If you're ready for something different, I recommend this Linux distro to newbies and experts alike

It’s rare to find a Linux distribution that’s not based on Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, or Arch. That’s not to say they don’t exist, but they are hard to find. 

One such distribution is OpenMandriva (officially, OpenMandriva Lx), which is a community version of the once-heralded Mandriva (which was based on the long-since-dead Mandrake Linux). Mandrake was a very special take on Linux because it had one very important goal: make Linux easy to use for all.

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That ethos was passed down to Mandriva and then to OpenMandriva, and it shows.

When you first log into OpenMandriva, you’re greeted by the KDE Plasma desktop with a dark theme and not much in the way of customization. It’s pretty much straightforward KDE Plasma. Then there’s the OM Welcome app, which offers an abundance of information regarding the kernel, KDE Plasma, LibreOffice, the Software Repository Selector, updates, and so much more. 

I’d go so far as to say that OpenMandriva’s OM Welcome tool is the best of the best because it does an outstanding job of holding a new user’s hand to introduce them to what’s what, while also giving advanced users easy access to configurations hardware options, and more.

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OpenMandriva doesn’t exactly offer the most modern-looking desktop environment. Yes, it’s KDE Plasma (which can be highly customized), but the out-of-the-box experience is fairly vanilla. It took me all of 2 minutes to turn the KDE Plasma desktop into something a bit more modern (I enabled the floating panel, increased the panel height, switched the theme to light, and removed the desktop icons). 

That’s part of KDE Plasma’s appeal: it’s just so flexible.

Installed apps

With OpenMandriva, you get a good amount of pre-installed applications, so you can hit the ground running. You’ll find LibreOffice, Chrome, KDE Connect (to connect your Android phone with the desktop), MPV media player, QMPlay2, and more. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, there’s always the Discover app, which is KDE Plasma’s GUI app store. There’s also Flatpak installed by default with support rolled into Discover, so you don’t have to install Flapak apps from the command line.

And that’s a key point. With OpenMandriva, you don’t have to bother with the command line… ever. You have all the GUI power you need, so it’s very much a point-and-click affair. That’s important because users new to Linux shouldn’t be forced to use the command line. 

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Yes, it should be there and ready when anyone needs it, but the terminal shouldn’t be a requirement for Linux, and OpenMandriva has everything you need to avoid it. Consider the System Settings app, where you’ll find more configuration options than you’re probably accustomed to seeing.

Rome or Rock?

This is where it gets a bit tricky. OpenMandriva is available in two different forms: Rome and Rock. What are they? Simple: Rome is a rolling release version, and Rock is the standard version. For those who want the most updated software, go with Rome. If you need more stability and don’t mind using applications that might not be the latest/greatest, go with Rock.

Then there are the spins, which include versions for GNOME, Lxqt, Xfce, Mate, Cinnamon, and Budgie; there’s even a COSMIC spin in the works.

One of my favorite aspects of OpenMandriva is that it’s fully independent. Because it’s not based on any other Linux distribution, it has complete autonomy to do what it wants, which is to remain as pragmatic as possible. On top of that, OpenMandriva was the first Linux distribution to ever be built with Clang (a compiler front end for the “C” programming languages C, C++, Objective-C, and Objective-C++). 

Clang is a modular, open-source replacement for GCC, but this doesn’t really matter to new users. What is important is that OpenMandriva isn’t dependent on any other Linux distribution, so it’s free to be exactly what it wants to be… and it does that very well.

Who is OpenMandriva for?

This is a very simple question to answer: everyone. You can be completely new to Linux and feel right at home with OpenMandriva. You can also be a seasoned user and find all of the tools you need to build a powerful workstation for development, administration, and other uses.

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Anyone coming off of the headache that is the end of Windows 10 would be remiss if they didn’t give OpenMandriva a try. It’s beautiful, flexible, and as easy to use as whatever OS is currently on your computer.

Download an ISO, create a bootable USB drive with it, boot it, and install it. You won’t regret giving this time-tested distribution a try.