fatmac wrote:
My first Linux distros were Debian 2.1 & RedHat 4, but I didn't really get going until '99 when MS crashed for the last time on any of my computers. :lol:
In my case, I got my Linux initiation in November 1995, and it justified the FIRST ever personal purchase of a PC. Costs by that time came in under $3000, but I probably still paid about $2800 after purchasing additional books, media, and other things needed. My first PC was a Micron P100; it came installed with Windows for Workgroups 3.11 - one of the last Windows systems prior to Windows 95.
I ran that, plus Slackware - and I think I had a version somewhere between 1 and 2. It worked right away, but it initially lacked the video drivers to provide GUI support past the most basic, low resolution until I was able to download a newer driver for Slackware.
Not only that, but it was a couple of years before I was able to secure anything beyond a modem-based low speed connection. So back then I remember buying a few 3.5" disks, using my UNIX workstation and copying the files I needed and carrying them to the Micron PC.
I also purchased an upgrade to Windows 95 (which had been released in August 1995). Until I got Slackware working at a higher resolution, initially Windows was easier to work with because it had better initial screen resolution, but once I got Slackware going, it was really nice, and FAST on that minimal system.
I was able to edit files faster on Slackware than I was on that UNIX workstation, connecting to my office over a modem, so when I worked occasionally from home during bad weather or to do a quick fix, I'd grab just the sections I wanted to change, edit them locally, then connect to the workstation or it's upstream server, edit the file in question, paste in the changes, and I'd be done.
Once I got a high speed network a few years later, such things were no longer necessary, but by that time I had many other systems and distributions I could work with.
I was elated to use Linux in those days; the"tactile feel" reminded me of the very earliest days of PC computing, making it fast and fun.
It wasn't anywhere near as easy to use as anything we have available today, but when you compared installing Slackware to installing either UNIX or Windows in that era, it was still significantly easier, and since I already had the UNIX workstation and server background, all I had to learn were the specific installation details. I was already using many of the exact same GNU-based utilities on my UNIX workstation, so the migration was comparatively easy for me. Nevertheless, I probably spent the better part of a week reading up on Slackware so I'd know how to set everything up correctly. As a result, my very first attempt worked, and the only thing I had to do was find newer video drivers to support my hardware at it's maximum resolution - which was probably only 1024x768 back in those days, but much better than the 640x480 that I probably started with.
We've come SO FAR from this that it's almost hard to remember the things we routinely went through WAY BACK WHEN! :-)
