Ubuntu vs Mageia

Mageia, which came out on top in our annual best Linux distribution roundup [ see Features,p32, LXF203] sits pretty much in contrast to Ubuntu. The distro, which has had a long association with the Linux community in one form or another, is managed by a non-profit and has a very democratic and transparent development process. Mageia is a wonderfully put together distro that looks elegant with its custom theme and customised KDE desktop. The KDE Plasma desktop also adheres to the classic desktop metaphor and unlike Ubuntu will not trip up first-time users.

By default, Mageia ships with only open source software, but you can infuse proprietary applications and codecs into your installation without much effort. Unlike Ubuntu, Mageia greets its users with a Welcome app which does a nice job of educating the users about the distro’s repos structure and also gives them the option to flesh it out by adding popular proprietary apps and codecs. In addition to the installable live medium, much like Ubuntu, Mageia is also available in an install-only DVD which offers users a wider selection of apps as well as multiple desktops.

Also in contrast to Ubuntu, Mageia has an expansive set of custom tools and utilities that can be used by first-time users and many offer enough flexibility to satisfy advanced users. Mageia’s Control Center offers a lot more tweakable options than Ubuntu’s System Settings. Still, the distro ships with reasonable defaults and most users can get started with the distro without any tweaks.