro also offers users a choice of LXDE, Enlightenment, and Razor-Qt.
Now truely speaking i used mageia 2 for an year on my dell laptop ,it was most resource efficient kde spin of that time.
As mandriva becoming commercial other mandriva based alternatives are pclinux os, alt linux, Rosa linux, n lastly mageia.A lot of good stuff is still present in mageia of former mandriva legacy. Actually speaking it has huge fans following besides opensuse and ubuntu n fedora.
http://www.mageia.org/en/3/
I downloaded the 64 install dvd edition which is approximately 3.9 gb in size .There are also another live dvd edition available which are approximately 1.4 gb in size .
so my review would be based on 64 bit install dvd version. I actually burned a dvd and installed the os on my dell inspiron laptop . actually i installed on my real hardware so didnt able to take live snap of distro .
Just refer this link for actual installation guide about installing mageia 3 here the link.
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Installation_of_Mageia_from_a_Live_CD
It took me around 22 min to install distro from install dvd .
Installation is just simple select your language ,country , timezone , keyboard n lastly configuring grub or grub 2 option default grub is provided and then user n root password creation .
This are the photos taken through mobile while installing.
It has beautiful aesthetically appealing background and one of the top five best linux distro on distrowatch website.
http://distrowatch.com/
Post installation update process is required to keep distro updated for this u have to use mageia control centre(MCC) a great way to update the system n install or remove software from it .very useful and has settings like autologin , network control and software n hardware management .
you can configure your media for updating or installing softwares .Each media has been divide further as release ,update , backport n testing.
Mageia 3 has three official repositories:
Rpm drake gui is a simple alternate to synaptic package manager which is found in debian /ubuntu distros useful to install or remove software packages.
It comes with an classical default application launcher according to mageia theme .
It comes with 4 virtual window but virtual window tab in Rosa desktop fresh was better to navigate through .
mageia 3 control centre is a nice feature but still it has another system kde setting manager to set various thing to customize distro .
Flash player is not preinstalled so you have to install it from default repos n then it will play youtube video efficently .
I didnt had any issue when going through indian language websites as i could easily read it which i was not able to do it in rosa desktop fresh which i reviewed earlier .
http://gujaratsamachar.com/
It doesnt have inbuilt cloud application but u can use dropbox ,spideroak ,yandex etc .only dropbox is available in repos others u will have to download from their sites respectively.
Beauty n Aesthetic
Mageia 3 kde it has lot of customization for folks who love customizing their distros . It has great wallpapers n application icons are very pleasant n appealing with default mageia theme only the thing that libreoffice splash screen doesn't gel with default mageia 3 desktop theme as it can be seen here otherwise nice distro only somewhat little thing too be taken care from developers otherwise it just works fine .
Mageia 3 kde default wallpaper is very nice but only it is the wallpaper available it would be fine it they would have add some more good wallpapers.
Aesthetic looks with a beautiful analog clock widget available in mageia 3 kde desktop .
Hardware integration
Bluetooth ,wifi , touchpad , sound card ,graphic card etc worked well within my use for months and seems it has been well configured hardware integration for use and everything work out of box for me .Nvidia drivers are available in repos.
One thing suprises me as most of the distros are using network manager applet to control wireless but mageia 3 uses wicd but actually i like network manager which just looks more professional than wicd .Also heard that wicd is no longer actively maintained.
Actual performance of cpu while updating distro.
Performance wise it consumes more than 1gb ram actually nothing running in background. Truly speaking while running distro in live mode ram consumtion is lower around 600 mb but when it actually installed on hardware ram consumption is around 1gb .
When it detects pendrive or external hdd how it looks n recognize it.
Applications
Mageia 3 is rich in pre-installed applications. I could find commonly used basic applications that I look for in a distro,
Application wise it is having healthy list of course firefox browser preinstalled but if u need chromium or other browser it can be found in repos .Actually mageia 4 kde comes with it totem media player which is a gtk based apps actually i didnt see much kde distro using as their default and also it posses Dragon player.But i use smplayer or vlc which can be found in default repos.look how media plays in default totem n Dragon media player.
Actually dragon player works out of box but totem was asking for codecs.
The default email client available in Mageia 3 kde is Kmail but you can install mozilla thunderbird from repos.
Mageia 3 kde comes with multimedia n restricted codecs preinstalled as it played songs very well in amarok as its default audio player.
The theme for default icons is simple kde based plama theme for dolphin file viewing .
After screen lock how it looks .
TIME TO CONCLUSION
Mageia 3 kde is one of the best kde distro to use .It is one of the distro actually i was using it only some recent kernel upgrade it caused some gui issues to me apart from that i never had any issues with it. Performance wise it is very smooth to use ,elegant n visually pleasing .The plus point it has great mageia control centre which is not found among other kde distros n simple to use n doesn't complicate things . It has very active community support n very good documentation which just makes your life easy . Actually steam has arrived on mageia 3 so it would be fun for heavyactive gaming fans.Just try as it is supported around 18 months and targeted to advanced , beginner , intermediate user but then also just try n try if it works for u will feel in love with a smooth ,elegant, pleasing distro .
u can try it using ,
1. usb transfer.
2. suse image writer
NOTE
If u have any issue just visit their forum you will get answered to all your queries .
https://forums.mageia.org/en/
you can download both 32bit n 64 bit Mageia 3 Kde from here.
https://www.mageia.org/en/downloads/
The release of Mageia 3 banged with a brief notice at Linux magazine when it came out.
"All grown up and ready to go dancing" was the headline from the Mageia project, announcing the arrival of the Mageia 3 .
Mageia might be the newest distribution on this list, but its roots go back to July 1998 when Gaël Duval launched Mandrake Linux. At the time it was just a fork of Red Hat Linux with KDE as the default desktop, better hardware detection and some user-friendly features, but it gained instant popularity due to positive reviews in the media. Mandrake was later turned into a commercial enterprise and renamed to Mandriva (to avoid some trademark-related hassles and to celebrate its merger with Brazil's Conectiva) before almost going bankrupt in 2010. It was eventually saved by a Russian venture capital firm, but this came at a cost when the new management decided to lay off most of the established Mandriva developers at the company's Paris headquarters. Upon finding themselves without work, they decided to form Mageia, a community project which is a logical continuation of Mandrake and Mandriva, perhaps more so than Mandriva itself.
- Software package management: URPMI with Rpmdrake (a graphical front-end for URPMI) using RPM packages.
- Available editions: Installation DVDs for 32-bit (i586) and 64-bit (x86_64) processors; installable live CDs for 32-bit (i586) processors
If you've been looking around for a different OS for a laptop or PC that doesn't spend all of its time gaming you have probably taken a look at some of the more famous Linux distros but one may have escaped your attention.
Mageia 3 has just arrived, the successor to the Mandriva project and as it offers both Gnome and KDE desktop versions you can chose the interface which you are most comfortable with . Perhaps you have a family member or friend that spends their time browsing that you support and are looking for an alternative to Microsoft .
If you are presently running Microsoft Windows on your PC and would like to try Mageia 3 Linux, just download and burn one of the DVDs or CDs mentioned, put it in your DVD or CD drive, and reboot. If you download a LiveDVD or LiveCD, you can even try Mageia 3 without disturbing your Windows system. Then, if you decide you like it, you can install Mageia 3 alongside Windows on your PC, and you can then choose which one to boot at every reboot.
Among numerous new updates in Mageia 3 are version 3.8 of the Linux kernel along with systemd 195, KDE 4.10.2, GNOME 3.6, Xfce 4.10, and LibreOffice 4.0.3. Steam for Linux is now available in the repositories.
Besides KDE, GNOME, and Xfce, in fact, the distro also offers users a choice of LXDE, Enlightenment, and Razor-Qt.
Now truely speaking i used mageia 2 for an year on my dell laptop ,it was most resource efficient kde spin of that time.
As mandriva becoming commercial other mandriva based alternatives are pclinux os, alt linux, Rosa linux, n lastly mageia.A lot of good stuff is still present in mageia of former mandriva legacy. Actually speaking it has huge fans following besides opensuse and ubuntu n fedora.
http://www.mageia.org/en/3/
I downloaded the 64 install dvd edition which is approximately 3.9 gb in size .There are also another live dvd edition available which are approximately 1.4 gb in size .
so my review would be based on 64 bit install dvd version. I actually burned a dvd and installed the os on my dell inspiron laptop . actually i installed on my real hardware so didnt able to take live snap of distro .
Just refer this link for actual installation guide about installing mageia 3 here the link.
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Installation_of_Mageia_from_a_Live_CD
It took me around 22 min to install distro from install dvd .
Installation is just simple select your language ,country , timezone , keyboard n lastly configuring grub or grub 2 option default grub is provided and then user n root password creation .
This are the photos taken through mobile while installing.
It has beautiful aesthetically appealing background and one of the top five best linux distro on distrowatch website.
http://distrowatch.com/
mageia 3 kde looks simply beautiful n eye appealing distro.It is simple n professionalism can be just seen by boot splash screen of mageia 3 kde plasma interface .
Post installation update process is required to keep distro updated for this u have to use mageia control centre(MCC) a great way to update the system n install or remove software from it .very useful and has settings like autologin , network control and software n hardware management .
you can configure your media for updating or installing softwares .Each media has been divide further as release ,update , backport n testing.
Mageia 3 has three official repositories:
- Core: contains free open-sourced packages
- Non-free: contains packages which are closed source
- Tainted: contains packages that are released under a free license but may infringe patents and copyrights in some countries.
Rpm drake gui is a simple alternate to synaptic package manager which is found in debian /ubuntu distros useful to install or remove software packages.
It comes with an classical default application launcher according to mageia theme .
It comes with 4 virtual window but virtual window tab in Rosa desktop fresh was better to navigate through .
mageia 3 control centre is a nice feature but still it has another system kde setting manager to set various thing to customize distro .
Flash player is not preinstalled so you have to install it from default repos n then it will play youtube video efficently .
I didnt had any issue when going through indian language websites as i could easily read it which i was not able to do it in rosa desktop fresh which i reviewed earlier .
http://gujaratsamachar.com/
It doesnt have inbuilt cloud application but u can use dropbox ,spideroak ,yandex etc .only dropbox is available in repos others u will have to download from their sites respectively.
Beauty n Aesthetic
Mageia 3 kde it has lot of customization for folks who love customizing their distros . It has great wallpapers n application icons are very pleasant n appealing with default mageia theme only the thing that libreoffice splash screen doesn't gel with default mageia 3 desktop theme as it can be seen here otherwise nice distro only somewhat little thing too be taken care from developers otherwise it just works fine .
Mageia 3 kde default wallpaper is very nice but only it is the wallpaper available it would be fine it they would have add some more good wallpapers.
Aesthetic looks with a beautiful analog clock widget available in mageia 3 kde desktop .
Hardware integration
Bluetooth ,wifi , touchpad , sound card ,graphic card etc worked well within my use for months and seems it has been well configured hardware integration for use and everything work out of box for me .Nvidia drivers are available in repos.
One thing suprises me as most of the distros are using network manager applet to control wireless but mageia 3 uses wicd but actually i like network manager which just looks more professional than wicd .Also heard that wicd is no longer actively maintained.
Actual performance of cpu while updating distro.
Performance wise it consumes more than 1gb ram actually nothing running in background. Truly speaking while running distro in live mode ram consumtion is lower around 600 mb but when it actually installed on hardware ram consumption is around 1gb .
When it detects pendrive or external hdd how it looks n recognize it.
Applications
Mageia 3 is rich in pre-installed applications. I could find commonly used basic applications that I look for in a distro,
- Office: LibreOffice 4.0.3.3 Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Digidoc client, Digidoc Crypto, Okular Document reader
- Internet: KDE IM, KNetAttach,Firefox 17 ESR, Blue Devil, Network center,Konqueror, KPPP, Filezilla ,Kopete.
- Graphics: Aquire images, DNG converter, GIMP 2.8.2 photo editor, gwenview Image viewer, Ksnapshot, , Kolourpaint,Digikam , Panaroma .
- Multimedia: Dragon player , KsCD,Amarok music player,Totem media player ,Tvtime television viewer.
- Accessories: Konsole,Apper, K3b , Ark, ChBg, Klipper, Kwrite, KDE Wallet Manager, etc.
Application wise it is having healthy list of course firefox browser preinstalled but if u need chromium or other browser it can be found in repos .Actually mageia 4 kde comes with it totem media player which is a gtk based apps actually i didnt see much kde distro using as their default and also it posses Dragon player.But i use smplayer or vlc which can be found in default repos.look how media plays in default totem n Dragon media player.
Actually dragon player works out of box but totem was asking for codecs.
The default email client available in Mageia 3 kde is Kmail but you can install mozilla thunderbird from repos.
Mageia 3 kde comes with multimedia n restricted codecs preinstalled as it played songs very well in amarok as its default audio player.
The theme for default icons is simple kde based plama theme for dolphin file viewing .
After screen lock how it looks .
TIME TO CONCLUSION
Mageia 3 kde is one of the best kde distro to use .It is one of the distro actually i was using it only some recent kernel upgrade it caused some gui issues to me apart from that i never had any issues with it. Performance wise it is very smooth to use ,elegant n visually pleasing .The plus point it has great mageia control centre which is not found among other kde distros n simple to use n doesn't complicate things . It has very active community support n very good documentation which just makes your life easy . Actually steam has arrived on mageia 3 so it would be fun for heavyactive gaming fans.Just try as it is supported around 18 months and targeted to advanced , beginner , intermediate user but then also just try n try if it works for u will feel in love with a smooth ,elegant, pleasing distro .
u can try it using ,
1. usb transfer.
2. suse image writer
NOTE
If u have any issue just visit their forum you will get answered to all your queries .
https://forums.mageia.org/en/
you can download both 32bit n 64 bit Mageia 3 Kde from here.
https://www.mageia.org/en/downloads/
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