[Mageia-discuss] Successful Install with some initial thoughts

Doug Laidlaw laidlaws at hotkey.net.au
Thu May 24 22:51:16 CEST 2012


On Thu, 24 May 2012 16:14:27 -0400
Marc Paré <marc at marcpare.com> wrote:

> Thanks to the Mageia teams for the newest distro version, it is a
> great looking system and it works without any problems.
> 
> At this time, the only critique I would have is (sorry my systems are 
> all in French, so the terms below may not be correct):
> 
> * the choice of "Window Decorations" -- I would have gone with a more 
> conventional window a little like a windows look-a-like. I switched
> to "Plastik". If we are going to try to popularize Mageia, we will
> have to have more conventional widows themes to lessen the hurdles to
> newcomers.
> 
> * the "Cursor Theme" -- I am 53 of age and the default theme is a
> little too hard to see. The arrow icon on the default theme does not
> have a well defined tail and blends too well with the text when
> wordprocessing, messaging etc. I switched to "Whiteglass" but may
> change it again. Also, I find the shadow on the cursors is too
> extreme, it should be closed up -- but this may be due to the
> Whiteglass theme.
> 
> * I love the treatment of the bottom bar where open windows/software 
> icons take much less space. This is really great and much appreciated.
> 
> * Neopunk -- well, what can I say, it slows my machine down quite a
> bit, but then, I have over 200 gigs of data on it. I'm going to give
> it the benefit of the doubt and give it a chance at indexing. I am
> not sure how long it will take for my system, but it would be nice to
> have an indexed machine to work with as I do quite a bit of searches
> through files. I hope it doesn't take weeks to index.
> 
> * the "Activity Manager", I had not really worked with this, but, I
> can see its appeal where someone would want an uncluttered screen
> with some of the options. It is nice to see it out in the open for
> people to try.
> 
> * PulseAudio -- it can either be a "bust or a boom" on different 
> systems. On my system, I have a Via 8237 sound controller and
> PulseAudio did not want to play nicely with it, so I removed it and
> all is well; I am not sure, but I think the problem was with my
> WebCam being plugged into the system. I also switched KMix with
> QASMixer as I like the controls better on QASMixer.
> 
> Otherwise, the system works really well and is responsive. I still
> have 2 more desktops and a laptop to install at home. I have also a
> lineup of 30 clients whose computers I maintain on a volunteer basis
> and the lineup has already started for the upgrades from MageiaV.1.0
> to MageiaV.2.0.
> 
> Thanks again for all of the great work and OS!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Marc
> 
I agree with all Marc's comments, but perhaps he and I aren't typical
(I am almost 70.)

The choice of Window Decorations:  I don't like the Oxygen theme
either, but it is the KDE standard.  Plastik is one of my favorites as
well.

The Cursor theme: Once again, this is standard.  I have changed to the
blue version of Marc's White Glass.

Nepomuk:  I am using XFCE.  I hate KDE's attempts to cover the screen
with information popups.  I set aside .75 of a Gig for a Home Directory
in my test setup, running KDE. 630 MB of it is used up in hidden
directories, with 149 MB in Akonadi.  Long gone are the days when a
whole distro would fit in 2 GB. When I do switch to KDE,
indexing makes startup take about as long as in Windows. That should
make the team at KDE happy!

Doug.


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