Mandriva Linux的前身是欧洲最大的Linux厂商之一Mandrakesoft之产品Mandrake LinuxTemplate:Fact。Mandrake Linux早期方便的字体安装工具和默认的中文支持，为Linux普及做出了很大的贡献。但是2004年前後Mandrakesoft陷入财务危机，濒临破产。公司于2005年2月24日与拉丁美洲最大的Linux厂商Conectiva达成了收购协议，金额为170万欧元，约合223万美元，以股票形式交易，新公司Mandriva旗下品牌Mandrake Linux更名为Mandriva Linux。
Mandriva原名 Mandrake，最早由Gael Duval创建并在1998年7月发布。记得前两年国内刚开始普及Linux时，Mandrake非常流行。说起Mandrake的历史，其实最早 Mandrake的开发者是基于Redhat进行开发的。Redhat默认采用GNOME桌面系统，而Mandrake将之改为KDE。而由于当时的 Linux普遍比较难安装，不适合第一次接触Linux的新手，所以Mandrake还简化了安装系统。我想这也是当时Mandrake在国内如此红火的原因之一。Mandrake在易用性方面的确是下了不少功夫，包括默认情况下的硬件检测等。
Mandrake的开发完全透明化，包括“cooker”。当系统有了新的测试版本后，便可以在cooker上找到。之前Mandrake的新版本的发布速度很快，但从9.0之后便开始减缓。估计是希望能够延长版本的生命力以确保稳定和安全性。
更新日志：
·Latest kernel 2.6.37
·RPM 5.3.8 (20110125)
·NetworkManager 0.8.2, with mandriva integration plugin
·Systemd 17, enabled and activated by default
·KDE SC 4.6.0
·GNOME 2.32.1
·XFCE 4.8.0
·GCC 4.5.2, with plugins enabled by default
·Chromium browser, provided in a versioning scheme to match the one used Google Chrome project (e.g., ">chromium-browser-stable and chromium-browser-unstable)
·Firefox 4b11
·OpenSSL 1.0.0d
·Wine 1.3.13
…among many others, available either on the iso, or via repositories. The list of packages to be present on the final version is not completely settled yet, so make sure to give your voice on what you prefer to have in Mandriva 2011.
Besides those items, the following are also worth mentioning:
·Work has started on updating TeX Live to 2010 version. It is still in early stages at the moment, and welcomes comments/testing/feedback.
·Nepomuk and social desktop are activated by default in KDE desktop
·Same ISO media is now used for both Live images and installable ones, so you don’t have to install this version of Mandriva to see how it works and what does it looks like. Just boot the image and you are all set (make sure to use the livecd-iso-to-disk utility within the .iso file if you want to boot it from a flash drive).
Of course, it is needless to mention that it is an Alpha version, and there are still many things to be done before the final release.
下载地址：Mandriva.2011-alpha1.i586.iso (1,557MB, MD5).