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The Linux Distributions of 1992

lunduke.substack.com

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Re: The Linux Distributions of 1992

#91

Post by Agingcoder »

criddell wrote: post #26
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Heck, I'd even pay for it! I usually donate to FOSS projects I use since you can't pay for them in the traditional sense but I still want to support the developers. KDE is my favorite thus far.

I've always wondered why no Linux app store has risen to prominence? Can one make a living selling their Linux applications to end users?

I'd say the existing app stores plugged on distribution repos (apt) provide a very large amount of free software, thus reducing the incentive to look for paid software.

For the seller, being able to sell is one thing, having to run software in a tiny and extremely fragmented market (a large bunch of slightly different distros) is another one. Then osx happened, and the linux desktop never happened.

Re: The Linux Distributions of 1992

#92

Post by smoldesu »

int_19h wrote: post #85
hef19898 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember discussions back the day between Linux and Windows proponents. I was clearly in the Windows camp, seeing Linux fans as, well, bizarre sometimes arrogant pseudo programmers. That changed, now that Linux is probably the last OS I can run without a cloud account easily. Heck, I'd even pay for it! Back the day I was a gamer, the main reason why Linux never really was an option. Later for work, it was Windows a…

Gaming is still a major sticking point when it comes to Windows alternatives. But for Linux specifically, another one is web streaming: some popular services will outright refuse to stream on Linux, presumably due to DRM concerns.

I have no problem with either one of those. I watch Netflix, YouTube, DailyMotion and Vimeo without issue, and game performance is quite good under modern Proton. If those were your two big sticking points, it's probably time to try Linux again.

Re: The Linux Distributions of 1992

#93

Post by 6581 »

3dbrows wrote: post #65

When I was about 12 or 13 I ran a website called freelin.org. This was around 2001. Its goal was to provide Linux on CD to anyone who asked, globally, without cost. My hope was that donations would cover costs. They didn’t. I tried my best to supply everyone based on pocket money (allowance) at the time. To my shame, a few people who donated £1 didn’t get a CD. If this was you, please let me know and I will make it u…

I remember stumbling upon freelin.org back then. I didn't donate (I already had enough bandwidth at that time to acquire the distros I wanted), but I admired being dedicated to Linux that much to provide a service like that.

Re: The Linux Distributions of 1992

#94

Post by mssdvd »

deaddodo wrote: post #90
int_19h wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gaming is still a major sticking point when it comes to Windows alternatives. But for Linux specifically, another one is web streaming: some popular services will outright refuse to stream on Linux, presumably due to DRM concerns.

Which platforms have you had issues with? All the ones I use (HBO Max, Crunchyroll, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon and Hulu) work fine, surprisingly. You do sometimes need to use a closed browser (Chrome, particularly) or enable DRM (Firefox), though.

They work fine only for SD contents. There are hacks that enable FullHD streams but they work only for Netflix.

Re: The Linux Distributions of 1992

#95

Post by ASalazarMX »

nobleach wrote: post #5

I recall being in a B. Dalton Bookstore in the mid-90's. I picked up a book that had "Linux" on the cover. In the cover it had a floppy disk or two. Something felt very wrong to me. You can't give away an entire operation system! Perhaps this was just some "free for educational purposes" thing? I went home and fired up WebCrawler on AOL and came across Yggdrasil. I had experienced Unix on an SGI system. And I was ver…

I knew about Linux before trying it, so the free part was no surprise. My uncanny valley was being able to recompile the kernel with any options I wanted to; that felt both cool and unnatural, like "why aren't protecting their source code?".

Re: The Linux Distributions of 1992

#96

Post by themodelplumber »

dkarl wrote: post #48
nobleach wrote: post #5

I recall being in a B. Dalton Bookstore in the mid-90's. I picked up a book that had "Linux" on the cover. In the cover it had a floppy disk or two. Something felt very wrong to me. You can't give away an entire operation system! Perhaps this was just some "free for educational purposes" thing? I went home and fired up WebCrawler on AOL and came across Yggdrasil. I had experienced Unix on an SGI system. And I was ver…

In the spirit of "how could I not have known that:" back in college there was a terminal in a room in the physics department basement where I could log in and check my email. Nearby was a bookshelf with a bunch of tattered books that seemed to have been left by former students. Some Asimov, some Douglas Adams, books about Fortran and C, and a book about Unix. Absent-mindedly flipping through those books one day (as o…

Wow, very similar experience here with the email-terminal starting point, except instead of the C compiler, which was indeed a pretty awesome discovery, I discovered I could write shell scripts, just like those described by hacker-hunter Cliff Stoll.

I had been writing DOS batch files with the help of PC Magazine utils for years, and shell scripts looked absolutely amazing. From that point on I pretty much always had to know where I could go to get unix or Linux shell access...

Re: The Linux Distributions of 1992

#97

Post by edgyquant »

minitoar wrote: post #78

Bit off topic, but Lunduke is a racism denier. It's hard for me take anything he says seriously when he just completely denies the existence of systemic racism.

I remember him beating to death the horse that was "social justice warriors taking over our open source projects" and I stopped following his youtube around that time (I think it was 2017?)

That said it's kind of irrelevant to the topic.

Re: The Linux Distributions of 1992

#98

Post by techrat »

allenu wrote: post #54
unmole wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux fans as, well, bizarre sometimes arrogant pseudo programmers. To be fair, some of us were smug as hell. I once picked an argument with a guy simply because he was wearing a Microsoft t-shirt.

Ah, in those days I remember friends referred to Microsoft as The Evil Empire. I think there was also a little bit of "friendly" debate over the superior OS at the time. (I ran OS/2 Warp for a number of years myself.)

Oh the days of being on Slashdot and getting downmodded to -1 Troll because you dare to suggest that Windows is a usable operating system and not type Micro$uck or some other variant.

I was actually quite fond of WinNT4. Lean and stable.

Microsoft being the Evil Empire and facing antitrust for bundling Internet Explorer was, of course, cheered on... meanwhile very similar groups of geeks these days see no problem with Apple only allowing Safari to be the web browser engine on iOS...

Re: The Linux Distributions of 1992

#99

Post by _xy8h »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #64
unmole wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux fans as, well, bizarre sometimes arrogant pseudo programmers. To be fair, some of us were smug as hell. I once picked an argument with a guy simply because he was wearing a Microsoft t-shirt.

Unfortunately this trend continues in the Linux Desktop community. It seems it never outgrew its teenager mindset.

I think most of the teenager mindset moved towards the Apple camp. Apple has been far more restrictive and anticompetitive than Microsoft ever was at its worst. Mention something like how Safari being the only allowed web engine on iOS and get downvoted, don't agree that Google is the ultimate evil and point out they're open sourcing Android, Chromium and etc... get downvoted.

The embrace of Apple on tech sites is something I'll never understand considering the attitudes that were prevalent when it came to Microsoft just a decade or two before.

Re: The Linux Distributions of 1992

#100

Post by anthk »

tristor wrote: post #6

I ordered a copy of SLS on floppy disk from a guy out in Seattle or Portland (I forget) via an ad in the back of Computer Shopper magazine in the early 90s. I installed it on a Tandy 1000 RSX (386SX 25Mhz) my parents had recently replaced with an IBM PS/2 Model 77 (with a 486DX2 50Mhz). I was obsessed with Linux almost immediately because I could compile and run some of the software that I had gotten used to using on…

>cemented

>Portland

>contruction

Wait, you avoided a triple curse. JK, having professional tools for free in the 90's and early OO's was astrounding.

No more Windows+shareware crap combos. In late 90's/early OO's you even got lots of games and multimedia software.

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