ALT Linux was founded in 2001 by a merge of two large Russian free software projects. By the year 2008 it became a large organization developing and deploying free software, writing documentation and technical literature, supporting users, and developing custom products. ALT Linux produces different types of distributions for various purposes. There are desktop distributions for home and office computers and for corporate servers, universal distributions that include a wide variety of development tools and documentation, certified products, distributions specialized for educational institutions, and distributions for low-powered computers. ALT Linux has its own development infrastructure and repository called Sisyphus, which provides the base for all the different editions of ALT Linux.
To compare the software in this project to the software available in other distributions, please see our Compare Packages page.
Notes: In case where multiple versions of a package are shipped with a distribution, only the default version appears in the table. For indication about the GNOME version, please check the "nautilus" and "gnome-shell" packages. The Apache web server is listed as "httpd" and the Linux kernel is listed as "linux". The KDE desktop is represented by the "plasma-desktop" package and the Xfce desktop by the "xfdesktop" package.
Colour scheme:green text = latest stable version, red text = development or beta version. The function determining beta versions is not 100% reliable due to a wide variety of versioning schemes.
I tried the ALT Mate release and I wasn't very happy with it. I couldn't get the permissions (root/user) to work properly and there was no visudo around to fix things. I wasn't interested in using Mate on my old desktop anyway (too resource-heavy), so I went back to the Simply Linux XFCE release of ALT without trying to mess around with it too much.
The initial Simply Linux XFCE version of ALT install, I'm quite sure, was 10.1, but I updated everything completely after the install and now it shows 10.2. There were some minor bugs I experienced in Simply Linux 10/10.1 (e.g. shift didn't register for XFCE shortcut key specifications so other keys had to be used, including for terminal copy and paste) and these were fixed. I was impressed because I've had issues in other distributions that went unfixed for ages.
I did notice that the install slowed down a bit after I installed all the software I typically use. Removing a bunch of autostart applications did help. I also changed the login theme to Slick which I think sped things up a little during boot up (the GTK theme is the default and it's a little buggy/strange in its appearance, so I didn't mind the switch for multiple reasons). It's still not as fast as the fresh install. But, it's not a huge difference and some of it is software-specific. For example, I can get a Floorp browser flatpak release to run blazing fast, while a tar install of Waterfox is a bit sluggish, and a repository install of Firefox is even more sluggish. But, that said, I can get Kodi playing a video on my 15-year-old desktop at the same time as five or so tabs being open on Waterfox without much of an issue. When I use shortcut keys to open Thunar or the terminal with Kodi and Waterfox both running, they almost instantaneously appear. I think that says a lot given the old hardware I'm using. There were some pieces of software I couldn't find in the default repository, but I found them in flatpak form and/or in the autoimports repository that you can add to ALT. (Search the ALT wiki and use a translation site if you don't read Russian. It's not hard to add the autoimports repositories, or you can find the package links on Pkgs.org from autoimports and you can install the individual .rpm files using the ALT RPM Install app that's included with the install without adding the whole repository. I did this for some hashing software without an issue, though ALT warns that the autoimports can be buggy.) I had some issues installing KDE-based software on XFCE because the location of libraries, resources, etc., was incorrect. Installing those few programs through flatpak instead fixed everything. Though, I had to add the flatpak directory to XDG_DATA_DIRS. I wish that had been automatic, but the flatpak installer (on the command-line) did give me a heads-up about it.
Overall, the issues I've had have been minor. Some have been fixed very quickly by the people at ALT (thank you) and others are easy to work around. This is my new favorite distribution. Sometimes it can be a pain to find documentation, as I don't read Russian well. But, for most purposes, translation services online do the trick.
Excellent - Modern Mate Desktop on workstation and has feel of reliability, Installer is excellent along with package management. Flatpak is available with one caveat - auto install provides 25 GB for Root with separate Home partition - Advisable to use Custom partition option and allow more file space for Root partition if you intend to install any Flatpak Apps. I love this Distro and intend to keep and use it into foreseeable future. Very user friendly with all the Apps you might need readily available for install.
For users who speak languages other than Russian,select the options that appear in Cryllic alphabet on Live CD bootup that has (F2) at the end - this will enable you to choose English or other languages.
Version: 10.1 Rating: 9 Date: 2023-10-13 Votes: 4
Fantastic distro. BUT: why the heck can't they fix their non-working PATH??????????? Commands from /usr/sbin don't work. AND the non-working localization??? Localization wirks FANTASTIC IF and only if you use the gdm login manager, not at all if the more modern one, forget name, is used. This means that localization is fabulous if you use SysV init starterkit, not at all if you use a systemd init based Starterkit. Come on ALT, you can fix this. Having to symlink stuff in /usr/sbin when you need to use it is not good. This may work better in a full size/main image but I prefer the flexibility of the starterkits. ALT is actually so good that I put up with the above.
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