You can download Conectiva for free from mirrors (
https://moin.conectiva.com.br/mirrors). I especially like Tiscali.nl since it is very fast over here in Europe.
I don't think Conectiva is based on Fedora Core. The installer reminded me of the one in FC but I think Conectiva's is even more refined and provided me with a great installation experience. Everything worked perfectly. Also, it allowed me to install a minimal set of applications. I then added only those I really wanted. Only Debian and Ark Linux offer similar flexibility, but the former's packages are a bit too confusing and the latter seems to be quite deadish.
Conectiva runs very smooth, is fast and looks beautiful, too. Too bad it is not more common in North America and Europe.