OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 brings KDE Plasma 6 and Proton for running Windows games on Linux

The folks behind OpenMandriva have officially released version 6.0 of their Linux distribution. This is the fixed-point “Rock” release, and not the rolling edition, so it is all about stability rather than chasing the latest experimental packages.

KDE Plasma 6 is the star of the show here, serving as the default desktop environment. Users can choose between X11 or Wayland sessions, but there’s a catch. If you plan to run OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 in VirtualBox, X11 is strongly recommended. The team warns about problems with Wayland on VirtualBox’s emulated GPU, though things work fine on real hardware or in QEMU with KVM. For VirtualBox, don’t forget to set VMSVGA to avoid boot issues.

This release also brings several desktop spins. In other words, you’re not locked into Plasma if that’s not your thing. LXQt 2.2.0, GNOME 48.1, XFCE, and COSMIC 1.0 alpha are all available too. It’s nice to see options for different hardware and user preferences.

The OM-Welcome configuration tool has been improved as well. It helps new users get up and running quickly, especially on the Plasma desktop. It’s a good first-stop for adjusting settings and learning your way around.

OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 ships with a modern software stack. Plasma Desktop is available in 6.3.4 and 5.27.12 versions. The Linux kernel comes in 6.14.2 and 6.15.0-rc2 builds, both compiled using Clang. KDE Applications 25.04.0 and Frameworks 6.13.0 are included too.

LibreOffice 25.2.3 is integrated with Qt 6 and Plasma 6 for a smoother experience. Chromium 135.0.7049.84 comes patched with Google spyware disabled and JPEG-XL support turned back on. Firefox 137.0.2 is here too, also patched to remove telemetry. Falkon 25.04.0, GIMP 3.0.2, and VirtualBox 7.1.8 round out the key apps.

For developers, the distro includes LLVM/Clang 19.1.7, GCC 14.2.1, Glibc 2.41, Systemd 257.5, Mesa 25.0.4, and Java 24. Proton and Proton Experimental are also available right in the OpenMandriva repositories. This lets you run Windows games without needing to install Steam or any non-free software.

There are a ton of security updates baked in. The team says it has handled all recent vulnerabilities. If you’re on OpenMandriva Lx 5.0, though, the advice is clear -- do a fresh install of 6.0. An in-place upgrade is not recommended if you want the best results with the new Plasma 6 desktop.

OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 is available to download now here. It could be a great time to check out this independent Linux distribution if you’re looking for something different from the usual choices.