Nova (operating system)

Nova is a Cuban state-sponsored Linux distribution launched in February 2009.[1][2] It was developed in Havana at the University of Information Science (UCI) by students and professors to provide free and open-source software (FOSS) to inexperienced users and Cuban institutions. While the initial version was Gentoo-based, the developers switched to Ubuntu beginning with Version 2.1.[3]

Nova
Nova 7.0
DeveloperUniversity of Information Science
OS familyLinux (Unix-like)
Working stateActive
Source modelClosed source with some open-source components (5.0 and up)
Initial releaseFebruary 2009 (2009-02)
Latest release8.0 (2022) / March 1, 2022 (2022-03-01)
Available inMultilingual
Platformsx86-64
Kernel typeMonolithic (Linux)
LicenseGNU GPL
Official websitehttps://www.nova.cu/

In May 2016, discussions about a new version 6.0 were underway.[4] However, by 2016, Distrowatch had marked Nova as discontinued.[5] and its website, www.nova.cu had been taken down. Nova re-entered development later, and version 8.0 was released in January-March 2022.[6]

In early 2018, its repositories and download server (repo.nova.cu) was shut down temporarily, with users being told to switch to CentOS, after which Nova resumed development a couple months later. By early 2019, the distribution website was again active and DistroWatch listed it as under active development.[5]

Goal and adoption

The goal of Nova was to achieve "sovereignty and technological independence"[3] and to have it installed on all computers in Cuba where Microsoft Windows is still the most widely used operating system.[7][8] The system was central to the Cuban government's desire to replace Windows.[1] Hector Rodriguez, Director of UCI, said that "[t]he free software movement is closer to the ideology of the Cuban people, above all for the independence and sovereignty."[7] Other cited reasons to develop the system include the United States embargo against Cuba which made it hard for Cubans to buy and update Windows, as well as potential security issues feared by the Cuban government because of the U.S. government's access to Microsoft's source code.[1][8]

Cuba was planning to convert to Nova as its main operating system; once the migration is complete it was intended to be installed in 90% of all work places.[9][10] In early 2011, the UCI announced that they would migrate more than 8,000 computers to the new operating system.[11] Beginning in 2011, new computers were intended to come installed with both Windows and Nova.[10]

Software

The first version of Nova, called Baire, was based on Gentoo Linux, while Nova 2.1 Desktop Edition was based on Ubuntu.[1][12] Nova Escritorio is UCI's office suite meant to replace Microsoft Office.[10]

Versions History

Nova 1.1.2 (Baire)

  • Nova 1.1.2 Baire Desktop View
    Nova 1.1.2 Baire Desktop View
  • Nova 1.1.2 Baire Nautilus File Manager
    Nova 1.1.2 Baire Nautilus File Manager
  • Nova 1.1.2 Baire Control Center
    Nova 1.1.2 Baire Control Center
  1. It uses GNOME, version 2.22.
  2. Entropy as package manager
  3. Compatible with Gentoo and Portage.
  4. Integrated with Windows Active Directory.

Nova 2.1 Desktop Edition

  • Nova 2.1 Installation
    Nova 2.1 Installation
  • Nova 2.1 Firefox web browser
    Nova 2.1 Firefox web browser
  • Nova 2.1 Compiz windows effect
    Nova 2.1 Compiz windows effect

General Features

Main applications:

  1. Web browser Mozilla Firefox.
  2. Instant messaging client Empathy.
  3. E-mail client Mozilla Thunderbird.
  4. Multimedia player Totem.
  5. Music player Rhythmbox.
  6. Video editing software Pitivi.
  7. Images editing program F-Spot.
  8. Torrent client Transmission.
  9. Disk burning program Brasero.
  10. OpenOffice as office suite.

System Requirements

The minimal system requirements are recommended to allow you to install and run Nova Linux with good performances, even if it is possible to install it on worse hardware, with worse performances.

  • Processor: x86 1 GHz.
  • RAM Memory: 512 MB.
  • Hard Disk: 5 GB (for a complete installation with swap partition).
  • VGA graphics card and monitor capable of running a resolution of 1024x768.
  • CD-Rom player and network card.
  • Sound card.
  • Internet connection.
  • Chipset: Intel i915 or higher, but GMA 500
  • Nvidia graphics card (with proprietary drivers)
  • ATI graphics card (starting from Radeon HD 2000, it may be necessary to use the proprietary driver).

Nova 3.0

For the first time, Nova Linux has been released in two versions: Nova Desktop for standard computers and Nova Ligiero for older computers.

  • Nova 3.0 Desktop with special wallpaper
    Nova 3.0 Desktop with special wallpaper
  • Nova 3.0 Desktop
    Nova 3.0 Desktop

Nova 4.0

  • Nova 4.0 with Gnome3 desktop
    Nova 4.0 with Gnome3 desktop
  • Nova 4.0 Applications overview
    Nova 4.0 Applications overview
  • Nova Ligero 4.0 Desktop
    Nova Ligero 4.0 Desktop
  • Nova Ligero 4.0 logoff menu
    Nova Ligero 4.0 logoff menu

Nova 5.0

  • Nova Desktop 5.0
    Nova Desktop 5.0
  • Nova 5.0 Applications overview
    Nova 5.0 Applications overview
  • Nova 5.0 Ligero
    Nova 5.0 Ligero
  • Nova 5.0 Ligero login
    Nova 5.0 Ligero login

Versions
Version Codename Date
Old version, no longer maintained: 1.1.2 Baire 20 February 2009
Old version, no longer maintained: 2.0 2 December 2009
Old version, no longer maintained: 2.1 4 June 2010
Old version, no longer maintained: 2011-beta3 12 February 2011
Old version, no longer maintained: 3.0 (2011) 2011
Old version, no longer maintained: 4.0 (2013, long term support) 7 May 2014
Old version, no longer maintained: 5.0 (2015) 22 March 2015
Old version, no longer maintained: 5.1 (2017) 21 September 2017
Old version, no longer maintained: 6.0 (2018)[6] 13 March 2018
Current stable version: 7.0 (2020) 20 June 2020
8.0 (2021) January 2022

See also

References
  1. Israel, Esteban (11 February 2009). "Cuba launches own Linux variant to counter U.S." Reuters. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  2. Timothy Prickett Morgan (12 February 2009). "Cuba crafts extra-communist Linux distro: Down with the Microsoft bourgeoisie". The Register. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  3. "Who are we?". Nova — Distribución Cubana de GNU/Linux. n.d. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  4. UCI. "Se ultiman detalles para migración a Nova 5.0 en la UCI". Retrieved 12 July 2016.
  5. DistroWatch. "Nova". distrowatch.com. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  6. DistroWatch. "Nova". distrowatch.com. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  7. Connors, Devin (17 February 2009). "Cuba Declares War on Windows: The land of Castro has gone open source". Tom's Hardware. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  8. Brown, Eric. "Cuba launches Gentoo Linux distro". Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  9. "Cuba sets to migrate to free, open-source software". Xinhua News Agency. 29 December 1010. Archived from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  10. "Cuba presents Linux-based operating system". Cuba Standard. 10 February 2011. Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  11. "Cuba: 8000 computadoras de la Universidad de Ciencias Informáticas migraran a Nova GNU/Linux" (in Spanish). Somos Libres. 11 February 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  12. "Productos" (in Spanish). Nova — Distribución Cubana de GNU/Linux. n.d. Archived from the original on 8 June 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
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