ALT Linux (School Teacher)

ALT Linux School Teacher is an open source and 100% free GNU/Linux operating system intended for teachers, as an educational desktop system (a.k.a. workstation). It contains several open source applications for educational use and it is built around the Xfce graphical desktop environment.

Distributed as installable-only DVDs

The School Teacher edition of ALT Linux is distributed as part of a special project, called ALT Linux School, as installable-only DVD ISO images, supporting both 64-bit (x86_64) and 32-bit (i586) instruction set architectures. The ISOs can be written to either DVD discs or USB thumb drives of 2GB or 4GB (recommended) capacity.

Among other editions that are distributed as part of the ALT Linux School project, we can mention ALT Linux (School Server), ALT Linux (School Junior) and ALT Linux (School Master), all available for download from Softoware free of charge.

Boot options

From the boot menu of the ISO image, the user will be able to start the installation with default configuration or safe settings, boot an existing operating system from the first disk drive detected by the BIOS, change the default language, run a memory test, as well as to switch to a different video mode or pass extra parameters to the kernel.

Installing ALT Linux School Teacher

To install the School Teacher flavor of the ALT Linux operating system on your computer, you will have to first select a language, then accept the license agreement, choose a timezone, partition the disk, install the system and bootloader, setup network interfaces, enter a password for the system administrator (root) account, as well as to create users and passwords.

Xfce is in charge of the graphical session, includes many educational apps

As mentioned, the distribution is built around the Xfce graphical desktop environment, which offers a lightweight, traditional and familiar interface for teachers in schools and universities. It includes many educational applications, as well as an attractive selection of powerful applicatios for different tasks.

What is new in this release:

• Updated software closing known vulnerabilities as of May 22, 2015 with further updates available through Platform 7 repositories
• Updated timezones
• System Control Center is now able to join Active Directory
• LiveCDs gained RW partition support during UEFI boot as well
• "poweroff" kernel commandline parameter will cause the system to shut down upon installation to ease automated deployment
• Online repositories will always be configured, not just when found available
• Linux 3.14.41
• Mesa 10.0.5
• Firefox 31.6.0
• Various bugs were fixed with updated Intel video driver

What is new in version 7.0.4:

• This is a minor update to the 7.0.x series, adding bugfixes and SecureBoot tolerance.

What is new in version 6.0.0:

• Zero-cost end-user license fee;
• Сentralized administration of pupil computers;
• Deep customization;
• Сentralized authentication via directory service;
• Network boot of diskless nodes that store personal data on server;
• High security and virus protection;
• Graphical interface on server (disabled by default).
• Special School Server images are ready to install to Hyper-V