ALT Linux is a set of versions ([http://altlinux.org/index.phpmodule=junior23 Junior] and [http://altlinux.org/index.phpmodule=compact Compact]) and huge universal product suiting both server, desktop and development uses ([http://altlinux.org/index.phpmodule=master Master]).

ALT Linux Team arose from IPLabs Linux Team, a Moscow firm subdivision, in 2001. The latter cooperated with Mandrake_Linux and SuSE teams to improve localization (specifically Cyrillic) but at some point enough differences in its Linux-Mandrake Russian Edition became in fact distribution-specific and thus the decision was made to create ALT Linux project.

Since 2001, the project has attracted many contributors -- as of September 11, 2004, ALT Linux Team consists of 138 members from 6 countries.

The project is sometimes considered Mandrake-rooted, which has mostly historical significance for now; it can be approximately described as having some nice features of Mandrake_Linux, Debian, SuSE, Conectiva, PLD, Owl, and adding a fair share of [http://altlinux.org/index.phpmodule=intproj original improvements].

The strong points for the distribution are:

=See also=

*List of Linux distributions *Comparison of Linux distributions

= External links =