The founder of Mandrake Linux has been let go from the company he helped to create.

Since 2005, Mandrake, has been known as Mandriva following its $2.3 million dollar purchase of Conectiva.

Gael Duval has confirmed rumors first posted on a Mandriva forum posting that he is no longer with Mandriva.

“Since the information has leaked, I will post a message in the next few days on this Web site (or mirror) about why this is the end of the Mandriva story for me, and what’s next,” Duval wrote in a blog posting.

Duval originally created Mandrake Linux in 1998. Mandrake in its various corporate incarnations has not always had an easy go of it. Mandrakesoft which was co-founded by Duval filed for bankruptcy protection in 2003 after not having reporting a profit since 1999. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2004.

Paris-based Mandriva has since made plays in the enterprise space and the US market.

Mandriva though continues to struggle in 2006.

Its first quarter fiscal 2006 (period of Oct 2005-Dec 2005) report shows a net negative result of 590,000 euros down from just over a million euros for the same period last year.