Linux

46777 readers

1804 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

122

Linux during the mid to late 90s (Windows 95 and 98 era) (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

106 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For those veteran linux people, what was it like back in 90s? I did see and hear of Unix systems being available for use but I did not see much apart from old versions of Debian in use.

Were they prominent in education like universities? Was it mainly a hobbyist thing at the time compared to the business needs of 98, 95 and classic mac?

I ask this because I found out that some PC games I owned were apparently also on Linux even in CD format from a firm named Loki.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Slackware took like 40 3.5" double sided double density disks, and woe betide the poor soul who didn't label them because the stack was a foot high and you damn well would get them mixed up.

When doing it from home I would frequently run into issues that required me to completely reinstall dos and Telemate to go back to usenet and get help, print the help and then take another stab.

Dos and Linux had different opinions about SCSI chain termination so this usually involved full cover off to move jumpers on the hard drives and sometimes irq jumpers on the motherboard to get the modem AND sound card working right.

Then the fact that to get online once you had slackware installed required you to write your own SLIP/PPP dialup scripts because every ISP was doing their own thing.

Honestly it was a fucking wonderful time. Many happy memories.