Installing alt linux. ALT Linux distribution. Myths and reality. Viola appears only where it smells like cutting budget funds

Nowadays there is a lot of talk in the media about the lack of competitiveness of Russian products. But open systems are largely a self-regulating market. Most distributions are distributed free of charge, or at a low price in the case of boxed versions of products. This means that the user can focus solely on the quality of specific distributions, without looking at the price tags. Most often, it is enough to download the image, write it to optical disk, and you're done - you can start installation. Against this background, the high popularity of ALT Linux in the CIS countries forces us to take a closer look at this distribution.

The software product provided by the company was packaged in a DVD-box, additionally covered with transparent film. It is not made in a bag (as is often found in pirated products), but in the form of a tight-fitting shell. The box itself is made of white matte translucent plastic.

Inside the box there is a single layer DVD disc with color printing. The blank is recorded on a record drive. This is not a stamped product, as is the case with the Mandriva PowerPack. Important note - this disc was not readable on both computers where the software was being tested. The installation didn't even start, the computer froze. On one of the machines, an attempt to copy disk files failed with a 71% error, on the second - with an 80% error. Question to the company representative: how is this possible when a paid product is distributed on unreadable blanks? Answer: indeed, part of the circulation was defective, but cooperation with the company that produced low-quality discs was terminated.

However, low quality carrier did not prove fatal. The distribution image was downloaded from the official website of the project and recorded on disk. There were no subsequent problems with reading data. This is an important difference between open systems and their closed competitors. You can always legally download a copy of the distribution and use it, with virtually no restrictions. For simple user The GPL license, one might say, does not impose any restrictions. The paid status of a product is determined only additional services: high-quality box and documentation, technical support, club membership and other bonuses.

The ALT Linux license is distributed in a separate document. Glossy paper, excellent printing, stylish design, large font- all this is in stark contrast to what was offered in the Mandriva PowerPack. In the previous distribution kit discussed, a small piece of paper with a license was included, rather, for show. Here is a perfectly prepared document that is not only possible, but even pleasant to read.

The Mandriva PowerPack box contains a five-page insert with brief description product installation. The ALT Linux developers offer real documentation: an 80-page book. And again we are greeted by printing high quality, convenient font, lots of illustrations. Despite the technical specifics, the text is easy to read, its meaning will be clear, perhaps, even to beginners who are installing Linux for the first time. On back side cover is located serial number. It is needed for technical support product. But we'll talk about it later.

Before installing ALT Linux (as well as any other distribution), you must ensure that you have a free disk space. The product documentation describes in detail a set of actions that will help save your data and also ensure the successful creation of new partitions. In addition, you can review the basics in the user manual pages. file system Linux, with the assignments of some standard directories, read tips on disk partitioning. It is clear that users do not like to read documentation, but in the case of ALT Linux, for some reason this does not cause negative emotions. Instead of tediously studying the FAQs of various forums, saving individual pages, and printing them on a printer with low toner, we are offered a convenient single document.

Is everything ready? Install in BIOS loading With optical media, insert the disk with ALT Linux into the drive and reboot the computer.

The start menu of the disc is presented in Russian, which is not something you will find in foreign products. You can choose to continue booting from your hard drive, start installing Linux, or boot into LiveCD mode. A similar feature is available in Ubuntu. It lies in the fact that the system can be loaded directly from optical media. Installation does not occur. The user can work in the system for some time, evaluate its pros and cons, and make a final conclusion - whether it is necessary to install it on the hard drive.

If you step away from the computer for a while, the first option will be selected by default - boot from the hard drive. You can immediately select the country, which is something like the installation language. In reality, it switches only for Russia and Ukraine. For Belarus and Kazakhstan, Russian is also used, and the Other item (that is, all other countries) is English.

The point of choosing screen resolution is a formality. On both computers where the distribution was tested, the list consisted of one item - 800x600. You can also provide sources for the software, but this article focuses on the DVD version. In this case, a network is not required at the product installation stage - everything you need is on the installation disk.

The next step of the ALT Linux installation wizard is to select the system language. Four points are offered: English, Russian, Tatar and Ukrainian. However, when choosing the third option, the language remains Russian. Why? Only KDE has been translated into Tatar. The distribution itself (installer and branded packages), and most applications do not have a Tatar interface.

Another important difference between ALT Linux and most of its competitors (including, by the way, Linux XP) is the documentation that accompanies the installation process. Here it is in Russian, and the text has a pleasant style and is easy to read.

The license agreement is also presented in Russian. It is enough to agree with it, and the button to move to the next step becomes active.

When choosing a keyboard layout, the default option that is used in Windows as an alternative is offered. Many Linux distributions use the key Caps Lock for similar purposes. Here, apparently, the developers took the path of greatest continuity of skills.

To indicate the time zone, a list of cities in the country selected at the beginning of the installation is offered. Convenient solution. Most distributions collect urban harvests from around the world.

It is possible to synchronize time with a special server. Only one address is offered. The system itself can work as an exact time server.

Modern Linux distributions contain partition managers hard drives. The product in question was no exception. Available in two automatic and one manual mode. The system was installed on two computers. One of them had an unpartitioned disk, and the second had pre-prepared partitions. Mandriva PowerPack was previously installed there. In both cases, ALT Linux refused to work in both automatic modes.

Curious: outdated version ALT Linux 3.0 Compact, which has a similar partition manager, passed the test perfectly on a clean hard drive! Same computer, identical hardware. It would seem new version the product should only bring improvements. But in practice, everything turned out differently.

You can create and delete partitions. But with changes in their sizes the situation is more complicated.

Creation of new sections is allowed. You may not be able to format it right away. In this case, it is possible to change its size. Once a file system is added, the options to reduce or increase the size disappear. In other words, formatted partitions, and especially those containing any data, cannot be touched in the ALT Linux installer. For this reason, the functionality of the partition manager of the distribution in question is approximately at the same level as a similar Windows component XP.

All previous Linux versions reviewed had more functional disk preparation components that allowed you to resize even NTFS partitions without much risk of data loss. Despite this, if you use a clean hard drive, you can get by using the ALT Linux installer. It supports two used in Linux file systems - ext3 and XFS.

After completing the creation of partitions and their formatting, the installer immediately proceeds to transferring the main packages. No questions are asked. Installation begins immediately. The proposed set is already enough to run Linux and perform most application tasks in it, for example, navigating the Internet or preparing documents in a word processor.

The bootloader, unlike Linux XP, can be installed on any disk, on any partition. It uses LILO, not GRUB, as in most modern distributions. On a computer with installed Windows XP and two hard drives, as many as three were found Windows systems! In fact, only one link in the downloader turned out to be working, leading to the correct section.

You can install additional sets of packages. They are a linear list. Below the item selection window, the amount of disk space required for your set is shown. IN earlier versions ALT Linux users were forced to puzzle over the choice of individual packages. Luckily this is no longer the case and installation has become much easier.

Administrator account in open systems called "root". The ALT Linux installer does not impose restrictions on password length, as other distributions do. Indeed, it is better for the user to know what length of password to use. Moreover, he is a system administrator.

Following input account root, you must specify at least one user. However, at this stage the installer will not allow you to enter more than one account.

During the product installation stage, you can configure network settings. A list of detected devices is displayed. By default, automatic configuration via DHCP is offered. However, you can switch to manual mode. The IP address is entered by the user. The subnet mask is selected from the list. You can also enter the local computer name.

The installation of the system is gradually approaching completion, and now all that remains is to check the video parameters. By default, the open driver is used. However, it is immediately proposed to replace it with a closed analogue (applicable for NVIDIA and AMD) in order for it to work hardware acceleration OpenGL. And in this case it is not possible to test the video settings. The system displays a message about a driver conflict (for example, nv and nvidia).

In addition, on both tested computers, immediately after the system installation was completed, the resolution was set to 800x600, despite the fact that other values ​​were specified in the settings. On one machine, the monitor was detected as “unknown, 1024x768”, although its native resolution is 1280x1024. In addition, the default color depth was 16-bit, although after manually switching to 32-bit (16.7 million colors) everything worked fine.

Next, a window appears indicating that the product installation was successfully completed. The system goes into a twenty-second wait for a reboot! Other distributions are deprived of such a not entirely understandable pause.

Installing ALT Linux has changed noticeably since version times 3.0. The installer design has become more pleasant. Dark, oppressive, acidic tones were replaced by a light, “vegetal” range. Some aspects that complicate the process have been removed from the installation. The most striking example is that there is no longer a Mandriva-style selection of individual packages. User installing new system, most likely, does not know such subtleties, and forcing him to make a difficult choice at the current stage is not the best solution. However, the installation principle remained the same. Two stages. First, the base packages are migrated. Then, the user can add additional applications.

The installation process in ALT Linux 4.1 Desktop is not smooth sailing. Firstly, it is advisable to have prepared partitions on your hard drive in advance or, at a minimum, you need to provide free space. The installer does not know how to resize partitions without losing data in them. Second possible problem- this is the definition of a video card. There's some chaos going on here. Driver conflict, incorrect resolution, incorrect color depth. However, there is nothing fatal here either. Everything is corrected manually, after the system is installed. And we’ll talk about how ALT Linux 4.1 Desktop behaves further in the next part of the article.

Installing ALT Linux 5 Lite

Initial conditions:

• Linux is installed as the only operating system;
• installation is carried out on the entire disk;
• computer names in the class - from comp1 to comp12, teacher computer name - AllClasses;
• There are two user groups expected:
• teachers;
• pupils;
• there will be 5 users in the pupils group:
• class7;
• class8;
• class9;
• class10;
• class11;
• LitERaturA teacher password;
• administrator password (his name is root) ThizIzOurSkola.

After loading ALT Linux 5 Lite from the CD, a menu is displayed on the screen in which the “Install” item is selected using the cursor keys:

Keystroke<Enter> starts the installation process. The first window is displayed on the screen, in which you select the dialogue language and the method of switching between Russian and Latin registers (continued by clicking the mouse on the “Next” button):

Then - the license agreement:

The next step is to create partitions on the disk for installing the system. Since Linux will be the only operating system, it will occupy the entire disk. Options for its breakdown:

• automatically, using unallocated space if the disk is new and does not contain partitions;
• automatically, with the removal of existing partitions on the disk if the disk has already been used;
• manually, at will or due to the impossibility of performing the previous options.

In the first case, the "Use unallocated space" option is set:

For example, the resulting result is shown:

In the second case, the option “Delete all partitions and create partitions automatically” is set.

Third option:

If there are already partitions on the disk, they are deleted one by one (for this, when the partition is selected, use the "Delete" button):

If there are no partitions on the disk, select the unallocated space and click on the “Create partition” button:

First, create a swap partition with a capacity of 1024 MB (its volume is equal to twice the volume RAM). Partition type - swap:

Select the remaining unallocated space to create the root partition and click on the “Create” button:

We do not change the proposed volume of the section. Set the Linux partition type:

Select the Linux file system option:

Set the mount point (in in this case this is the root partition):

We get:

Confirm the changes made:

We select the office applications to be installed and indicate the need to install programs for the teacher (iTalc). If the computer has enough resources (particularly RAM) and a satisfactory processor, you can install OpenOffice and iTalc. If your computer resources are small, you can choose a more economical option:

Select the installation location for the bootloader and operating system, loaded by default. Since there is only one system, the option is appropriate:

If Linux is installed as a second operating system, then to boot using Windows default The Windows option is set instead of the currently specified ALTLinux.

Install a second CD ROM with additional programs into the drive:

After clicking the "Next" button, they are installed. Upon completion, set the computer name (for example, comp8) and configure the network. If there is a DHCP server, set the appropriate parameter, otherwise we will specify the IP addresses manually, depending on the settings of the computer class. Example:

The next step is to set the administrator password (his name in the system is root):

Set the name of one of the users of this computer and the password for it, for example:

If there is a DNS server in the school (class), set the domain name, otherwise we leave the parameter unchanged:

The final step is setting the video card and monitor parameters:

After completing the installation process and rebooting, log in under the user name (but not the administrator).

Z loading from installation disk starts with a menu that lists several boot options, with system installation being only one of the options. From the same menu you can launch a program to restore the system or check memory. The mouse is not supported at this stage of installation, so to select various options and installation options, you must use the keyboard. You can get help on any menu item by selecting that item and pressing F1. In addition to installation from a laser disc, several network installation options and installation from hard drive.

Pressing F2 selects the country. The choice of country in the bootloader determines, firstly, the interface language of the bootloader and the installation program and, secondly, which languages ​​will be available in the list of installation languages ​​- in addition to the main language for the selected country, other languages ​​of the given territory will be included in the list. By default, “Russia” is suggested. If you select the "Other" option, the list of installation languages ​​will list all possible languages.

Pressing F3 opens a menu of available video modes (screen resolutions). This permission will be used during installation and booting of the installed system. To start the installation process, you need to use the cursor keys “up” and “down” to select the “Installation” menu item and press Enter. The boot loader has a short waiting time: if no action is taken at this moment, the system that is already installed on the hard drive will be loaded. If you missed the right moment, restart your computer and select “Install” in time. The initial installation phase does not require any user intervention and automatically detects the hardware and starts the installation program components. Messages about what happens during this phase can be viewed by pressing the ESC key.

2. Installation sequence

If the hardware initialization is completed successfully, the graphical interface of the installer program will be launched. The installation process is divided into steps; Each step is devoted to configuring or setting a certain property of the system. The steps must be completed sequentially, moving to the next step by clicking the “Next” button. Using the “Back” button, if necessary, you can return to an already completed step and change the settings. However, at this stage of the installation, the ability to move to the previous step is limited to those steps that do not depend on the data entered previously. If for some reason it becomes necessary to stop the installation, click Reset on system unit computer. Remember that it is completely safe to stop the installation only before the “Prepare the Disk” step, since no changes are made to the hard drive until this point. If you interrupt the installation between the “Preparing the Disk” and “Installing the Boot Loader” steps, it is likely that none of the installed systems will be able to boot from the hard drive after that.

Technical details You can view the installation progress by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1, and return to the installation program by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F7. Pressing Ctrl+Alt+F2 will open the debugging virtual console. Each step is accompanied by short help, which can be accessed by pressing F1.

During system installation, the following steps are performed:

• Rights Notice
• Keyboard settings
• Time zone
• Date and time
• Preparing the Disk
• Installing the base system
• Saving settings
• Additional drives
• Additional packages
• Installing the bootloader
• System administrator
• User
• Network setup
• Settings graphics system
• Completing the installation

3. Language

Installation begins with selecting the main language - the interface language of the installation program and the system being installed. In the list, in addition to the available languages ​​of the region (selected at the initial download stage), English is also indicated. The selected language will not only be the interface language of the installer and installed system, but also the language of the second keyboard layout. Choice English language at this stage will make it impossible to select a second keyboard layout during the installation phase. However, layouts can be edited later on an already installed system.

4. Keyboard settings

Keyboard layout is the assignment of letters, numbers and special characters to the keys on the keyboard. In addition to entering characters in the main language, in any Linux system it is necessary to be able to enter Latin characters (names of commands, files, etc.), for which the standard English layout keyboards. Switching between layouts is carried out using specially reserved keys. For the Russian language, the following layout switching options are available:

• Alt and Shift keys simultaneously
• Capslock key
• Control and Shift keys simultaneously
• Control key
• Alt key

If the selected primary language has only one layout (for example, when selecting English as the primary language), this single layout will be accepted automatically, and the step itself will not be displayed in the interface.

5. Time zone

To correctly set the date and time, it is enough to correctly specify the time zone and set the current date and time values.

At this step, you should select the time zone to which you want to set the clock. To do this, select a country and then a region from the corresponding lists. You can speed up searching through the list by typing the first letters of the searched word on the keyboard. Pay attention to the checkbox “Store time in BIOS in Greenwich Mean Time”. It is advisable to set the BIOS system clock not to local time, but to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). In this case, the software clock will show local time in accordance with the selected time zone, and the system will not need to change BIOS settings with seasonal clock changes and time zone changes. However, if you plan to use other operating systems on the same computer, you need to uncheck this box, otherwise the time may be lost when loading into another operating system.

6. Date and time

The installer detects the system clock (BIOS) time as local time. Therefore, the clock in this step shows either the time corresponding to your system clock, or, if the “Store time in BIOS GMT” checkbox was set in the previous step, the time corresponding to GMT, taking into account your time zone. This means that if the system clock displays local time, but you still checked the “Store time in BIOS GMT” checkbox in the previous step, then the clock will display the wrong time. Check that the date and time are displayed correctly and, if necessary, set the correct values. If your computer is connected to a local network or to , you can enable synchronization of the system clock (NTP) with remote server, to do this, just check the “Install automatically” option and select an NTP server from the list.

7. Disk preparation

Getting to this step may take some time. The waiting time may vary and depends on the performance of the computer, the size of the hard drive, the number of partitions on
it, etc. At this stage, the site for installing the distribution is prepared, first of all, free disk space is allocated. To install by selecting one of the automatic partitioning profiles, you will need at least 7 GB on one or more computer hard drives. The installer automatically creates three partitions: for the root file system (/), for the swap area (swap) and for user data (/home) - the remaining disk space.
When preparing partitions manually for Linux Junior and Light Linux, it is recommended to allocate at least 5 GB for the root partition, reserve space for the swap partition, and place the /home partition in the remaining space. For the Linux Master distribution, you need to allocate about 6 GB for the root partition.

The list of partitions lists partitions that already exist on hard drives (including removable USB drives connected to the computer at the time

installations). You can find out which devices on your computer correspond to the names in the list in the “Naming disks and partitions in Linux” section. The available ones are listed below

disk partition profiles. A profile is a template for allocating disk space for installing Linux. You can choose one of three profiles:

• Use unallocated space
• Delete all partitions and create partitions automatically
• Prepare partitions manually

The first two profiles assume automatic disk partitioning. They are aimed at average workstations and should be suitable for most users.

The application of automatic partitioning profiles occurs immediately by clicking “Next”, after which the installation stage of the base system immediately begins. If there is not enough available space to apply one of the automatic partitioning profiles, that is, less than 7 GB, an error message will be displayed: “The profile cannot be applied, there is not enough disk space.”
If this message appears after trying to apply the “Use Unallocated Space” profile, then you can clear space by deleting data that is already on the disk. Select "Delete all partitions and create partitions automatically." When using this profile, the message about insufficient space is due to insufficient capacity of the entire hard drive on which the installation is being performed. In this case, you need to use the manual partitioning mode: the “Prepare partitions manually” profile. Be careful when using the “Delete all partitions and create partitions automatically” profile! In this case, all data from all disks will be deleted without the possibility of recovery. It is recommended to use this option only if you are sure that the disks do not contain any valuable data.

By clicking “Next” the new partition table will be written to the disk and the partitions will be formatted. Partitions that have just been created on the disk by the installer do not yet contain data and are therefore formatted without warning. Pre-existing but modified partitions that will be formatted are marked with a special icon in the “File system” column to the left of the name. If you are sure that the disk preparation is complete, confirm moving to the next step by clicking the “OK” button. You should not format partitions containing data that you want to keep, such as user data (/home) or other operating systems. On the other hand, you can format any partition that you want to “clear” (that is, remove all data).

8. Installation of the basic system

• Receiving packages
• Installing packages

9. Saving settings

From this step, the installer works with the files of the newly installed base system. All subsequent changes can be made after installation is complete by editing the corresponding configuration files or using the control modules included in the distribution. Once the base system installation is complete, the save settings step begins. It runs automatically and does not require user intervention; a progress bar is displayed on the screen.
At this step, the settings made in the previous installation steps (language settings, time zone, date and time, switching keyboard layout) are transferred to the newly installed basic system. Information is also recorded about the correspondence of hard disk partitions to the file systems mounted on them (the configuration file /etc/fstab is filled in). The repository located on the installation laser disk is added to the list of available sources of software packages, i.e. the apt-cdrom add command is executed, writing to the configuration file /etc/apt/sources.list.

10. Additional drives

11. Additional packages

12. Installing the bootloader

Users

13. System administrator

14. User

15. Network setup

16. Setting up the graphics system

Modern graphics hardware can, in most cases, be automatic detection, although some very new or rare equipment may not be in the database. Automatically detected and monitor will be listed in the “Detected Hardware” section. The "Current Settings" section will suggest the most suitable graphics mode settings - you should try them first. Quite often, a video card can work with several different drivers. By default, the one that is considered the best for this model is proposed. It should be noted that optimal settings are not always maximum values possible (resolution, color depth, etc.). Recommended values ​​are based on specific hardware and driver properties, so choosing higher values ​​will not necessarily improve image quality. If the equipment is not automatically detected, then the driver for the video card and monitor model will have to be selected manually.
You can check the functionality of the selected parameters by clicking the “Check” button. If the graphic mode is successfully activated with the new parameters, you will see a message on a black screen, where you can either confirm that the graphic mode is working by clicking “Yes”, or reject the current settings by clicking “No”. The “Stop” button is used to pause the delay time counter before returning to the graphics mode settings dialog. If you press no buttons in the video mode testing window, for example, if due to incorrect graphics mode settings this message is not displayed on the screen at all, then after a few seconds the initial state will be returned, where you can select more appropriate settings.
Pay attention to the “Load in” checkbox. graphic mode": a newcomer to Linux needs to make sure that it is installed. Otherwise, the download will end with an invitation to register in the system (login:) in text mode.

17. Completing the installation

The final installation step screen displays information about the location of the installation log (the /root/.install-log directory). After clicking Finish and restarting your computer, you can download installed system in normal mode.

Before installation necessary remove external media from the computer: flash drives and floppy disks. The Linux installer may erase their data.

For testing, you can install Linux on a computer that already has Windows (most likely, the company will have just such a computer). In this case, several problems need to be solved.

1. Allocate free disk space. During installation, you will not be able to resize existing partitions to free up space, so this must be done in advance (for example, using Partition programs Magic).

2. Download a boot manager from the Internet, for example, Acronis OS Selector (http://www.acronis.ru/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/multibooting.html). This is a “shareware” program. The demo version is designed for 15 days, but after this period, OS Selector will not stop working. And, by the way, it’s inexpensive. This program must be installed on Windows. The fact is that there is no guarantee that the LILO bootloader from Linux will allow you to load Windows installed on your computer (although theoretically such a possibility is provided). And vice versa: using the Windows boot loader, it is not always possible to start Linux (see Chapter 9). OS Selector will be a lifesaver just in case - it can easily cope with such difficulties.

3. Stock up on a bootable CD with MS-DOS, which will allow you to restore the Windows boot record (using the command fdisk /mbr).

4. And, of course, find the disk with Linux distribution. In the case of ALT Linux 4.1 Desktop, this can be an Install DVD or an Install CD. You can download distributions from here: http://www.altlinux.org/ALT_Linux_4.1_Desktop. I recommend purchasing or burning the Install DVD yourself as the most complete and convenient distribution for testing.

Having mastered it, you can master installing the basic part of the OS from a CD, and then copying the distribution to your hard drive and installing the necessary additional packages (see section 1.5.2). In addition, there is an option to install the system from a flash drive. This process is described here: http://www.altlinux.org/InstallFlash. In this case, the computer must support booting from USB devices- this must be checked in advance by going into the BIOS.

1.5.1. Installing ALT Linux from Install DVD

OS installation consists of 15 steps (the number will be displayed on the screen). After the fifteenth step, we will have additional items for setting up the system.

After booting from DVD you need to select the command Installation from the menu on the screen.

1. Select the installation language - Russian.

2. We accept the terms of the license agreement. This OS can be installed for free on any number of computers.

3. Select a key combination to switch the layout. I usually use Ctrl+Shift.

4. Select the time zone, for example, Moscow.

5. It is useful to check the box to get the exact time from the Internet. The default server is pool.ntp.org.

6. Prepare the hard drive partitions.

Here we need to understand how Linux refers to disks and partitions.

For drives connected via the IDE interface, the following designation is accepted:

Primary Master - hda;

Primary Slave - hdb;

Secondary Master - hdc;

Secondary Slave - hdd.

SATA drives are designated as follows: sda, sdb, sdc...

But in practice, the system often refers to it as sda and an IDE disk.

Designation rules are also used for disk partitions. Let our hard drive be designated as sda. There are 4 numbers reserved for the main partition: sda1, sda2, sda3, sda4. Regardless of how many logical drives are created in the primary partition, the first logical drive of the secondary partition will be designated sda5.

On a Windows computer, for example, there may be a hard drive partition like this:

The first logical drive in the main partition is C:

The first logical drive in the additional partition is D:

second logical drive in the additional partition - E:

Linux will label them sda1, sda5, sda6. Since modern versions of Linux implement the ability to work with file FAT systems and NTFS, logical drives, created in Windows will be visible in Linux. Accordingly, to install Linux we will need to create at least sda7 and sda8.

The Linux installer offers several options:

• Delete all partitions and create Linux partitions automatically. This is the best option for installing the system on an empty computer, but is unacceptable if we want to leave Windows.
• Remove Linux partitions and use the free space for installation. This is convenient for completely reinstalling Linux.
• Use free space and create partitions automatically.
• Create partitions manually.

Here we encounter difficulties that require some experience to overcome. The Linux installer may not always work correctly in automatic mode. Often an error message is displayed on the screen (Fig. 1.1), although there seems to be no reason for this.

Fig.1.1. Error message when creating disk partitions

In this case, the partitions must be created manually. Even though Linux calls them partitions, they should be called partitions(from English partition) or logical drives. This has nothing to do with the main and additional sections. If the disk or free space is 10-20 GB in size, you need to create a swap partition (SWAPFS type) with twice the amount of RAM, and reserve the remaining space for a partition with a Linux file system type (Ext2/3) on which the files will be located. all files. For the second logical drive, a mount point is usually selected / (slash). All file paths and directory names will begin with this character.

In practice, creating a partition works like this. Click the free space (unused) on the partition map, click Create a section. In the window that appears (Fig. 1.2), specify the required parameters.

Fig.1.2. Creating a Linux partition

If you have a lot of free space, you can try to create three partitions: for swap (SWAPFS), for the system (Ext2/3) of 20 GB in size, for user data (Ext2/3) - all the remaining space. In the dialog windows you can see which logical drive the folder falls on /home. This is analogous to a folder Documents and Settings from Windows. This folder contains all user accounts, and it is advisable to copy distributions into it. Therefore the folder /home should be located on the largest section.

If something doesn’t work out, you need to try different options to “re-direct” the installer. Usually problems arise with “old” computers (service life 5-10 years). But if you succeed, further installation usually proceeds without problems.

7 and 8. Packages are installed automatically.

9. You must specify where to install the bootloader. Acceptable options: " Hard drive sda" or the first partition of the disk sda1. If you need to leave Windows on the computer, install the bootloader on the Linux system partition (where the folder is located /boot). If there is only Linux on the computer, there is no point in installing the bootloader on the logical drives located in the additional partition; in this case, Linux will not be able to boot. If Windows is already installed on your computer, its bootloader will be erased (in Chapter 9 we will look at how to restore Windows and Linux bootloaders). It can, of course, be restored, but we will have to do additional work to ensure that both systems boot (the boot loaders of both Windows XP and ALT Linux are very bad at loading “foreign” OSes).

10. The installer prompts you to select additional packages. In this version of the OS, you can select groups of programs, which is quite convenient for saving time. Once installed, individual packages can be installed using the Synaptic program. Here you can select the following groups (for an office computer): “ E-mail", "Internet phone", "Scanner support".

11. You must set a password system administrator(user root). Choose a simple password (perhaps consisting of only numbers) because you will need to enter it frequently during system setup. In Linux, in general, everything is very strict - even the print queue cannot be cleared without this password.

12. Now you need to set the user name and password. If you are creating a workstation for an office, it may make sense to create a common (guest) account for all stations. If employees log into the system with their own passwords, then how can an employee work if necessary at someone else’s station? This is where a guest entrance is needed. In addition, it will be required for administration. You can only log in as root in text mode, but we want to take advantage of all the advantages of graphical shells, don't we? By creating a standard account, you can, while working in it as an administrator, create an account for specific user. You may not even know the password to their account if you ask the employee to enter the password themselves (perhaps some organizations have such strict rules). I strongly recommend using numbers and Latin letters for your password. There will be problems with Russian letters.

13. Set network parameters. In the “DNS” line, you must enter the IP addresses of the servers, separated by a space: first the local network DNS, then external ones. The other line specifies the station address. To be on the safe side (especially during testing and debugging), it is useful to manually set the IP address of the machine (and gateway), but if you are confident in the operation of your domain controller, you can use DHCP. If you set the workstation's IP address manually, remember that the address must be free and not within the DHCP address range. This may require access to a domain controller to select the correct address.

14. Set the monitor operating mode. The most important thing here is to choose a resolution. This should be the mode that becomes the main one. Then, of course, you can choose the resolution, but Linux will stubbornly return to the mode selected at the installation stage. You will have to spend a lot of time going into setup programs to set the new monitor mode as the default.

This completes the installation of the system, and if everything is done correctly, the KDE graphical shell will load and you will see the desktop. But our work does not end, now we have to configure the system.

15. Select a team K - Settings - System Control Center and find the link System Services. Finding a service dnsmasq and stop her. Uncheck and save the settings (button Apply).

This service is a caching DNS server. It only interferes with work if it is not configured. This service, when running, replaces the contents of the /ets/resolv.conf file, which should contain the previously specified addresses DNS servers. This service is usually not needed on a workstation.

Finding services smb And winbind(they are necessary to access the server, as well as the domain controller under Windows control). We start them, if they are stopped, check the boxes Run at system boot. We save the parameters.

Let's go back to home page and find the link Local accounts. Here you can create new account. First you need to enter the username in the line New account and press the button Create. Select the new account (be careful not to confuse it with another), enter the password in the appropriate lines and click the button Apply.

By the way, System Control Center contains links Ethernet interfaces And Display, which may be required for initial system setup. We won't need other options for now.

16. System Control Center can be closed. Now we need to configure the Samba system (to work in the NT domain). Its name comes from the name SMB protocol(Send Message Block) which is used by Microsoft. By the way, Microsoft has developed several dialects of this protocol, the latest of which is called CIFS. This, of course, only makes it more difficult to ensure compatibility between different systems. But if everything is done carefully, the connection will work.

On the first page of the Samba configuration module you need to specify the following parameters:

Workgroup - short domain name in capitals letters;

NetBIOS name - computer name in capitals letters;

Server string - if you do not want the string “Samba server...” to be added to the computer name when browsing a computer on the network, enter any text here;

Security Level - If we are configuring a station to join an NT domain (for example, if the domain controller is running Windows 2003 Server and uses Active Directory), the only choice is the ADS option;

Password server name/address - enter the address of the domain controller;

Realm - full domain name in capitals letters. In English literature this parameter is called realm. In Fig. Figure 1.3 shows an example of such a setup. Save the parameters with the button Apply.

Fig.1.3. Setting up Samba

Parameters are written to a file /etc/samba/smb.conf. It also contains information about shared folders, printers, etc. You can find a lot of articles on the Internet about how to format this file. But “shamanism” is inappropriate here. You need to know exactly how to choose parameters in order to achieve system performance.

Let's remember for the future. The smb service includes two daemons. You can find out about the status of the service by issuing the command in terminal mode: service smb status. We must also remember that the smb service starts relatively slowly, and within 1-2 minutes after the system boots, network resources may be unavailable.

17. Now let's edit the configuration files. This can be done in several ways. For example, you can right-click on the desktop and select Launch Terminal.

In a terminal (console) window, enter the command:

and then the root user password.

Key -l gives more opportunities. By tradition, we will denote the dialogue of a regular user with the “dollar” symbol, and the dialogue of the root user with the “hash” symbol. There is no need to enter these characters, this is a system prompt.

Type the command #mc. Now you have at your disposal the simplest file manager (Midnight Commander), in which we need three hotkeys:

F4 - edit text file;

F10 - exit editing mode or close MC.

Everything is like in the good old Norton Commander.

Then the /ets/hosts file (list of known hosts) should be converted to the following form:

127.0.0.1 localhost

192.168.1.15 vasya.ofis.local vasya

192.168.1.2 pdc1.ofis.local pdc1

Computer names are indicated in two forms: with and without a domain. This file is very helpful when domain name resolution is not working well, but filling it out is, strictly speaking, not necessary.

To access the Windows server, you must configure Kerberos. With the help of this system, the workstation receives security “tickets”. To do this, by the way, it is necessary that the time mismatch on the server and client be no more than 5 minutes (that’s why when installing the system, I recommended allowing the use of an exact time server). The clock on many computers “runs away”, so synchronization is needed.

Let's find the configuration file. In the source file /ets/krb5.conf The domain names are given as an example; we must substitute our own values. Letter case is important here. This file will be the same on all stations of the domain, so it is enough to edit it once and then copy it. In our example it will be like this:

default = FILE:/var/log/krb5libs.log

kdc = FILE:/var/log/krb5kdc.log

admin_server = FILE:/var/log/kadmind.log

ticket_lifetime = 24000

default_realm = OFIS.LOCAL

dns_lookup_realm = false

dns_lookup_kdc = false

OFIS.LOCAL = (

kdc = 192.168.1.2:88

admin_server = 192.168.1.2:749

default_domain = ofis.local

.ofis.local = OFIS.LOCAL

ofis.local = OFIS.LOCAL

profile = /var/lib/kerberos/krb5kdc/kdc.conf

debug = false

ticket_lifetime = 36000

renew_lifetime = 36000

forwardable = true

krb4_convert = false

Why do I recommend specifying the IP address of the domain controller (also known as the KDC - the Kerberos ticket distribution center), and not its name? To eliminate problems with name resolution. If something doesn't work, you have one less reason why it doesn't work. In addition, if you administer a domain, then most likely you know the address of your server by heart.

Well, finally, check the contents of the file /ets/resolv.conf(DNS list). It should look like this:

nameserver 192.168.1.2

nameserver first_ip_address_external_DNS

nameserver second_ip_address_external_DNS

If you entered these addresses when installing the system, they should be present here. If they mysteriously disappeared, and the address 127.0.0.1 appeared, then you have not disabled the dnsmasq service.

18. Now the computer should be restarted. Let's join the station to the domain.

First, let's check whether the station can receive a Kerberos ticket. Give the command in the console:

The following message will be displayed in response:

klist: No credentials cache found(no tickets found)

To receive a ticket, give the command (we will assume that the name of the domain administrator is administrator) respecting the case of letters:

# kinit [email protected]

The system will ask for the domain administrator password, but will not display any further messages. But now in response to the command #klist it will output:

Ticket cache:...

Default principal:...

Until you achieve this, further steps make no sense. But the station should automatically receive “tickets”, so if successful, delete the received ticket with the command:

# kdestroy

To join the station to the domain, issue the command:

# net ads join -U administrator -S 192.168.1.2

It is not necessary to specify the address of the domain controller (if there is only one domain), but we did this to eliminate any uncertainty.

Naturally, you will be asked for the domain administrator password. If joining the domain is successful, the following message will be displayed:

Using short domain name -- OFIS

Joined "VASYA" to realm "OFIS.LOCAL"

In case of failure, a diagnostic message will be displayed, and, unfortunately, there can be many options for such messages, and the reasons may be different (up to computer viruses or a faulty switch). You will have to check the operation of all network components.

To check you can use the command:

#net ads testjoin

For example, message No login servers will indicate that the station cannot detect a domain controller on the network.

When a station is joined to a domain, you can check its entry in Active Directory, in the Users and Computers section. The parameters of a station with Linux are no different from the same parameters of a station with Windows, but the field with the name of the operating system will remain empty. However, this does not interfere with the operation of the station.

If you have shared folders on your server, you can run a short test. On the ALT Linux 4 desktop, select the command System (second icon on the taskbar) - Network resources . The Konqueror program will start - analogue Windows Explorer. Select and double-click the icon in the window Samba Resources. After a while you should see the domain icon. Open it and then the right computer. Try opening the shared folder. The system will ask for a name and password. Here you need a user name and password from Active Directory (if this method of organizing a domain is used). If everything is done correctly, the folder should open.

If the user needs to access folders on the server, they can drag the server's shared folder icon from the Konqueror window onto the desktop, and then select the command from the menu that opens: Create link. It will be possible to open a folder faster, but this will not save the user from having to enter the name and password (with which he is registered in the domain), which, of course, many users who are accustomed to the freedom of the Windows domain will not like. But if the company adheres to strict rules for limiting access to information, everything will turn out to be very relevant. User account in Linux (on local computer) has nothing to do with the same user's account on the domain. Of course, the name and password can be the same in both cases, it’s even more convenient. And remember: the password should not contain Russian letters!

In theory, it is possible to use a Linux account to log into a Windows domain. But this requires recoding the user ID (PAM system). It is difficult to set up, so I do not recommend using it unless absolutely necessary.

19. The simplest thing remains. Let's check your Internet connection. Launch the Firefox browser. If you do not use a proxy server, the connection should work immediately (of course, if you have a permanent channel at your disposal). Otherwise, you need to specify it in the settings (command Edit - Settings - Advanced - Network) proxy address, usually with port 8080. Most often, the same address is specified for all protocols. I also usually remove the “Save passwords for websites” mode in the settings and automatic update browser components (add-ons and plugins). This is a small safety measure.

Konqueror can also work as an Internet browser. But, if you use a proxy, you will have to give up this program role. It is needed to access local Web services such as CUPS or SWAT, but this program does not have a "Don't use proxy for local addresses" option. Therefore, if a proxy address is specified, then Konqueror starts looking for, for example, the CUPS printing service on the Internet...

If for some reason you or the user are not satisfied with Firefox, you can download and install the Opera browser (for ALT Linux 4, the package from the official Opera website compiled for Fedora OS is suitable).

As you can see, Linux installation to a workstation, although it requires some labor, is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance. The main thing is to do everything carefully and control the result at every stage. But these costs are more than compensated by such a pleasant fact as resistance to viruses.

But the workstation may not have DVD drive. If a CD-ROM is installed on it, you can first install the base part of the system, then copy the distribution via the network, from an external drive or from a flash drive, and install the missing packages. This method has advantages: unnecessary programs that have nothing to do with office activities are not installed on the station, and during installation additional programs In the future, the system will NOT ask you to insert a DVD into the drive every time. Initially, the system turns out to be more compact. By the way, this is the next section.

1.5.2. Installing ALT Linux from Install CD

We begin the installation again by removing removable media. Install the distribution CD into the drive.

Now we need to go through the following points.

1. Follow steps 1-12 of the previous section. Slight differences will appear. There will be no step for selecting additional packages. Section containing the folder /home, should be large enough to later accommodate distributions - an additional 3.6 Gb.

2. Insert the “Install DVD” media with the folder ALTLinux(or a flash drive that replaces it).

3. Log in to the console. Give commands:

enter password

Create a folder /home/distr. Copy the folder to it ALTLinux(those terrible 3.6 Gb).

4. Add to the file (in the future, if you want to automate your work, this can be done in a script using the command echo) lines:

rpm file:/home/distr ALTLinux base

rpm file:/home/distr ALTLinux disk

rpm file:/home/distr ALTLinux contrib

5. Open: K - System - Package Manager (Synaptic). First of all, you need to press the key combination Ctrl+R to update the list of packages. Packages from a folder ALTlinux will be indicated with asterisks (convenient!).

6. Install packages kdenetwork(required for Samba to work!), krb5-kinit, rdesktop, kdepim-kmail(to import mail from Outlook Express), thunderbird (mail client) And thunderbird, krusader(file manager), sim-gt(ICQ client).

Here is an example of a script to automate steps 4-6 (Synaptic must be closed during its execution!):

#!/bin/bash

echo "rpm file:/home/distr ALTLinux base" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sources.list

echo "rpm file:/home/distr ALTLinux disk" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sources.list

echo "rpm file:/home/distr ALTLinux contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sources.list

apt-get update

apt-get install kdenetwork

apt-get install krb5-kinit

apt-get install kdepim-kmail

apt-get install thunderbird

apt-get install thunderbird-ru

apt-get install krusader

7. Let's configure the network in the same way as in the previous example. To speed up the work, the easiest way is to use a script (you need to enter your own IP addresses):

#!/bin/bash

echo "192.168.1.2 pdc1.ofis.local pdc1 " >> /etc/hosts

echo "nameserver 217.xxx.xxx.xxx" >> /etc/resolv.conf

echo "nameserver 217.xxx.xxx.xxx" >> /etc/resolv.conf

cp krb5.conf /etc/krb5.conf

We have installed the operating system. But to finally configure the station, you need to perform a number of actions. This is the next section.

1.5.3. Additional system setup

1. Let's make the user's job easier. Open the program menu: K - Service - Desktop - Calculator. Press the key Ctrl and drag the calculator shortcut to your desktop. It’s more convenient to launch the calculator from here, right?

2. Check whether services and Samba are configured (points 15, 16, 18, 19 of section 1.5.1).

3. Another gift for the user. Right-click on the taskbar. Select a team Add an applet to the panel. Select Quick file selection(icon – orange folder). I think many users will like this tool.

Of course, you can come up with your own settings. Room for improvement user interface so many.

1.5.4. Setting up a terminal session

If the domain is organized with using Active Directory (server running OS Windows), a group of “terminal users” is usually created and given permission to use terminal sessions. To prevent the user from gaining access to the server desktop, in Active Directory, in the user account properties (on the Environment) indicates the program launch line (1C, Excel, Word, etc.). When the user closes the program, the session will automatically disconnect. On workstations running Windows OS, the terminal client is built into the system.

On client machine under Linux control It’s also easy to organize terminal access.

First of all, you need to install the rdesktop program. It is included with ALT Linux.

To launch a terminal session, it is advisable to create a script and place it on the desktop. Let's say we want to access the working Excel workbook on the server.

The script will look something like this:

#!/bin/bash

ST="comp99" # give each station a unique name

ST=$ST`date +%m%g`

rdesktop 192.168.1.2 -T Excel -u Vasya-p vasinparol-n $ST -L koi8-r -f -y -N -k rus_mod -s "Excel.exe My_Book.xls" -r printer:myHP

The script contains 4 lines (hereinafter, arbitrary breaks of long lines in listings are possible, be careful!). The line starting with “rdesktop” turns out to be quite long, but there’s nothing you can do about it. To edit scripts, it is convenient to use the built-in KWrite program - a simple text editor.

Let's sort it out command line. If the server's IP address is known, it is advisable to indicate it; otherwise, the network name.

Key –T sets the text in the window title and, more importantly, the label on the button (!) on the taskbar.

Keys –u And –p set the login and password of the terminal user.

Key –n specifies the station name. This is not necessary, but in some cases the server will block terminal sessions after a certain time has passed. To prevent this from happening, you need to regularly change the name of the station. In our case, this is solved this way: a variable ST is created, into which the prefix (for example, comp99) and time data are written. We use the standard date function and set the pattern: “two digits for the month and two digits for the year.” Here you need to use back apostrophes. For example, in February 2010 the station name would be: comp990210. IN next month this name will change.

Key –L indicates the station coding, although this is not required.

Key –f assigns full screen mode. An alternative to this is a key to specify the screen resolution, for example: -g 1280x1024. Switch from full screen mode to the window and back using a key combination Ctrl+Alt+Enter.

Keys –y And –N set the keyboard operating mode and are assigned empirically. In our example they are necessary.

Key –s specifies the program startup string if it is not specified in the tab mentioned above Environment. If both options are enabled, the startup string specified on the server is used.

Key –r specifies the client's printer by name. There may be several such keys. For our example, printers could be like this:

1. Printer connected to this station;

2. Network printer, the driver of which is installed on the station;

3. A printer installed on another computer running Windows, to which public access is open (on our station, the driver, of course, must also be installed).

Key –k solves the problem of incorrect input of some characters when using the Russian language (slash on the number pad) and keys Enter. This problem manifests itself in programs such as 1C or Excel. You need to copy the file rus_mod to a folder /usr/share/rdesktop/keymaps. Command that can be used for automation:

cp rus_mod /usr/share/rdesktop/keymaps/rus_mod

This file is easy to find on the Internet, but just in case, here is its listing (It solves a lot of problems. Many thanks to whoever created it!):

include modifiers

# Arrow keys

Left 0xcb localstate

Up 0xc8 localstate

Down 0xd0 localstate

Right 0xcd localstate

# Numpad

Num_Lock 0x45

KP_Divide 0xb5 localstate

KP_Multiply 0x37 localstate

KP_Subtract 0x4a localstate

KP_Add 0x4e localstate

KP_Enter 0x9c localstate

KP_Decimal 0x53 numlock

KP_Separator 0x53 numlock

KP_Delete 0x53

KP_0 0x52 numlock

KP_Insert 0x52 localstate

KP_1 0x4f numlock

KP_End 0x4f localstate

KP_2 0x50 numlock

KP_Down 0x50 localstate

KP_3 0x51 numlock

KP_Next 0x51 localstate

KP_4 0x4b numlock

KP_Left 0x4b localstate

KP_5 0x4c numlock

KP_Begin 0x4c localstate

KP_6 0x4d numlock

KP_Right 0x4d localstate

KP_7 0x47 numlock

KP_Home 0x47 localstate

KP_8 0x48 numlock

KP_Up 0x48 localstate

KP_9 0x49 numlock

KP_Prior 0x49 localstate

# Esc and Function keys

Escape 0x1 localstate

F1 0x3b localstate

F2 0x3c localstate

F3 0x3d localstate

F4 0x3e localstate

F5 0x3f localstate

F6 0x40 localstate

F7 0x41 localstate

F8 0x42 localstate

F9 0x43 localstate

F10 0x44 localstate

F11 0x57 localstate

F12 0x58 localstate

# Insert - PgDown

Insert 0xd2 localstate

Delete 0xd3 localstate

Home 0xc7 localstate

End 0xcf localstate

Page_Up 0xc9 localstate

Page_Down 0xd1 localstate

At the end, you need to open the properties window of our script (right-click) and give execution permission. After this, you can open the file in the editor only using the context menu.

1.5.5. Creating a shared folder in Linux

Task: create a folder on a Linux workstation whose contents will be available to all domain users. I’ll say right away that using a graphical shell for Samba is not enough. Here you need to know the recipe.

Let's say we need to create for a user working under the name Vasya, folder GENERAL in his folder Documents and open access to it for all domain users.

Let's create a folder, and then use its properties to allow everyone to read and change the contents.

Then we will need to make changes to the file /ets/smb.conf. Obviously, computers running different operating systems can operate on the network. In order to Windows users and Linux could read the name of the folder and the names of the files in it, into the section enter parameters:

unix charset = UTF8

display charset = UTF8

Connection to shared folder occurs in two stages. First, the client computer tries to connect to remote computer using the username and password with which the user logged in. If they are not suitable, a window will appear on the screen for entering a different login and password. If you connect from a Windows machine to a Linux machine, no login/password pair will work. These operating systems organize the user identification system differently, so even if the folder public access, nothing will work. Therefore, we need to create a guest login (users will not be prompted for a password). To do this, you need to tell the Samba system (we edit the same config file) how to handle such “wrong” users:

hosts allow = 192.168.1. 127.

map to guest = Bad Uid

This assumes that the network uses addresses 192.168.1.1 – 192.168.1.254.

Now you can enter folder parameters in a separate section:

[GENERAL]

path = /home/vasya/Documents/GENERAL

force user = vasya

guest ok = yes

guest only = yes

guest account = ftp

force create mode = 0666

force directory mode = 0777

read only = no

force security mode = 0

force directory security mode = 0

browseable = yes

public = yes

writable = yes

In order for Samba to accept the new parameters, it must be restarted with the command:

# service smb restart

Create a file for testing in a shared folder. All that remains is to go to this folder from machines running Linux and Windows to make sure that the shared resource is accessible to everyone.

This article reviews the Russian distribution Alt Linux 8.2 Workstation.

A few years ago I reviewed Alt Linux version 7. I liked this distribution and when version 8 came out, I had been meaning to check it out for a long time. But only now, as they say, have gotten around to it.

Alt Linux official website

The official website of the distribution is www.basealt.ru .. There is also a separate Wiki website, the information there is so-so both in content and organization. There is a lively and fairly large user forum.

Alt Linux download

You can download Alt Linux on both official sites, as well as on the website mirror.yandex.ru. I downloaded a full installation disk image of Alt Linux 8.2 Workstation with the Mate GUI shell (this is the default GUI). The disk image size is 3.5 GB.

Burning Alt Linux 8.2 to a USB flash drive

On their Wiki site they advise using the rufus program to write the distribution to a flash drive. I used rufus version 2.18.

Installing Alt Linux 8.2

IN boot menu image there are options “Run installation” and “Run in Live mode”. I usually test distributions in Live mode, but sometimes I install them on a computer. So this time I decided to do the installation.

The Alt Linux installer runs in GUI mode. The Settings Wizard starts first, then the installation proceeds.

It is possible to do manual disk partitioning and even install Alt Linux as a second system “next to Windows”. But if there is no free space on the disk, then you will have to change the disk layout manually. It is possible to reduce the size of the Windows partition. There is no option to automatically "Free up space and install". However, this is for the better. However, when marking manually, you need to understand what and how to do.

I just chose to install next to Windows.

The disk partitioning tool is primitive, much like in Windows 7.

Something unusual is that in the installation settings there is an option to “set a password for the bootloader”. It is also possible to select application programs for installation, for example FreeCAD, Scribus, etc.

Installation on an older computer took about 20 minutes. Iron - Intel chipset p45, Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB of RAM, fairly fast HDD.

Alt Linux 8.2 Workstation problems

I liked version 7 and what I discovered in version 8 was a surprise to me. Problems arose from the very beginning. During installation, I enabled the option “set a password for the bootloader” - I had to see what it was. The result was surprising. The GRUB boot loader and Alt Linux (from it) start without asking for a password. But if you select Windows in the bootloader menu, then the password is requested, and it is requested along with the username! Meanwhile, there was no username for the bootloader in the settings. As a result, it turned out that it was impossible to start Windows. I tried specifying an empty username, I tried the Alt Linux username - it didn't work.

Here's the first problem: you'll have to reinstall the bootloader.

The second problem was discovered during the first boot of Alt Linux. As it turned out, GUI Mate (Alt Linux GUI by default) was unable to provide a normal picture in Full resolution HD. Although the monitor was detected correctly and the correct resolution was automatically specified in the display settings, 1920 by 1080, in fact it was something like 800 by 600. Huge elements, windows do not fit into the screen. The task bar is half off the screen. In general, it's tough.

I tried to install a non-native, lower resolution, but it was really bad.

And these are not the only problems.

Alt Linux 8.2 Windows network

I test all distributions for the ability to work on a heterogeneous local network (on a network where there are Windows computers).

I was able to connect to a Windows computer. Network browsing in the file manager does not work, but this is now the case in all new versions of all distributions. I had to write the network address manually and Alt Linux connected normally to the Windows computer.

But it was not possible to distribute files from Alt Linux. The Samba server was installed out of the box, but the GUI tool, the mate-file-manager-share extension, does not work. When I try to share a folder I get: net error usershare. And there is no system-config-samba program in the Alt Linux repository. So all that remains is to manually edit smb.conf. I didn’t check this, by that moment I was already very angry and didn’t want to spend a single extra minute on this UG..

It's strange that the "Workstation" assembly has such a rough jamb. After all, working on a local network is a specific feature of workstations. Don't developers really check at least the most important functionality before releasing the distribution for download?

Installing third party applications

I recently added another test for Linux distributions. Ability to install application programs not from the distribution repository. This opportunity is relevant today. For example, the Google Chrome browser or the Internet communication program Skype are rarely available in any repositories, but they can be downloaded from official sites.

So. Alt Linux uses rpm type installation software packages. What did I get?

Browser Opera. The package in rpm format downloaded from Opera.com is installed and the browser is working.

Browser Google Chrome. A package in rpm format downloaded from Google.com is not installed. This package must be converted according to the instructions that are on the Alt Linux Wiki site.

Skype. The package in rpm format downloaded from Skype.com was installed. Skype launched, although it gives two tray icons. On the Alt Linux Wiki site, there are some clarifications on installing this program under the KDE GUI.

TeamViewer. There are instructions on the Alt Linux Wiki site, but I was unable to install this program.

Overall not great. For comparison, the previous distribution I tested, Alteros 1.5 (in fact, openSUSE), easily installed these programs and several more.

Other Alt Linux 8.2 problems

The first user defined during installation does not have sudo available. And after installation you need to edit the sudoers file.

For some reason, Mate Terminal doesn't save command history.

For some reason there is no list in synaptic installed files, in the properties of installed packages.

VLC cannot open some video files over the network (from a Windows computer), although these files open locally.

It is possible that there are some other problems, but I didn’t dig further. Everything is clear with this patient and there is not the slightest desire to waste time on him. As in the old joke - the doctor said to the morgue, then to the morgue.

Resume

After testing versions 6 and 7, it was unexpected for me that version 8.2 was slightly less than completely unusable. It’s strange, there was a normal working distribution, how could they break it? Mine don't understand.