First Community OpenMandriva Released

Anurag Bhandari yesterday announced the first release of the community version of OpenMandriva, OpenMandriva Lx 2013.0. Described as "an exciting free Desktop Operating System that aims to cater to and interest first time and advanced users alike. It has the breadth and depth of an advanced system but is designed to be simple and straightforward in use," OpenMandriva Lx 2013.0 features Linux 3.11.8, KDE 4.11.2, LibreOffice 4.1.3, and Firefox 25.0.1.

This successor to Mandriva Linux 2011 features new artwork and 11 community backgrounds as well as a revamped SimpleWelcome launcher. The ROSA Media Player has received "stability improvements" and the kernel is supposedly a souped-up "variant with full preemption and boost mode" in addition to "CK1 and BFQ patchsets." The installer now removes unneeded drivers and language packs and a USB key option is now supported. Upgrades are supported, but one might want to read the release notes on this first.

Reading the errata is always recommended. Topics covered so far include the update tool adding Cooker repos, five gigabyte root partition requirements, and black screen at boot. These have workarounds listed, of course.

Download torrents seem to be the favored distribution method, but Sourceforge and direct downloads are available. See the What's New for more.