The team releases the first beta of the AlmaLinux (version 8.3) within months after announcements. Here are the details on how to download and test.
After the CentOS disaster by Redhat last year, the open-source community comes together with plenty of initiatives to bring a true Linux distribution that is 1:1 binary compatible with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) The company CloudLinux (who are already provides a commercial Linux based on CentOS for the cloud provides today) announced that they are committing a million dollar to develop a true RHEL alternative – called AlmaLinux.
And the first beta is out.
Table of Contents
AlmaLinux 8.3 Beta 1
This Linux distribution is open-source and developed by CloudLinux developers with many contributors across the world. With the beta is out, being tested at the moment, this going to be probably the first stable replacement of CentOS today. While other similar project such as Rocky Linux by the CentOS creators, are still in the configuration stages and at this moment months away from a beta release.
CloudLinux has the resources and funding available to provide in this project – which makes it available for the community. The CEO of CloudLinux requested community contributions for initial testing, bug reporting, and documentation.
With the Beta release deployed, we’d like to ask the community to be involved and provide feedback. We aim to build a Linux distribution entirely from community contributions and feedback. During AlmaLinux Beta, we ask for assistance in testing, documentation, support and future direction for the operating system. Together, we can build a Linux distribution that fills the gap left by the now unsupported CentOS distribution.
CEO of AlmaLinux
The AlmaLinux 8.3 Beta 1 – uses GNOME 3.32 as the default desktop. The additional information I will update here on the packages once I give it a try. I could not find the changelog anywhere though. Here’s a summary of the release packages.
AlmaLinux Technical Information
| Developer | CloudLinux with community-contributed |
| OS Family | Unix |
| Source Model | Open Source |
| Initial Release | TBA * |
| Latest Release | On Feb 1, 2021 (Beta 1) |
| Target Market | Commercial, personal, Servers, and desktops * |
| Language | Multilingual |
| Update Method | Long term method * |
| Package Manager | RPM or DNF * |
| Default User Interface | GNOME Shell |
| License | TBA * |
| Platforms | x86-64 |
* Items are guesses in the above table.
How to Download
The AlmaLinux is available as three different .iso images for your use case. A network cd, minimal iso, and a full installation DVD. Choose whatever you may require.
The download links are present below.
| Type | Download Link | Size |
| Network Install CD | AlmaLinux-8.3-beta-1-x86_64-boot.iso | ~ 650 MB |
| Minimal install | AlmaLinux-8.3-beta-1-x86_64-minimal.iso | ~ 1.8 GB |
| Full DVD | AlmaLinux-8.3-beta-1-x86_64-dvd1.iso | ~ 8 GB |
Note: While installing via network method use the source as https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/8.3-beta/BaseOS/x86_64/kickstart/ for retrieving packages.
After download, you can either prepare a bootable USB or try it in a virtual machine.
Remember, this is a very early stage of this distribution, so do not use it in production installations or servers at this time.
