After a year of development the launch of the new version of the linux distribution “Open Mandriva Lx 4.3” in which a large number of updates, some new features and more have been incorporated.
For those who are not familiar with OpenMandriva Lx, they should know that this is a Linux distribution created and oriented for all types of users, this distribution is distributed and developed by the association called OpenMandriva, which is a non-profit association.
This Linux distribution is based on Mandriva Linux which was a French distribution, not so popular among Linux users, but one that some users came to recommend at the time.
For those people who do not know the name Mandriva Linux I can comment on the following about this Linux distribution that ended its development several years ago.
mandriva linux was a Linux distribution published by the French company Mandriva intended for both beginners and experienced users, oriented to personal computers and servers with a focus on users who are introducing themselves to the world of Linux and free software.
Main new features of OpenMandriva Lx 4.3
In this new version of the distribution we can find the updated system packages among which, for example, the kernel of Linux 5.16, Calamares 3.2.39 installer, systemd 249, among others.
On the part of the updated desktop environments and graphics stack, we can find in OpenMandriva Lx 4.3 the versions of KDE Plasma 5.23.5, KDE Frameworks 5.90.0, KDE Gear 21.12.2, Qt 5.15.3, LXQt 1.0.0, Xfce 4.16, GNOME 41, MATE 1.26, Lumina 1.6.2, IceWM 2.9.5, i3-wm 4.20, CuteFish 0.7, Maui-shell Xorg 21.1.3, Wayland 1.20.0, FFmpeg 5.0, Mesa 21.3.5 and AMDVLK 2022 .P1.2.
Regarding the changes and improvements that were made in this new version the improvement of session performance based on the Wayland protocol is highlighted, It now has support for hardware-accelerated video encoding (VA-API) in Wayland-based environments.
Moreover, the clang compiler used to compile packages was updated to the LLVM 13 branch and that to compile all the components now it is only necessary the use of Clang, including the Linux kernel version of the package compiled in Clang.
Another change that stands out is that the desktop preset configurator (om-feeling-like) has been updated and offers a set of presets that allow you to make the KDE Plasma desktop look like other environments (for example, make it look like the interface of Ubuntu, Windows 7, Windows 10, macOS, etc.).
In addition to this, it is also highlighted that the application was updated Om welcome, designed for initial configuration and user familiarization with the system, in which now it is possible to quickly install additional programs standard that are not included in the basic delivery.
The improved performance of the Software Repository Selector application (om-repo-picker) to connect additional package repositories and that by default the PipeWire media server is used for audio processing, which replaced PulseAudio (can be returned from the repository).
It should also be noted that the build for 64-bit ARM processors (aarch64) was fully prepared and tested on PinebookPro, Raspberry Pi 4B/3B+, Rock Pi 4A/4B/4C, Synquacer, and Cubox Pulse devices, as well as motherboards. servers that support UEFI.
Of the other changes that stand out from this new version:
- An experimental build of OpenMandriva has been prepared for the PinePhone smartphone.
- Updates to: LibreOffice 7.3.0, Falkon 3.2, Firefox 96, Chromium 97 (beta 98, dev 99), Krita 5.0.2, GIMP 2.10.30, Audacity 3.1.3, Blender 3.0.1, Steam 1.0.0.72, Calligra Suite 3.2.1, Digikam 7.5, SMPlayer 21.10.0, VLC 3.0.16, Virtualbox 6.1.32, OBS Studio 27.1.3.
- Work continues on a port to the RISC-V architecture that was not included in version 4.3.
Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it About this new release of OpenMandriva Lx 4.3, you can check the details In the following link.
Get OpenMandriva Lx 4.3
For those interested in being able to download this new version can get ready-made system images for different devices, from the official website of the distribution.
Here you will find the 254GB (x86_64) Live image, "znver1", optimized for AMD Ryzen, ThreadRipper, and EPYC processors, as well as images for use on ARM devices Pinebook Pro, Rock Pi 4 (A/B/C), Raspberry Pi 400, Raspberry Pi 4B, and Raspberry Pi 3B+, Synquacer, Cubox Pulse, and various Arch64-based server boards.