Happy 20th birthday, Linux • Hacker News Board

Re: Happy 20th birthday, Linux

#11

Post by ori_b » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 3:21 PM UTC

saw-lau wrote: post #2

I thought this quote was interesting: 'helped keep Linux together and defy the trend for forking and fractionalization' when compared with images like this regarding the numerous distributions: http://files.cyberciti.biz/uploads/tips/2007/06/44218-linuxd... DISCLAIMER: I've never used Linux, partly because of the above ('which one should I pick?'). Also, I'm not trolling here, but would welcome the opportunity to und…

> 'helped keep Linux together and defy the trend for forking and fractionalization'

He's talking about the kernel, and to my knowledge there are no significant forks of that.

> 'which one should I pick?'

Ubuntu or Fedora. (Really, it doesn't matter too much).

Re: Happy 20th birthday, Linux

#12

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 3:37 PM UTC

microtonal wrote: post #8

saw-lau wrote: post #2

I thought this quote was interesting: 'helped keep Linux together and defy the trend for forking and fractionalization' when compared with images like this regarding the numerous distributions: http://files.cyberciti.biz/uploads/tips/2007/06/44218-linuxd... DISCLAIMER: I've never used Linux, partly because of the above ('which one should I pick?'). Also, I'm not trolling here, but would welcome the opportunity to und…

It is not that much of a problem, since 95% of the people probably use one of the top-5 distributions. If we go by Distrowatch's popularity, those are Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Debian, and openSUSE. Two those are derived directly or indirectly from Debian (Ubuntu and Mint). So, three of the five are virtually the same, except that Ubuntu and Mint are more focused on user-friendliness. The more serious problem is the imme…

> if you have that tiny market share, I think it would be better to focus on the overall experience.

If there is one lesson to be taken from the Apple saga that would be the one I'd pick.

Re: Happy 20th birthday, Linux

#13

Post by trafficlight » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 4:17 PM UTC

microtonal wrote: post #9

It has been a fun ride! I started using Linux in 1994 when I was twelve with Slackware Linux. I remember having long fights with my younger brother about how to divide a 40MB hard disk between Linux and MS-DOS (for games). It is important to remember how Linux and the BSDs made it possible for a whole generation of tech enthusiasts to educate themselves. At that age, I could not afford to buy a compiler or books as m…

At 12 years old, how did you end up finding out about it so early?

Re: Happy 20th birthday, Linux

#14

Post by stillinbeta » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 4:19 PM UTC

The kernel is literally a day older than I am, and I use it every day. I wish I'd accomplished nearly as much as it had.

Re: Happy 20th birthday, Linux

#15

Post by zer0point » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 4:21 PM UTC

Didn't realize it has been 20 years already :/

Re: Happy 20th birthday, Linux

#16

Post by charlieok » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 4:26 PM UTC

microtonal wrote: post #9

It has been a fun ride! I started using Linux in 1994 when I was twelve with Slackware Linux. I remember having long fights with my younger brother about how to divide a 40MB hard disk between Linux and MS-DOS (for games). It is important to remember how Linux and the BSDs made it possible for a whole generation of tech enthusiasts to educate themselves. At that age, I could not afford to buy a compiler or books as m…

So your comment here just got inserted back into the story? I'm not sure if I've seen that happen before

Re: Happy 20th birthday, Linux

#17

Post by pointyhat » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 4:27 PM UTC

trafficlight wrote: post #13

microtonal wrote: post #9

It has been a fun ride! I started using Linux in 1994 when I was twelve with Slackware Linux. I remember having long fights with my younger brother about how to divide a 40MB hard disk between Linux and MS-DOS (for games). It is important to remember how Linux and the BSDs made it possible for a whole generation of tech enthusiasts to educate themselves. At that age, I could not afford to buy a compiler or books as m…

At 12 years old, how did you end up finding out about it so early?

We did have the Internet and dial ups back then you know...

...back when usenet and gopher were king and you could telnet places still...

...and spam was about new Sun Sparc equipment.

Wish I could get back my SS2 with Wietek CPU and 2x 200Mb disks running SunOS4 :)

Re: Happy 20th birthday, Linux

#18

Post by microtonal » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 4:40 PM UTC

trafficlight wrote: post #13

microtonal wrote: post #9

It has been a fun ride! I started using Linux in 1994 when I was twelve with Slackware Linux. I remember having long fights with my younger brother about how to divide a 40MB hard disk between Linux and MS-DOS (for games). It is important to remember how Linux and the BSDs made it possible for a whole generation of tech enthusiasts to educate themselves. At that age, I could not afford to buy a compiler or books as m…

At 12 years old, how did you end up finding out about it so early?

It was included on a CD-ROM of a computer magazine. I guess back then they'd include anything to fill 650 megabytes.

Also, in a city nearby, one store had a lot of the Walnut Creek catalog on offer. So, it was fairly easy to get hands on Slackware Linux and FreeBSD without an Internet connection.

Re: Happy 20th birthday, Linux

#19

Post by microtonal » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 4:43 PM UTC

pointyhat wrote: post #17

trafficlight wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At 12 years old, how did you end up finding out about it so early?

We did have the Internet and dial ups back then you know... ...back when usenet and gopher were king and you could telnet places still... ...and spam was about new Sun Sparc equipment. Wish I could get back my SS2 with Wietek CPU and 2x 200Mb disks running SunOS4 :)

Most people in the Netherlands didn't, where the then telco state monopoly charged 25 guilder cents per minute for calls.

Re: Happy 20th birthday, Linux

#20

Post by apaprocki » Thu, Aug 25, 2011, 4:57 PM UTC

trafficlight wrote: post #13

microtonal wrote: post #9

It has been a fun ride! I started using Linux in 1994 when I was twelve with Slackware Linux. I remember having long fights with my younger brother about how to divide a 40MB hard disk between Linux and MS-DOS (for games). It is important to remember how Linux and the BSDs made it possible for a whole generation of tech enthusiasts to educate themselves. At that age, I could not afford to buy a compiler or books as m…

At 12 years old, how did you end up finding out about it so early?

I was a pre-teen as well, using 0.99pl circa '92-93ish (fuzzy memory). I heard about it from IRC. At the time I was using a 2400 baud modem to dial up into Rutgers (an older friend's college account) to get a terminal. Rutgers supported SLIP so that you yourself could become a node rather than just getting a terminal. I wanted to try this so that I could use virtual terminals to IRC and still do other things and generally be more stable than trying to use DOS with a SLIP packet driver. So, it took a while to download a 0.99pl distro onto 3 floppy disks and even longer to get it working with little or no documentation, but in the end it was worth it!