OpenMandriva Lx 4.0

   Contents

        * [9]1 OpenMandriva Lx 4.0
        * [10]2 Install
             + [11]2.1 Available Media
             + [12]2.2 Recommended Hardware
             + [13]2.3 Internet Connection
             + [14]2.4 Virtual Machines
             + [15]2.5 What is Calamares ?
             + [16]2.6 Partitioning
             + [17]2.7 Installer and EFI Support
             + [18]2.8 Changing Partition Type
             + [19]2.9 Booting from USB
                  o [20]2.9.1 - Use the ROSA Image Writer available from our
                    repos
                  o [21]2.9.2 - Via dd
             + [22]2.10 Booting from ISO file
        * [23]3 New Features and Major Changes
             + [24]3.1 Package Management (change from URPMI to DNF)
             + [25]3.2 LLVM/clang
             + [26]3.3 Kernel
             + [27]3.4 systemd
             + [28]3.5 Xorg
             + [29]3.6 Wayland
             + [30]3.7 libinput
             + [31]3.8 OMA-welcome
             + [32]3.9 OpenMandriva Lx Control Center
             + [33]3.10 OpenMandriva repo-picker
             + [34]3.11 KDE Plasma 5.15.5
             + [35]3.12 Calligra Suite 3.1.0
             + [36]3.13 Krita 4.2.1
             + [37]3.14 SDDM
             + [38]3.15 LXQt 0.14.0
             + [39]3.16 LibreOffice 6.2.4
             + [40]3.17 Falkon 3.1.0
             + [41]3.18 Firefox 66.0.5
             + [42]3.19 Chromium 75.0
             + [43]3.20 Java 12
             + [44]3.21 Printing
             + [45]3.22 Sound
             + [46]3.23 Multimedia
             + [47]3.24 libarchive
             + [48]3.25 Perl
             + [49]3.26 Python
             + [50]3.27 Virtualization
             + [51]3.28 Games
             + [52]3.29 ISO build tools
             + [53]3.30 Upgrading from previous OpenMandriva Lx Releases
        * [54]4 Changes to Hardware Support
             + [55]4.1 Graphics Support
             + [56]4.2 NVIDIA Graphics Cards
             + [57]4.3 AMD/ATI Graphics Cards
             + [58]4.4 Intel Graphics Chips
             + [59]4.5 Miscellaneous Graphic Cards
             + [60]4.6 Proprietary Drivers
             + [61]4.7 Firewall
        * [62]5 Booting with systemd
        * [63]6 Desktop Environments
        * [64]7 Media Sources
        * [65]8 Helping the Project
        * [66]9 Errata

   The OpenMandriva Lx teams are pleased to announce the availability of
   OpenMandriva Lx 4.0!

   Detailed below are some of the advances that the distribution has
   incorporated since OpenMandriva Lx 3.03.

Install

Available Media

   This release is available as a live media DVD, downloadable in ISO
   format. These are available on our [67]downloads page.

   Live media means you are able to run OpenMandriva Lx straight from a
   DVD or memory stick (see below) and try it before installing it. You
   may also install the system to hard disk either from the running live
   image or from the boot manager.

   Available ISO files are:

   1. [68]KDE Plasma desktop only full featured (includes the most common
   used functionalities, multimedia and office software.)

   2. [69]LXQt desktop only somewhat full featured (includes many
   applications but lighter on memory and disk space usage.)

   3. Basic GUI with minimal desktop and only basic system packages and a
   web browser.
   The concept is for user to then install only packages they wish to use
   after installing basic system. Also for users with less robust
   hardware.

Recommended Hardware

   OpenMandriva Lx 4.0 requires at least 2.0 GB of memory and at least 10
   GB of hard drive space (see below for known issues with partitioning).

   Release is available for x86_64 and znver1 architectures, the 32-bit
   ARM, aarch64, and RISC-V architectures are being worked on, but are not
   yet available for this release.

   Important Note: Graphics Hardware

   The KDE Plasma Desktop requires a 3D graphics card that supports OpenGL
   2.0 or above. We recommend using AMD, Intel, Adreno or VC4 graphics
   chips.

Internet Connection

   Calamares Installer checks if an Internet connection is available, but
   OpenMandriva Lx 4 will install just fine even without. It is perfectly
   OK to simply install as you normally would and proceed to use your new
   system as normal.

   Updating such a system would require being temporarily connected to the
   internet or downloading the packages elsewhere and transferring them to
   the installed system and installing the updated packages. But as you
   are not connected to the internet you could simply use the system and
   not update for how ever long you see fit.

Virtual Machines

   At this time the only virtualization software that OMLx ISOs are tested
   on is VirtualBox. The same hardware requirements apply when running in
   virtual machines.

   For VirtualBox, however, you must always have at least 2048 MB of
   memory or OpenMandriva Lx will fail to boot.

   Also for VirtualBox it is advisable to install to a fresh VM, as trying
   to install to an existing one may occasionally fail.

What is Calamares ?

   Calamares is an installer framework. By design it is very customizable,
   in order to satisfy a wide variety of needs and use cases. It aims to
   be easy, usable, beautiful, pragmatic, inclusive and
   distribution-agnostic.
   Calamares includes an advanced partitioning feature, with support for
   both manual and automated partitioning operations. It is the first
   installer with an automated “Replace Partition” option, which makes it
   easy to reuse a partition over and over for distribution testing.

Partitioning

   At this time partitioning LVM and Raid setups with Calamares (the
   installer) is NOT supported.

Installer and EFI Support

   This release of OpenMandriva Lx supports booting and installation with
   and without [70]UEFI.

   Note that secure boot is NOT supported.

   If you wish to perform an EFI installation on an existing MBR disk it
   will be necessary to convert the disk partition table to the newer GPT
   partitioning scheme. To do this you need to use the gdisk tool. A
   typical invocation would be 'gdisk /dev/sda': the existing partition
   table will be converted in memory to the GPT scheme. Warnings will be
   issued about potential data loss, the disk will not be altered until
   you write the partition table by pressing "w". You are advised to back
   up any important data.

   There may be occasions where the conversion cannot be performed, this
   will usually be due to insufficient space at the beginning or end of
   the disk to write the partition table. It may be necessary to delete or
   resize a partition to create the needed space, gparted is your friend
   in these circumstances.

   There is still a need to create an efi partition to contain the boot
   equipment and this must be created while running the Calamares
   installer. When the installer reaches the partitioning stage the /
   (root) partition should be removed and a small (330 MB) FAT16 or FAT32
   partition created at the start of the drive. If diskspace is critical
   then a smaller partition may be used, but be sure to set it as FAT16 or
   FAT32 in Calamares otherwise the installation will fail. If you fail to
   observe these steps the installation of the boot loader will fail.
   Subsequently partition the disk in the normal way. Please share your
   experiences on the forums so that we may improve this aspect of the
   installation.

   If you are installing beside Windows 8, 8.1, 10 or similar EFI booted
   OS as a precaution please ensure that you have recovery disks and you
   have backed up any important data. Our testing has been limited with
   this configuration, but successful installations have been performed
   with no issues. We would welcome any feedback in this area.

Changing Partition Type

   Please note that Calamares cannot convert one partition type to another
   and preserve partition data. If you run Calamares from the live image
   it is not possible to change an existing partition type. Trying to do
   this generates an error message. In order to do this you must first
   delete the partition and recreate it as the type that you wish.

Booting from USB

   It is also possible to boot this release from an USB storage device. To
   transfer the live/installation image you may:

- Use the ROSA Image Writer available from our repos

sudo dnf --refresh install rosa-imagewriter

   Or, if you do not have OpenMandriva Lx yet, you can get ROSA Image
   Writer download links at [71]this page
   At least 4 GB of flash drive capacity is recommended. Persistent
   storage is not necessary. Note that this will erase everything on your
   USB!
   [72]Warning.png
   Please do not use other usb-writing tools as some Windows tools (e.g.
   Rufus) truncate the volume name. This breaks the boot process.

- Via dd

   You may alternatively dd the image to your USB stick:
dd if=<iso_name> of=<usb_drive> bs=4M

   Replace <iso_name> with the path to the ISO and <usb_drive> with the
   device node of the USB drive, i.e. /dev/sdb.

   SUSE Studio ImageWriter has also been tested and works for burning ISO
   images to USB storage device.

Booting from ISO file

   Grub2 entry ( to be added in /boot/grub2/grub.cfg)
submenu "OpenMandriva (64 bit)" {
        set isofile=/home/user/OpenMandrivaLx.4.0-final-plasma.x86_64.iso
        set isoname=OpenMandrivaLx_4.0
        loopback loop $isofile

        menuentry "OpenMandriva" {
                linux (loop)/boot/vmlinuz0 root=live:LABEL=${isoname} iso-scan/f
ilename=${isofile} rd.live.image toram --
                initrd (loop)/boot/liveinitrd.img
        }

}

New Features and Major Changes

   OpenMandriva Lx 4.0 is a new release. In order to keep current with
   latest changes in Linux, computer security issues, and computer code
   writing there are major changes in OM Lx4.

Package Management (change from URPMI to DNF)

   Major changes for OM Lx 4 include switching from [73]rpm5/[74]URPMI to
   [75]rpm.org/[76]DNF for package management. This will require users to
   get used to new commands if they use command line, [77]DNF. Also there
   are How To articles in our Forum in the Resources category such as
   [78]this.

LLVM/clang

   OpenMandriva provides LLVM/clang 8.0.1 as the default compiler, GCC 9.1
   is also available. Over 98% of packages in our main repository are now
   built with LLVM/clang.

   Benefits for end user:
     * Faster compiles and Low Memory Use
     * Expressive Diagnostics
     * GCC Compatibility
     * Better object code generation compared to others
     * Object code is optimized for its size
     * OpenMP support enabled by default

   More information can be found [79]here.

Kernel

   OpenMandriva Lx uses the latest stable kernel, 5.1.9, by default BFQ is
   set up as a default I/O scheduler to achieve best performance.
   By default an [80]UKSM is enabled to manage memory efficiently.

systemd

   Default init system is [81]systemd with version 242

Xorg

   We have upgraded Xorg to version 1.20.4, and Mesa to 19.0.3, which
   brings the latest free drivers for the best performance. A Compose
   cache is now incorporated which speeds up application startup time and
   reduces memory usage especially in locales with large Compose tables
   (e.g. all UTF-8 locales).

   We are using modesetting driver by default for nVIDIA, Intel and AMD
   graphics cards as well as Adreno GPUs.

   With end of 02 October 2017 a S3TC patent has expired, and we have
   included S3TC texture compression in our Mesa.

Wayland

   We are working on many new and interesting shells using new display
   technology based on [82]Wayland 1.17 version.
   KDE Plasma 5 running on wayland is still experimental and not
   recommended for daily use. Testing and feedback of Wayland is welcome.

libinput

   All the input devices like keyboard, mouse, touchpad and others are now
   handled though [83]libinput 1.13.1 version library by default.

OMA-welcome

   The oma-welcome or Welcome to OpenMandriva Lx application introduces
   the users to OpenMandriva Lx and shows them some of the features we
   have, as well as providing quick links to common tasks such as
   updating, installing new software, and configuring the desktop.

OpenMandriva Lx Control Center

   OpenMandriva Lx Control Center or om-control-center is a tool designed
   to help you configure your system.

OpenMandriva repo-picker

   OpenMandriva Lx repo-picker or om-repo-picker is a frontend for DNF
   package repository selection.

KDE Plasma 5.15.5

   We have upgraded to the latest and greatest version of the KDE Plasma
   desktop. [84]Learn more at KDE Plasma website.
   KDE Frameworks are updated to [85]5.58.0 version. We have implemented
   full KDE Frameworks that allows user to get all of benefits of Plasma 5
   desktop
   KDE Applications are updated to [86]19.04.2

   Our distribution is running with Qt [87]5.12 version.

   Important notice! Plasma 5 make heavy use of Qt5 OpenGL. This means
   that the minimal system requirement is to have a graphics card that can
   support OpenGL 2.0 or newer version.

Calligra Suite 3.1.0

   [88]Calligra Suite is a graphic art and office suite written in Qt5 and
   supports KDE Plasma 5. It is possible to install whole calligra suite
   after installation is finished.

Krita 4.2.1

   [89]Krita is a creative sketching and painting application. It was part
   of Calligra up to version 2.9 and became a project independent from
   Calligra since then. It has already been ported to Qt5 and is included
   in the install image.

SDDM

   SDDM is a new and lightweight displaymanager written in Qt5 with QML
   and provides new features and benefits to enduser compared to KDM.

LXQt 0.14.0

   We have prepared LXQt for our Release. LXQt is a lightweight desktop
   fully written in Qt5.

   By default SDDM is used as display manager.

LibreOffice 6.2.4

   The latest [90]LibreOffice featuring much faster load times and many
   bug fixes.
   LibreOffice 6.2.4 has much improved KDE Plasma integration.

Falkon 3.1.0

   [91]Falkon is a full featured web browser using Qt5WebEngine as a
   rendering engine. More information can be found [92]here.

   We encourage you to give Falkon a try as a new experience in the web
   browsers world.

Firefox 66.0.5

   The latest [93]Firefox Quantum with its new graphical interface and all
   the latest features.
   You may wish to suspend desktop effects when running Firefox is in full
   screen mode, as it speeds up scrolling.

Chromium 75.0

   A [94]Chromium web browser is available to install it on running system
   either by using dnf, Discover or dnfdragora.
sudo dnf --refresh install chromium-browser-stable

   If you wish to try an experimental version with newer features (but not
   quite the stability), you can also try
sudo dnf --refresh install chromium-browser-dev

   The -stable and -dev versions can coexist on the same installation.

Java 12

   The OpenMandriva Lx Java stack has been rebuilt on top of OpenJDK 12,
   and we have added support for [95]Java Modules and JAR libraries in the
   RPM provides/requires generators. We have also started adding module
   information (module-info.class) to packages providing JAR libraries.
   Migrating the remaining Java packages to newer systems will happen over
   the next releases (adding module support to any related package that
   gets an update). This should enable much better packaging of Java
   related packages in the future.

Printing

   Printing support is based on [96]Cups 2.2.10 and ghostscript 9.26.

Sound

   [97]ALSA is updated to version 1.1.9

   Pulseaudio version is 12.2, you can find more information about
   features [98]here.

Multimedia

   The [99]SMPlayer media player is included, using [100]MPV as its
   default backend. If you live in a country that allows it, you may want
   to install the various codecs from the restricted repository for
   improved codec support.

   We have enabled [101]LAME support by default. With 2017 start all the
   patents related to [102]MP3 are expired. By default our ffmpeg,
   gstreamer, and other media frameworks now supports LAME.

libarchive

   We have decided to make better use of [103]libarchive, and starting
   from OM Lx 3 release by default we use:
     * bsdtar as a default tar program
     * bsdcpio as a default cpio program

   Detailed features and benefits can be found [104]here.

Perl

   Perl base package has been updated to 5.28 version. All perl related
   software in main repository has been rebuilt to meet new version.

Python

   Python has been updated to 3.7.3 version and starting from now it
   became the default python interpreter over python 2.x. Python 2.x is no
   longer included in the default ISO, but continues to be available in
   the repositories for people in need of legacy applications.

Virtualization

   We provide support for:
     * qemu
     * docker
     * virtualbox

   You can install and run these out of the box.

Games

   We provide many of the games which have been developed for or ported to
   Linux.
   By using of [105]PlayOnLinux you can also play games usually available
   only on the Windows(tm) platform.
   Of course [106]Steam package is also available and can be installed
   using dnf, dnfdragora or plasma-discover.

   To give it a go, enable the non-free and 32bit repositories, then:
sudo dnf install steam

ISO build tools

   Previously livecd-tools were used to build OpenMandriva ISO images. Due
   to code complication and its limits, we moved to build own ISO image
   build tool.

   [107]omdv-build-iso is written as a bash shell script, which works out
   of box on [108]ABF and in userland.

Upgrading from previous OpenMandriva Lx Releases

   Currently a fresh install is recommended.

   In order to keep current with latest changes in Linux, computer
   security issues, and computer code writing there are major changes in
   OM Lx4. A Fresh install is recommended. Upgrading from OM Lx 3 will not
   work. We strongly advise not to try upgrading from earlier versions.

Changes to Hardware Support

Graphics Support

   Graphics support has improved with the latest drivers. We managed to
   reduce issues by using by default DRM subsystem and modesetting driver
   for AMD, intel and nVIDIA graphics cards.

   If any users have special needs they will need to be configured from
   command line. If you need help please contact us at our [109]forum or
   [110]IRC room.

NVIDIA Graphics Cards

   This release includes the reverse engineered nouveau driver, which
   gives moderately good support for most NVIDIA cards. For some
   dual-screen work it is actually better than NVIDIA binary driver as it
   supports screen rotation on a second monitor, which is useful for
   monitors with rotatable screens.

   The drivers from nvidia website are not supported. This is not possible
   for a number or reasons.

   We strongly recommend against using the proprietary drivers. They are
   impossible to support, and break frequently. If you install them, you
   do so at your own risk.

AMD/ATI Graphics Cards

   AMD closed source driver is not supported (abandoned upstream) , Open
   source drivers are fully supported and only limited by Kernel/mesa BUGS
   or missing upstream (AMD) firmwares for newer Cards.

   If you need help please contact us at our [111]forum or [112]IRC room.

Intel Graphics Chips

   Intel graphics chips are fully supported.

Miscellaneous Graphic Cards

   We have not had feedback from users. Should you have an unusual
   graphics card that is not performing as it should please contact us at
   our [113]forum or [114]IRC room. If issue persists please file a bug at
   [115]issues.openmandriva.org.

Proprietary Drivers

   Proprietary drivers not available for Lx 4 RC release. When they are
   available user will need to install and configure these from command
   line.

   The drivers from nvidia web site are not supported. This is not
   possible for a number or reasons.

Firewall

   We have since OM Lx 3 used firewall-config, which relies on firewalld.

   The service responsible for starting the firewall is enabled by
   default.

Booting with systemd

   Systemd has now been moved into the initramfs and the result is
   super-fast booting. Switching runlevels has changed. Instead of adding
   the target runlevel, as before, there are now specific boot options.
   Namely, the following options must be appended to the kernel command
   line:
     * Rescue Mode: systemd.unit=rescue.target
     * Text Mode: systemd.unit=multi-user.target
     * Graphical Mode: systemd.unit=graphical.target

Desktop Environments

   This release offers the KDE Plasma 5 desktop environment. LXQt is
   available in repos for users to install and test.

Media Sources

     * main

   main is the core packages maintained by the OpenMandriva Lx team. This
   includes anything included in the install images as well as many more
   applications considered important.
     * unsupported

   unsupported represents community maintained packages. These are not
   supported by the core OpenMandriva Lx team, and depend on package
   maintainers to update it. There are many packages in unsupported that
   will not install and others that install but do not work properly.
   Users are welcome to use whatever they find in this repository that is
   working.
     * restricted

   restricted contains libraries that aren't installed by default due to
   legal concerns (such as patent issues). The usage of these packages
   vary by country - OpenMandriva Lx is not responsible for their usage!
   If you believe that their usage is disallowed in your country, please
   disable the restricted repositories.
     * non-free

   non-free contains applications and drivers that are distributable, but
   do not meet the definitions of [116]Free Software. While we can adjust
   the packaging of such applications, we do not have the source code and
   therefore can not fix problems caused by anything in this repository.

[117]Om-donate.svg Helping the Project

   The OpenMandriva development teams (Cooker & QA) are always looking for
   new contributors to assist in creating and maintaining packages and to
   assist bugfixing and testing. You are welcome to join us and help us in
   this work which is not only rewarding but also tremendous fun!

   If you feel that your talents do not lie in the realm of software, then
   the OpenMandriva Workshop group, which is made up from the artwork,
   documentation, translation and Communication teams, is always open for
   the submissions of artwork and translations. New contributors who would
   like to help with these wide-ranging tasks should see the wiki for more
   details, and to learn how to join! Alternatively you may use our
   [118]Forum.

   It also costs time and money to keep our servers up and running. If you
   can, please [119]donate to keep the lights on!

Errata

   See [120]4.0/Errata.
