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OpenMandriva announced the ROME 24.07 Release Candidate (RC) on July 3, 2024, with KDE Plasma 6 as the default desktop and alternative images for Plasma 5, LXQt, and GNOME. This is a historical release-candidate announcement, not the current ROME download: the final ROME 24.07 release followed on July 20, 2024, and OpenMandriva’s downloads page now provides the route to current images.
What the ROME 24.07 RC introduced
OpenMandriva described ROME as its rolling release line. The RC announcement’s main desktop change was making Plasma 6 the default. It also highlighted new Proton packages, a combined welcome and configuration tool, and packaging updates. These are features of the 2024 RC; rolling repositories and current download images may differ.
Desktop images and versions
The July 3 RC announcement listed Plasma Desktop 6.1.1 as the default, alongside a Plasma 5.27.11 image for users who preferred the older desktop series. OpenMandriva said ROME 24.07 and the upcoming Rock 5.1 images would be the last installation images to offer Plasma 5. The RC also offered LXQt 2.0.0 and GNOME 46.2 spins; the project described LXQt 2.0 as its first release based on Qt 6. [OpenMandriva’s RC announcement, July 3, 2024]
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Proton packages for Steam games
The RC added proton and proton-experimental packages alongside OpenMandriva’s regular Wine emulator. The project described Proton as Wine variants typically used to run Windows games through Steam and said these packages were available outside Steam without installing non-free code. The announcement does not establish compatibility or performance for any particular game.
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OM-Welcome and packaging changes
OM-Welcome brought together modules from the project’s earlier welcome and control-center applications. OpenMandriva positioned it as a central place to configure the system and install software. The RC also highlighted RPM’s Declarative Build feature, with implementations for common build systems including CMake, Meson, autotools, and Python setuptools/pip.
Other changes noted by the project
OpenMandriva also cited security updates, browser changes intended to disable data collection or spyware-related features, AMD ROCm support on supported graphics chips, and a Krita AI image-generation plugin. These are claims in the project’s release announcement, not an independent security audit or a guarantee about every application or graphics card.
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RC versions versus the final ROME 24.07 release
The RC’s listed package versions are a snapshot from July 3, 2024. OpenMandriva announced the final release on July 20, saying it carried the RC’s features with packages updated to the latest versions. The final announcement listed these versions:
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| Component | July 3 RC | July 20 final release |
|---|---|---|
| Plasma desktop | 6.1.1 default; Plasma 5 image at 5.27.11 | Plasma 6.1.3 |
| KDE Applications | 24.05.1 | 24.05.2 |
| KDE Frameworks | 6.3.0 | 6.4 |
| Qt | 6.7.2 | 6.7.2 |
| Linux kernel | 6.9.7 built with Clang; 6.10.0-rc6 also available | 6.10 |
| GNOME spin | 46.2 | 46.3 |
| LXQt spin | 2.0.0 | 2.0.0 |
The RC announcement also listed LLVM/Clang 18.1.8, GCC 14.1.0, glibc 2.39, systemd 255.7, Mesa 24.1.2, LibreOffice 24.2.4, Chromium 126.0.6478.126, Firefox 127.0, and Falkon 24.05.1. These are RC-era versions, not guarantees about later repositories. For the final-release comparison, see OpenMandriva’s July 20, 2024 release announcement.
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Where to download OpenMandriva ROME
Use OpenMandriva’s official downloads page to find current ROME images and mirror links. The page describes ROME as the project’s flagship rolling release. Because mirror contents and package versions change, it is a better starting point than an old direct mirror link when choosing an image today.
- Open the official downloads page and select the ROME image that matches the desktop you want. Check whether you are choosing a current image rather than an archived 24.07 RC image.
- Download the ISO from an offered mirror, then follow the page’s checksum guidance: generate MD5 and SHA-256 sums for the ISO and compare them with the checksums published by the download service.
- Write the ISO to a USB flash drive to create live media. OpenMandriva’s ROME notes say the live system can be tried from USB without installation, and installation can be started from the running live image or boot manager.
- Boot from the USB drive to try the live system. If you decide to install, consult the current project notes before changing disk partitions.
ROME hardware and installation notes
OpenMandriva’s general ROME notes—not a 24.07 RC-specific hardware certification—set a minimum of 2,048 MB of memory and 10 GB of disk space. They recommend 20 GB for a full Plasma desktop installation. KDE Plasma requires a graphics card supporting OpenGL 2.0 or above; the notes recommend AMD, Intel, Adreno, or VC4 graphics chips. See the ROME installation notes for the project’s current guidance.
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Partitioning and internet access
The notes recommend ext4 or btrfs for root and home partitions, and FAT32 for the EFI boot partition. They describe ext4 as fast in many typical cases and btrfs as offering features such as snapshots. The installer supports booting and installation with or without UEFI and provides manual and automated partitioning through Calamares.
Installation can proceed without an internet connection, according to the notes. A connection—or packages transferred from another system—is needed for updates afterward. Check the current documentation before repartitioning, especially if you have data or another operating system on the disk.
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Should you install the 24.07 RC now?
The RC is useful as a record of what OpenMandriva was preparing in July 2024, but it is not the sensible default for a new installation today. Start from the current downloads page and compare the available ROME images with the project’s fixed-point Rock release if you are choosing a distribution now. OpenMandriva’s ROME information page provides additional context about the rolling line. No performance comparison between ROME and Rock is established by the cited release announcements.
For historical upgrade context, OpenMandriva said at the time that Plasma 5 users on ROME would upgrade automatically after the transition was integrated into the rolling branch, while Rock users would move only by choosing Rock 6.0 or later. That was release-era guidance, not a current upgrade procedure.
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