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The OpenMandriva project released today the final version of the OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 operating system, a major release that comes with many new features and improvements.
Dubbed “Argon,” OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 comes about a year after OpenMandriva Lx 4.1 “Mercury” and it’s the first release of this Mandriva derived GNU/Linux distribution to offer a complete ARM64 (AArch64) port that lets you install it on various popular ARM devices.
Installable images are currently provided for the Raspberry Pi 400, Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (check out my first look article), Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, Pinebook Pro, Rock Pi 4A, Rock Pi 4B, and Rock Pi 4C. In time, more ARM devices will be supported, such as the PinePhone Linux phone.
“This port also enables us to target a smartphone for the first time – an image running on the PinePhone is available (but should not yet be considered final quality),” said the OpenMandriva team.
We can’t wait to get a taste of OpenMandriva Lx on the PinePhone, but, until a working image is available, let’s have a closer look at the new features and updated components that the new release brings for the desktop.
First and foremost, OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 is powered by the latest Linux 5.10 LTS kernel series, which means that it provides top-notch hardware support and should work well on most recent computers. If you’re still experiencing some hardware issues, the upcoming Linux kernel 5.11 is available for installation too from the repositories.
Under the hood, it features LLVM/clang 11.0.1, GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) 10.2, GNU Binutils 2.36.1, systemd 247, Qt 5.15.2, Java 15, and the Calamares 3.2.35 graphical installer.
OpenMandriva Lx 4.2 also comes with an improved OM Welcome application, which makes the distro easier to use by newcomers by helping them install several popular apps with a single mouse click. OM Welcome also lets you install a Clang compiled kernel alongside the normal kernel.
Also included in this release are so-called Desktop Presets to help you customize the appearance of your OpenMandriva Lx desktop in case you want to make it look and feel like Windows or macOS if you’re migrating to Linux, as well as Software Repository Selector, a tool to enable extra repositories with thousands of software.
OpenMandriva Lx is a KDE Plasma-oriented distribution, so you can imagine that the new release comes with all the latest KDE software, including the KDE Plasma 5.20.5 desktop environment, as well as the KDE Applications 20.12.2 and KDE Frameworks 5.78 software suites.
On top of that, users will get the recently released LibreOffice 7.1 office suite, Krita 4.4.2 digital painting program, digiKam 7.2 photo manipulation software, SMPlayer 21.1.0 and VLC 3.0.12.1 media players, Falkon 3.1 web browser, and SimpleScreenRecorder 0.4.3 screen capturing tool.
Last updated 3 years ago
