Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 15:16:42 -0200
To: lwn@lwn.net, news@thedukeofurl.org, michaelk@cnet.com
Subject: Conectiva Linux 6.0 released


For immediate release.


Conectiva Linux 6.0 released

This new version of Conectiva Linux, which will be in the shops before
the end of this year, has as its major feature apt-get for rpm, a tool
which allows automatic updating of .rpm packages and easier
installation of new software.

S<E3>o Paulo, November 30, 2000 - Conectiva Inc., a Brazilian company
that distributes, develops and supports Linux in Portuguese, Spanish
and English, has released the 6.0 version of the Conectiva Linux
platform, this time simultaneously for corporate and domestic users.
In Latin America, Conectiva Linux will be available in two versions:
"Home & Office" and "Server". The operating system has 6 Cds with more
than a thousand software packages and several demo versions of
commercial programs.

The biggest and most remarkable advantage of Conectiva Linux 6.0 is
the Advanced Package Tool, also known as APT. Previously APT was only
available for .deb packages but was recently enhanced to  support .rpm
packages too. Conectiva 6.0 is the first rpm-based distribution with
fully integrated apt-get support. This new tool makes it easier to
keep the platform up-to-date and secure, since it can automate the
update and installation of all .rpm packages. APT, when used as an
(automatic) upgrading tool, can detect the availability of new
versions of .rpm packages, and take care of download and installation.
In corporations, APT has a very crucial importance in terms of
security, because with it, the system administrators can facilitate
automatic corrections and upgrades in a very fast and easy way,
getting around the manual work of updating every machine in the
network with, for example, the security update. Conectiva  employee
Alfredo Kojima, who is also the author of Window Maker, has enhanced
APT to support RPM packages.

Other features of Conectiva 6.0 are KDE2, the latest version of the K
Desktop Environment, which features: Konquerer, the KDE file manager
and web browser; Koffice, the KDE office suite with spreadsheet,
presentation manager, flowchart program and more. KDE2 also comes with
a selection of multimedia programs, including aRts, a sound
manipulation program which can, amongst other functions, play MP3 and
WAV files.

Conectiva 6.0 also comes with Xfree 4.0.1, the latest version of this
X server, which support a very large number of graphics cards,
including 3D cards. The major feature of Xfree's latest version is
Xinerama, which makes it possible to use multiple monitors on the same
computer as if they were one big display. The VESA driver in Xfree
4.0.1, which allows for basic compatibility with almost all graphics
cards, was developed by Conectiva.


Installation and configuration tools.

The new version of the Modular Installer (MI), which is being
developed by Conectiva and available under the GPL, is largely
rewritten and even more flexible and easy than before. This
multilingual installer comes with both a graphical and a text
front-end. Most of the typical hardware detection problems found with
older Linux installers have been fixed for this new version. The
installer of Conectiva 6.0 allows the user to choose from multiple
installation profiles, including minimal, standard, full install,
expert mode and server. With support for USB devices and inclusion of
the GNU Parted program - also being developed by Conectiva
- this installer makes it extremely easy to reconfigure or repartition
  your hard disk or to configure RAID. The installer also has an
option to not install the documentation to the packages, which is a
very useful option for old and small computers or small servers.

Conectiva 6.0 replaces lilo with the Grub, in order to easy multi-boot
configuration. The graphical boot menu of the Grub allows users to
easily choose which operating system (or kernel image) to boot. On the
other hand, the Grub's ability to read filesystems increases the
flexibility for advanced users. The Grub also support remote boot and
has the ability to boot, and read filesystems from, several other
operating systems.

Conectiva 6.0 also includes the latest improvements in Linuxconf, a
Linux configuration and administration program. Conectiva's Linuxconf
developers have, in addition to the normal maintenance of Linuxconf,
created five new modules: Postfix, a secure and high-performance mail
server;  Pslaveconf, to configure Protslave, a program used by ISPs to
manage modems; Wineconf, to configure Wine; Amandaconf, for the Amanda
backup system and Grubconf, to ease the configuration of the Grub
bootloader.


Features for corporate users

Conectiva 6.0 contain several features for corporate users. Desktop
and server programs and tools have been updated or included to improve
security, performance, stability and functionality. For example, the
Enterprise Kernel has support for up to 4GB of RAM and files larger
than 2GB, which is ideal for companies that work with large data sets
or servers. Like with Conectiva 5.1, 6.0 contains the tools necessary
for high availability setups, which allows for services to be
available on a 24x7 basis without interruptions.


Other interesting features for power users include:

- Strong cryptography: with FreeS/WAN in the kernel and openssh,
  openssl and other tools in the distribution. Strong cryptography is
  needed for secure networking and crucial for things like e-commerce.

- LVM: the Conectiva 6.0 kernel contains support for LVM, which allows
  much more flexible storage management, including resizing of ext2
  and reiserfs filesystems and adding or removing disks to an existing
  system.

- ReiserFS: this high-performance, journaled filesystem can optionally
  be used instead of the ext2 filesystem. ReiserFS means instant
  recovery after power failures and higher system performance for
  certain operations.

- Xinetd: this more flexible and secure version of the inet daemon
  replaces inetd in Conectiva 6.0.
- NFS: Conectiva Linux 6.0 has better support for NFS v2 and v3, the
  standard Unix file sharing protocol.

- Gphone: a voice-over-IP program, which allows the user to have
  conversations over the Internet.

- GNU Parted: developed by the Australian Conectiva employee Andrew
  Clausen, this program allows for easy creation and resizing of hard
  disk partitions.

- Exim: easy to configure high performance e-mail server.

- Sendmail 8.11.1: a new version of the world's most used mail server.
  This version features cryptography, user authentication and
  validation.

Technical information about Conectiva Linux and the open source
projects Conectiva is involved with can be found on
http://distro.conectiva.com.br/


About Conectiva

Conectiva is a Linux distribution, development and service company, based in
Curitiba, Brazil. Conectiva was founded in 1995 and released its first version
of Conectiva Linux in 1997. The company has received investments from Latintech
Capital and Intel Inc., both companies have signed a technological cooperation
deal, in order to develop and support new technologies and a better performance
of Linux in Intel platform based equipment. Conectiva is building its brand
throughout Latin America and the rest of the world and is opening Service
Centers in various major cities around the region.

Conectiva's headquarters are located in Curitiba, which is strategically
located in the south of Brazil, close to both Brazil's major cities and
Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Currently Conectiva has 7 offices in 4
countries. Apart from its headquarters, Conectiva has service centers in the
Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Brasilia. Conectiva Service
Centers are also present in Bogota (Colombia), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and
Mexico City.  More Service Centers are being planned in other major Brazilian
cities, as well as abroad (Miami and Madrid).

Conectiva Linux is also being represented by partner companies in Chile, Peru,
Spain and Portugal.

More information about Conectiva Inc. can be found on http://www.conectiva.com/
or by mailing to <info@conectiva.com.br>.

Download

Conectiva Linux 6.0 will be available in the shops soon, until then it
can be downloaded from the following sites:

ftp://ftp.conectiva.com/pub/conectiva/
ftp://ftp.linux.tucows.com/pub/ISO/Conectiva/
ftp://ftp.nl.linux.org/pub/conectiva/
ftp://rufus.w3.org/linux/conectiva/
ftp://conectiva.inw.psi.br/
ftp://atualizacoes.conectiva.com.br/ 

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