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> The system was initially called Freax Maybe it's common knowledge, but first time I've heard that. I wonder how that would have impacted adoption if it had stuck?
Then instead of the linnux and lynux pronunciation confusion we'd have freaks and free-ax.
Amazing
> The system was initially called Freax Maybe it's common knowledge, but first time I've heard that. I wonder how that would have impacted adoption if it had stuck?
Then instead of the linnux and lynux pronunciation confusion we'd have freaks and free-ax.
What I wonder is this: is there a story happening now that has similar good will for the future of AI without having commercial or social computing as its basis?
The reason I love Linux is that Linus started and finished before commercial and social concerns became the raison d'etre in software.
Wait, does this mean that Linux what programmed on MINIX?
This is a great read of a humble start of history. The A..B concurrency printing, helping Linus out implementing Sprintf, learning assembly. Building it all towards a coherent system. What was truly profound is how Linux and other open source systems and libraries completely cracked open systems software for the masses. Back in the early 90s, everything around Unix, operating systems, compilers, tools, everything was…
But I was working for a small ISV making a windows based GIS and our customers were putting windows boxen on every desk in the office, and then ditching either intergraph based solutions or complex systems with Tektronix terminals. Our per seat license was a rounding error in their previous costs, and you could drag a selected rectangle from our map window and drop it into a word document. I occasionally helped with sales demos and you could see when the decision was made in the faces of the senior people when they saw this.
Great read. The first distribution I used was TAMU ( https://archiveos.org/tamu/ ) in 1992, when Linux wasn't yet at 1.0. I had to download dozens of floppy disk images. In those days, getting X to run involved real risk. Get some of the parameters wrong and you could destroy your monitor. My five kids (all in their 20s and 30s now) grew up running Linux. It's still the OS I choose when the option is available.
The flexibility also allowed you to accomplish neat things.
I was spoiled by high res 21" workstation monitors at school, so my laptop with a 640 x 480 screen was very limiting. But, telling X that the LCD was a multiscan monitor made every other scan line go to /dev/null-- the effect was a pseudo-resolution of 640x960 with scrunched up, but very readable fonts. Ran that setup for years.