Mandriva 2011, the latest desktop edition of the popular Linux distribution, was released yesterday. If you have just installed it, you would have noticed, if you mouseover the update manager icon, this message: “No medium found. You must add some media through ‘Software Media Manager’.” That is just telling you that the package (or update) manager is not pointing to any remote software sources or repositories. As a result, no updates can be applied to the system.

If you are new to Mandriva, this brief tutorial will show the simple steps you can take to add (remote) software sources to the system, plus a few other customizations tips, such as replacing the default menu, if you do not like it, and adding a virtual desktop switcher to the panel. (New users might also be interested in Guest account and user management on Mandriva 2011)

The first step is to add software sources or repositories (repos). To do that, click on the menu’s icon on the panel, then click on the first entry on the Welcome column, which should be the icon for Mandriva Control Center. It should be listed as “Configure Your Computer.”