DistroWatch reports about the brand new release of Conectiva Linux (4 CDs); version 9 comes almost exactly one year after Conectiva 8. Its installer uses Synaptic to select and install packages. Basic components: kernel 2.4.21, GNU C compiler 3.2.2, glibc 2.3.1, XFree86 4.3.0, KDE 3.1.1, GNOME 2.2.2. Kernel packages optimized for single- and multi-processor Athlon and Pentium IV families are bundled; the appropriate kernel should be automatically installed. New applications: MPlayer, OpenOffice.org, Blender, Webmin, Sun’s JRE and IBM’s Java 2 JDK.
Conectiva’s web site has more details on its product page (Portuguese only).
I wonder why it’s so big.
Also, does it come in English?
it’s in Portuguese (Brazilian), the language of Figo and Ronaldo
It’s a pain to buy outside Brazil.
You can choose English on installation time.
Felicidades.
I wonder why it’s so big.
Because they supply plenty of applications. Not quite as many as Debian, but getting close. The release notes stress that all 4 CDs are required for installation, which I find ironic, coming from the inventors of apt-rpm(!).
Also, does it come in English?
Yes. The installation supports English, Spanish and Portuguese, but you also get all the i18n packages for KDE and glibc, so it can be used in any language environment.
Conectiva is actually an excellent, innovative distribution with a disappointing web site and no interest in marketing its product outside of Latin America.
I belive they sponsored the crystal icon set that has now become the default for KDE. Good contribution to the community.
I belive they sponsored the crystal icon set that has now become the default for KDE. Good contribution to the community.
Crystal icons is just one of their contributions. Don’t forget that Marcello Tosatti, the current maintainer of the stable Linux Kernel, is on Conectiva’s payroll. They also developed (and released under GPL) the “apt-rpm” and “synaptic” utilities for Debian-like installation of RPM packages. These are now widely used in many other distributions.
Hi,
Can we have a nice review please
. Would be cool if you could explain how well the default install installs on a laptop. What sort of fancy features do their kernels have as compared to redhat/mdk?
Do they do raid/lvm..how well? What about perfomance of their glibc/kernel?
1. They develop Synaptic a gui front end to both apt and
rpm.
2. They employ Marcelo the maintainer of the 2.4 stable
kernel.
the last version of Conectiva was clean and smooth with a great and handsome install process. I’m excited to get my hands on this – let’s hope the lucky few who made it in are going to help seeds bittorrent quickly!
I really hope so, C9 seems really cool and quite up to date. I remember C7 from a friend too and it was top notch for its time.
t has some forecast to use the BitTorrent to make download of Conectiva 9? I am in the Brazil, but the Connective ftp is crowded and mirrors had still not been brought up to date. It must be available for purchase, in day 30.
Is it advertised and/or based on UnitedLinux?
Is it advertised and/or based on UnitedLinux?
I don’t think so. They have an enterprise product based on UL, but this one is based on Conectiva’s own development tree, referred to as “beta” or “snapshot” (similar to cooker, sid, rawhide, current…).
Actually you can do a litle install, with less than 150 MB, using the first cd.
It’s a litle big because it cames with almost everything you need to work: Eclipse, JDk, Netscape 7, OpenOffice, and a pletora of software. It is more complete than Red Hat. If you want something that is not included in the 4 cds, go to buzilla and include a ticket in the wish list.
And, no, it’s not mandatory the use of all cds. I agree, Conectiva has a very bad marketing team. It’s not only outside Latin America, but here in Brazil their marketing is not very good.
Yes, you can install it in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.
Conetiva 9 is not based in UL, but has some of it’s features. You will find, for exemple, the /srv directory. Any software that run on UL will run on CL 9 too.
Yes, but you can buy online from http://www.linuxmall.com.br. And you can download it from any mirror site or ask to a friend buy it and send to you in any place of this world. 🙂
Eugenia, what’s about include Conectiva 9 in the Price Grabber?
PS. Conectiva 9 will be available to download after april, 28.
Also, Conectiva have Alfredo Kojima, creator of the Windowmaker window manager, in the payroll. Actually, Kojima was very envolved in development of apt-rpm and Synaptic which used to use WING widget set (wonder why? :-)), now deprecated by GTK.
Cheers
DeadFish Man (from Brazil)
O.K…Maybe I missed something, but anyway…does Conectiva have an English Web-site??? I would like to read more into the company, but I couldn’t get the new web-site other than Spanish/Portugese…I went to http://www.conectiva.com , where I was presented with the option of English, Spanish, or Portugese…I selected the English option, but a pop-up window explaining about UnitedLinux pops up, with no way to get to thier website in English…the links at the top and bottom are still in spanish…please post the URL for the English website….
And, no, it’s not mandatory the use of all cds.
You might be right, but this is what the README file says:
Conectiva Linux 9
=================
Downloading
———–
These are the files you will need in order to install Conectiva Linux 9:
cl9-1.iso Conectiva Linux 9 disk 1 (binary packages)
cl9-2.iso Conectiva Linux 9 disk 2 (binary packages)
cl9-3.iso Conectiva Linux 9 disk 3 (binary packages)
cl9-4.iso Conectiva Linux 9 disk 4 (binary packages)
Please note that ALL 4 CDs are needed for the installation!
==================================================
I will repeat: ALL 4 CDs ARE NEEDED TO INSTALL CL9
==================================================
ftp://ftp.tiscali.nl/pub/mirrors/conectiva/iso/README.CL9
Conectiva used to have a much better web site, but many parts of it are now broken or unmaintained. You can find some English info here:
http://distro.conectiva.com/
http://snapshot.conectiva.com/
Conectiva Linux is a great distribuition.
It has all the advantages of a Red Hat-based distribution (native support of rpm, compatibility with almost all proprietary applications (Kylix, Matlab, Maya, etc)), it uses apt-get and synaptic as the native update application, all packages have descriptions and support for english, spanish and brazilian portuguese and Conectiva is more conservative with radical changes (while Red Hat used gcc 2.96, Conectiva used gcc 2.95, CL 9 will not use the new threads library, etc) .
Conectiva is like a good mix between Red Hat and Debian.
Conectiva is realy a good effort, but the last version suffer from some silly bugs… The kernel source packages are a mess, they just don’t compile.
Also, there was a silly bug in the bind9 package that prevents slave servers from working. The directory /var/named/ is owned by user root instead of named, so they can’t acess it in the master servers…
On… and usualy any APM event causes X11 to freeze the entire system.
That’s said, Conectiva is a realy good choice if youre planning to use it as a desktop system, have a very user-friendly installation and is very compatible with common hardware.
My personal choice is Debian.
For those who are interested, the 4-CD set can be found here:
ftp://rpmfind.creatis.insa-lyon.fr/linux/conectiva/iso
ftp://fr2.rpmfind.net/linux/conectiva/iso
f somebody to be interested itself, can look for for one more Brazilian distribution. This is based on Debian and is in version 1.3. Only 196MB the image. The name is Kurumin. Mantened by Carlos Morimoto (http://www.guiadohardware.net).
http://www.guiadohardware.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6&sid=481a9197…
Download: http://www.linorg.usp.br/ISO/debian/kurumim/
Sorry, but all informations are in Portuguese Brazilian.