Th OP basically decided not to ask for any support whatsoever, instead deciding to spend time complaining about how OML isn’t like Mint, and complaining about the forum software.
He is, of course, free to do this, and we are free to use his decision as an opportunity to get a few laughs.
The elegant cycle of nature continues.
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I find I can get my work done just fine as far as getting work done is concerned, but I must admit the little arrows on app launchers on the OML desktop are truly a great impediment to getting anything done.
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TL;DR
Having to leave OpenMandriva; here’s why:
Because OM is not Mint
Simply put, that would have been enough 
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If I may put forward a slice of personal philosophy, I feel that Man has ruled this world as a stumbling, demented child-king long enough!
Err, that’s not what I meant to say.
I feel that there exists a sub-set of the population that feels that if they are not spoon-fed everything they want, they take it as some sort of personal affront; like, for example, if some advice given on a forum doesn’t work for them, they seem to feel justified on placing some form of blame on the guy giving the advice.
Personally, I feel that even advice that doen’t necessarily work is of value, if given in good faith with some degree of know-how behind it, as it often at least points me in a good direction wrt resolving an issue, but of course, that actually requires using my brain a bit, and that’s such a pain the behind!
We have AI now 
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AI!!! Yay!
So I can continue to keep my brain in my behind, just like everybody else!
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Well, here’s what I would have asked @context :
Why did you use Slim? If you want the polished experience, install the full version, not Slim. Installing Slim communicates that you want to build up your system yourself, like Arch. Is that what you wanted to do? When installing a new distro, you should instead try to experience it the way it was intended. Once you’ve learned how it works, then you might try making changes.
They are presented, in the Welcome screen. Again, the first thing you do in a new distro that has a default desktop is not to replace the desktop. The default desktop is there for a reason. Use it as intended first. I challenge you to go back to Mint, replace Cinnamon with KDE from the repos, boot into KDE, and then see how it works.
You used Slim (which gets you a little further than a default Arch install: enough to get you a CLI and a GUI, and pretty much nothing else), and then apparently changed out the desktop. How do you know you installed it right if you didn’t ask for help?
I’m sorry you’re leaving, but it does seem like you didn’t give OM a fair trial. It sounds instead like you used the Slim install and tried to turn it into a Cinnamon-based, Mint-like experience, and then judged OM on those merits, without understanding how OM works. If getting Cinnamon working was your goal, I’m sure it’s possible to do that with OM, and there are people here ready to help you. Investing yourself in that work might even help OM with a Cinnamon-based spin. But you shouldn’t judge the distro for things it wasn’t designed to do.
I hope the next time you try OM, you’ll install the full Plasma version and use it for a little while before trying to change out the desktop. That will give you the proper, prime time ready experience.
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This was not my intention at all, I’m just speaking my mind.
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I would say that Slim is for people that know what they are doing with OMLx not people new to OMLx a distro that prides itself on going it’s own way. This seems perhaps an example of someone deciding what OMLx should be before first learning what OMLx actually is. Cart/horse.
Anyway just a thought.
Edit: And yes I agree that the best thing for a new user, regardless of experience, is to first install the default system and use if for a few days before doing customizing or re-installing some preferred desktop spin. Get to know the documentation, the community just a little bit. A person does not need to memorize documentation, the important thing is to know where it is if you need it or where to ask questions.
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PhpBB hasn’t been the default for many years. Most sites use discorse or flarium. Not many sites still use heavy php forums like Xenforo, SMF or vBuliton.
I guess by not providing alternates, you mean, in the installer? OpenMandriva’a focus is on KDE, and provides spins for other DE’s.
I personally like OM’s features and updates, the are not problems. If you prefer Mint, use it; if you want some of OM’s features, but less of and emphasis on KDE, try Magia.
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When I first heard Lunduke talk about OML, I was very interested.
I spent a couple of months on the forum, seeing what people though, seeing how the community was, how OML performs, etc.
I had originally thought I would go with Rome, but I wound up going with Rock instead.
When I finally got the backup media I needed, I decided to do the install.
I had never dealt with UEFI, and I was a bit unclear about some of the partitioning in Calamares, so I asked some questions, and, as I had known from looking at the forums for a while, I was not greeted with “RTFM!!! Reeeee!”, but rather with helpful, concise and detailed info, and as a result, the install went as smooth as silk.
I made an informed decision…
OML may be a smaller, entirely community based team, and the repos may not be as expansive as some others, but its roots date back to the 20th century, and after a few weeks with it, I couldn’t be happier.
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My view is that one distro is much like the next in many respects.
The salient differences is some distros make it easy to do this, others make it easy to do that, and yet others make it easy to do the other thing.
My view is “Pick one, and learn it well.”
OML, being a self-declared meritocracy, with a nice, polished feel, was the winner for me.
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Exactly this. A distro is a software distribution. It’s usually not a smorgasbord of whatever you want (unless it’s Arch or maybe Gentoo). Decisions are made so the whole system works together properly: a package manager, an init system, security, networking, shell, GUI. These pieces are all distributed by the makers of that distribution, and configured and designed to work together.
You should only think about ripping out and replacing these components if you’re in the “build it yourself” scenario (i.e., Arch, Gentoo, or OM Slim). If you’re in that scenario, you bring with it the expectation that you’re the “distributor,” and any problems you encounter you will have to fix yourself.
The only takeaway I can think of for OpenMandriva is maybe instead of saying Slim is for people who want to choose their own programs, saying that Slim is a minimal system for those who want to build their environment from scratch, and a minimal Plasma desktop is included only for convenience. It seems like there have been a few people recently who started with Slim because they didn’t understand what it was for.
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I was using OML the other day, and a slice of toast fell off my table and landed butter-side down.
Curse you, OML!
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Expected. Murphy’s law.
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Murphy’s law is baked into physics, into the very structure of reality itself, and yet some people prefer to blame human agencies for it.
The Pareto distribution is one of my faves; every time someone tries to “fix” it, they juat make things worse.
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The first problem was the OP didn’t even bother to ask for any help. At all. Period. I am just a stupid truck driver. Even with my lack of education, I knew enough to ask for help if there was a local driver available doing nothing other than watching questionable videos on his laptop up in the cab of his truck while I was faced with putting a 53-foot trailer into a dock build for a box truck in Brooklyn, blind-side, in the dark, on a one-way street not much wider than a Chicago back-alley. Based on my experience, plenty of people on this forum will help, if he would have only asked. That is considerably more than I can say for that Brooklyn truck driver, who was too busy to spot a trailer, so I wouldn’t hit the door frame (indoor dock).
The second problem is KDE is too complicated/different from Cinnamon/whatever as I understand the situation. Ok. Fine. I have talked friends through how to navigate the KDE Plasma 5 DE over the phone. They were coming off Windows 10. This is Plasma 6. Newer release with more bells and whistles than 5. The way I see it, others and myself could have helped him on this forum, because screenshots can be posted. I could have actually been useful today.
I installed Mint once, back in 2020 when I was kicking the Linux tires, so to speak. I didn’t see anything special that made it “peak Linux experience.” Quite the opposite. I thought it was missing a few things, such as the Caps Lock and Num Lock indicators on the taskbar. Why? My 25-year-old favorite keyboard doesn’t have any LED indicators.
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I want a clock on my desktop like the one Spike Jones had on his show. I think Red Skelton had one too. The numbers went counter-clockwise, and the big and little hands were reversed. A little birdie popped out once an hour and said “ooc-ooc.”
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I’ve only had 2 issues with OMLx. First was the installation, and IF I wouldn’t have tried installing it like Debian, would have worked fine. Second was getting an RDP¹ server actually running a desktop. This wasn’t OMLx’s issue but with Plasma & the server, a quick install of XFCE just for the RDP, set that up and everything is fine. Oh, forgot about another but that was an issue with DNS not returning a correct IP, definitely not a OMLx problem. I read documentation, it’s not really that difficult. I started this account just in case documentation fails me and I do need assistance.
I’ve been Debian derived user since 2009. I actually started with Mandrake in 99/00 but switched back to Windows because of all the issues from that “ancient” OS.
This distro IMHO seems extremely solid for the minimal amount of developers it has.
¹ I haven’t had much luck with VNC in the past working well and X/SSH isn’t something I have had luck with utilizing WSL (GUIs like to crash).
I just wish more software would play nice with wine then I could kick Win to the curb.
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If you are on Windows MobaXterm is a Godsend.
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