The Official Mandriva Blog

Mandriva Linux 2009 Release Candidate 1 (code name camelopard) is available on public mirrors now (or will be in the coming hours).

Be careful: this is still a development product, it should not be used in a production environment.

You will find more informations about this release on the wiki. The main new features of RC1 (compared to Beta2) are:

• automatic repository configuration and mirror selection in package management tools (powered by aria2);
• ath5k replaces madwifi for Atheros wireless cards;
• new graphical theme (backgrounds, screensavers);
• based on kernel 2.6.27 (rc5 ATM);
• KDE 4.1.1;
• KDE 3.5.10 (not on ISO);
• GNOME 2.23.91 (ie 2.24.0 Beta 2);
• new design for installer (not complete yet);
• improved system-config-printer;
• improved Ia Ora theme for KDE4 (not complete yet);
• and many others features and bugs fixes.

All tests are welcome to improve coming releases, especially about list above.

Et maintenant, pour les francophones :

Mandriva Linux 2009 Release Candidate 1 (nom de code camelopard) est disponible sur les miroirs publics dès maintenant (ou dans les heures qui viennent).

Attention: il s’agit encore d’une version de développement et elle ne doit pas être utilisée dans un environnement de production.

Vous trouverez plus d’informations à propos de cette version sur le wiki. Les principales nouveautés de la RC1 (depuis la Beta 2) sont :

• la configuration automatique des sources de packages et la sélection automatique des miroirs pour le téléchargement des paquetages ;
• le driver ath5k remplace madwiki pour les cartes wifi Atheros ;
• un nouvel habillage graphique (fonds d’écran, économiseurs d’écran) ;
• basé sur le kernel 2.6.27 (rc5 actuellement) ;
• KDE 4.1.1 ;
• KDE 3.5.10 (non présent sur les ISO) ;
• GNOME 2.23.91 (2.24.0 Beta 2) ;
• un nouveau design de l’installeur (non finalisé) ;
• un system-config-printer amélioré ;
• l’amélioration du thème Ia Ora pour KDE4 (non finalisé) ;
• et bien d’autres surprises et corrections de bugs.

Tous les tests sont les bienvenus pour améliorer la prochaine version, particulièrement concernant les points cités plus haut.

You can download the ISOs (code name: okapi) on public mirrors. You will have the choice between Free (32-bit or 64-bit), One (KDE or GNOME) and Free mini-dual (32-bit and 64-bit). Enjoy the features like:

• lots of bug fixes on KDE 4.1
• Mozilla-Firefox 3
• OpenOffice.Org 3
• new design for the installer (step 1)
• first switch to system-config-printer instead of printerdrake
• second step for ia_ora integration in KDE 4.1

I let you discover all the other one…
/!\ beta means “product still in development”. It should not be used in production.

Et maintenant, pour les francophones :

Vous pouvez télécharger les ISOs (nom de code : okapi) sur les miroirs publics. Vous avez le choix entre Free (32 bits ou 64 bits), One (KDE ou GNOME) et Free mini-dual (32 bits et 64 bits). Profitez des nouveautés telles que :

• grand nombre de corrections de bugs sous KDE 4.1
• Mozilla-Firefox 3
• OpenOffice.Org 3
• nouveau design pour l’installeur (étape 1)
• premier passage à system-config-printer au lieu de printerdrake
• seconde étape pour l’intégration de ia_ora à KDE 4.1

Je vous laisse découvrir toutes les autres…
/!\ beta signifie “produit en cours de développement”. Il convient de ne l’utiliser qu’à des fins de tests.

Yes, today - July 23rd, 2008 - is the tenth anniversary of the release of Linux-Mandrake 5.1, the very first public release of what is now Mandriva Linux. It was versioned 5.1 as it was a fork of Red Hat 5.1 (it was more or less RH 5.1 with KDE 1.0 added).

Here is the original announcement in English, and here is the original thread, in French, from the fr.comp.os.linux usenet group. History will record that the very first comment on Linux-Mandrake was someone complaining that something wasn’t packaged (xemacs) - so some thing never change…:)

I did look for a usenet thread in English, but couldn’t find one. Looks like the French one is all there was.

(We celebrated the anniversary of Mandriva itself earlier in the year - in May - but today is the birthday of Mandriva Linux, the distribution).

Mandriva is proud to announce the release of its latest distribution, Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring. This new release brings features like full support for the Asus Eee, easy synchronization with Windows Mobile 5 and later, Blackberry, and Nokia devices, a new parental control utility, the Elisa multimedia center, Codeina for easy installation of necessary media codecs, PulseAudio by default and much more. Software updates include KDE 3.5.9 (with 4.0.2 available from the official repositories), GNOME 2.22, OpenOffice.org 2.4, Linux kernel 2.6.24.4, X.org 7.3, Compiz 0.7, and more.

If you just can’t wait, you can download the One (live / install CD) or Free (traditional installer, 100% free / open source software) editions of Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring right here. Direct BitTorrent download links can be found here, as the mirrors are likely to be overloaded for several days. The commercial edition, Powerpack, featuring exclusive commercial applications, is available immediately for direct download, and can be pre-ordered in boxed form (delivery will begin in two weeks), at the Mandriva Store. A large amount of information on the new release is also available at the Mandriva Wiki:

Main 2008 Spring page
2008 Spring Release Tour: a graphical guide to what’s new in 2008 Spring
2008 Spring Release Notes
2008 Spring Errata
2008 Spring Reviewer’s Guide: a useful read if you plan to review 2008 Spring

The sixth pre-release of Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring is here. This pre-release includes support for easy synchronization of Windows Mobile 5+, Blackberry and Nokia devices, the Codeina multimedia codec installation system, support for Radeon HD 3xxx series graphics cards, more improvements to the Mandriva software installation tools, the finalized 2008 Spring theme, a new metapackage for easily installing a complete LAMP setup, and available KDE 4.0.2. See here for download information.

The upcoming Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring release will boast the easiest ever support for synchronizing with Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices in any distribution. The adventurous can already try out the support in the current 2008 Spring pre-release repositories, by following the instructions here. Mandriva has uploaded a video demonstrating how easy it is to synchronize with a Windows Mobile 6 device right out of the box with Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring. Support is included for synchronizing with both KDE (KDE PIM) and GNOME (Evolution). Similarly easy synchronization is also possible with many Nokia phones and with Blackberry devices.

The fifth pre-release of Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring is here. This pre-release includes the all-new artwork for the 2008 Spring release, further improvements to the Mandriva software management tools, WPA-EAP support in the network configuration tools, KDE 3.5.9 and available 4.0.1, some new default applications in KDE and GNOME, and the latest pre-release of OpenOffice.org 2.4. See here for download information.

Our recent announcement concerning the creation of a joint lab with Turbolinux has generated some controversy. Even PJ, from Groklaw, a site we like very much at Mandriva, showed some concerns and signaled her intention to stop using our Distro.

So I would like to clarify some points:

1. Signing he Manbo Labs agreement does not change anything to our policy or our commitment to Free and Open Source software and our position with respect to software patent, nor does it change anything to the statement we made about Microsoft partnerships.
2. Our position about software patents is that software should not be patented and we have supported in Europe the fight against software patents.
3. Our support for principles of open source remains what we have always stated

• • everything we develop and distribute is under GPL
  • we develop, maintain and distribute for free a pure GPL distro (Mandriva Free)
  • we develop, maintain and distribute for free a live and light distro (Mandriva One)

1. We are aware and acknowledge the Turbolinux position with respect to Microsoft, and we know that it is very different from ours. The agreement is written so that Mandriva can fully maintain its commitment to Free Open Source.
2. As for Manbo Labs:
   1. The scope of work is about 100 low level RPMs, all in GPL
   2. Product will be available for public release under GPL
   3. Development is public, made on our Cooker environment and associates the community

So we believe that, by setting up Manbo Labs, we are contributing to the development and use of Linux and Free and Open Source software.