Russian Linux Distributions, Astra Linux, Rosa Fresh and Rantu- Plus ALT Linux

Russian Linux Distributions, Astra Linux, Rosa Fresh and Rantu

Since the West is deliberately misguiding and discriminating Russia I have decided to take a diplomatic stand and promote Russian Linux distributions.

Astra Linux developed by the Russian Army is a pretty good distribution.

I had this distribution in my very old laptop and by trying to update I it erased the entire Hard disk of 120GB.

I cannot boot it from a USB (Microsoft Guys have a CODE installed in the hardware which I did not know).

However, it can be booted by a CD/DVD and I did not bring the DVD of Astra Linux.

I used BSD and erased Microsoft Code. 

I am going back to Ceylon and remedy this situation soon.

Both Rantu and Rosa Fresh have a very few peers in torrent.

I never try Point to point downloads, now.

 

Unlike Astra Linux ALT Linux was a large civilian project.

It has a server edition and thankfully new image is available to test.

Russian Linux distributions are stable and generally two years behind the upmarket distributions which Linux is.

They support a distribution for 4 years and like me their cycles are of 5 years duration.

I have five year political cycles (this time I am silent, because I am pretty sure of the outcome, total instability) and ruthless on the current CORRUPT Regime unlike an average Ceylonese who become vociferous after the election result is declared.

One can never find a guy or girl who voted for the opposition.

That is the malady of Ceylon for 70 years.

This time I am not there to vote but send one of my agents to see my election rights are NOT Violated in my absence.

No update for ROSA from 2020.

ROSA Fresh take one hour to download and ALT takes at least 4 hours.

It is some time before me reporting.

ALT of course which I tested two years ago has a sleek Mate desktop. Its image is 7.3GB and it might take another 4 hours to download.

I believe it is not live but padded with all Russian Software.

ROSA Flesh is pretty good KDE desktop.

It has all the things available in a KDE desktop.

 

Calculate Linux

I did not say anything about Calculate Linux which comes from Arch Gentoo base.

I am writing it image on a USB Stick.

It is only 3GB Iso.

It has a lighter 1.8GB server version,too.

It is almost finished.

It is a sleek Mate desktop.

In can be run in a live session.

One need to have partitioned defined before installation.

Gparted is there for partitioning. 

No update from 2022.

It took nearly 4 hours to download 7.3GB with only one peer.

I hope at least a few more Russians guys use it instead of Astra Linux which is almost official Linux distribution.

Afterall, it is a Russian product.

It is only in Russian with some Dulingo application helping English translation.

The alphabet is completely different and my NUC does not have audio port. I have to use my cellphone to learn Russian along with this distribution running live.

Manddrake Linux was my Heart Throb-Mageia

Manddrake Linux was my Heart Throb.

Mandriva was first made public by a French software company MandrakeSoft. Its first release was based on Red Hat Linux 5.1 and was released in July 1998. Mandriva Linux was originated by Gaël Duval, and intended to focus on ease of use for new users.

 

Mageia-9-Live-Plama

I just downloaded Mageia and writing it to test as a Live session.

I will be back soon with a report. 

1. It's Desktop I tested was KDE PLsama.

Sleek No clutter.

2. Gparte works fine.

3. Wireless configuration and connectivity is good.

4. Software center is its own and dicey.

5. Installation scheme its own old and regimented scheme.

6. It has VLC and Pusle Audio.

7. I could not test for my favourite AbiWord.

8. Even though it is 3.8GB Iso, it expands beyound 4GB and one need a 8 GB USB Stick.

Overall it is a good distribution and it has other desktops, too.

My only hope is community fork of Open Mandriva Lx follw suit and produce Live DVDs.

That is the only way to enter the market.

Guys and girls should have the freedom to test the distribution before installing.

By the way, long time ago Magiea used to take over the hard disk and install its in one go.

That is why I did not test it for a long time.

OpenMadriva

OpenMadriva does not have a Live DVD to test.

I hope they follow Magiea Trend and produce a Live CD/DVD.

 

History
The first release of Mandrake was based on Red Hat Linux (version 5.1) and K Desktop Environment 1 in July 1998.

 After that, it moved away from the Red Hat standard and Red Hat inspiration and influence on its own design and implementation, and became a completely separate distribution. 

Mandriva included a number of original tools that make system configuration less difficult. 

Mandriva Linux was the brainchild of Gaël Duval, who wanted to focus on ease of use for new users.

This goal was met as Mandrake Linux gained a reputation as "one of the easiest to install and user-friendly Linux distributions". At this time Internet Explorer held a dominant share of the web browser market, and Microsoft a near monopoly in operating systems. 

Mandrake Linux earned praise as a Linux distribution that users could use all the time, without dual booting into Windows for compatibility with web sites or software unavailable under Linux.

CNET called the user experience of Mandrake Linux 8.0 the most polished available at that time.

Duval became the co-founder of Mandrakesoft, but was laid off from the company in 2006 along with many other employees.

Name changes

Installation screen of Linux-Mandrake 8.0
From its inception until the release of version 8.0, Mandrake named its flagship distribution Linux-Mandrake. 

From version 8.1 to 9.2 the distribution name was reversed and called Mandrake Linux.

In February 2004, MandrakeSoft lost a court case against Hearst Corporation, owners of King Features Syndicate. 

Hearst contended that MandrakeSoft infringed upon King Features' trademarked character Mandrake the Magician. 

As a precaution, MandrakeSoft renamed its products by removing the space between the brand name and the product name and changing the first letter of the product name to lower case, thus creating one word. 

Starting from version 10.0, Mandrake Linux became known as mandrakelinux, and its logo changed accordingly. 

Similarly, MandrakeMove (a Live CD version) became Mandrakemove.

In April 2005, Mandrakesoft announced the corporate acquisition of Conectiva, a Brazilian-based company that produced a Linux distribution for Portuguese-speaking (Brazil) and Spanish-speaking Latin America. 

As a result of this acquisition and the legal dispute with Hearst Corporation, Mandrakesoft announced that the company was changing its name to Mandriva, and that their Linux distribution Mandrake Linux would henceforward be known as Mandriva Linux.

ALT Linux 

Russian ALT Linux is Mandrake based.

Its current Iso 10.1 is 7.3GB. 

I am in the process of downloading it.