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DistroWatch turns 15

73 points by ashitlerferad 10y ago

janvdberg 10y ago
I was not aware that DistroWatch has donated over $45k to FOSS projects: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=donations https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=donations Terrific!
orliesaurus 10y ago
I was like 12 or so, rocking a Celeron cpu with a 15 inch screen that weighed as much as my dog (rip Gus) when I started downloading Mandrake Linux from distrowatch! great to see you still floating around the web!
- xufi 10y ago
  Same here. Albeit this was only a few years ago when I was 15 or so. I ran across DistroWatch and used it religiously to try out new distros on my newly built computer.
claudiug 10y ago
distrowatch is the reason that I've install dozen of distros. I remember slackware and mandrake. Is quite amazing that the website remains almost the same over the years. I guess, they really manage to put the fun back in the computers. Sometimes :) As for me, I know that I'm getting old, as I'm starting to forget memories from past. Ohh the rpm -Uvh that always failled
- lighttower 10y ago
  I credit distrowatch for helping me find SolydXK. At the time they took debian testing as upstream. They ran on the updated packages for a few months and then, of stable, would release a big bundle of updates. So you were on a semi-rolling distro. They don't have enough resources to be doing this anymore - so their stable is now basically the same as debian Jessie.
- faizmokhtar 10y ago
  Yup, It's my goto site during my distro-hopping days. I remember trying each distros in the most visited list one by one every few weeks.
nnain 10y ago
Good read! DW has been the go-to resource whenever I had to decide on a new OS install. The website/favicon/logo et al. have become pretty dated though. It's still on HTML4. What's a general opinion on updating the site just a little bit?
- massysett 10y ago
  As a user I don't care what kind of HTML it has. It conveys the information it needs to. So my general opinion is he should update the site if needed to convey the information. Updating it just because it is "dated" is silly.
  - Zikes 10y ago
    In my opinion, being "dated" isn't entirely a property of a site's design, but of its functionality and usability. With HTML5, a plethora of new features and tools are available enabling new accessibility, semantic, and usability options. They may not seem strictly necessary, but they can greatly improve the quality of life of e.g. blind/disabled users, mobile users, search engines, users with slow or intermittent connections, users with bandwidth limitations, and a host of other things I'm forgetting off the top of my head. This isn't to say I'm being judgmental of the distrowatch site, I think they have accomplished great things, I simply mean to say that I believe that a site update has much more value than you may think.

73 points by ashitlerferad 10y ago

I was not aware that DistroWatch has donated over $45k to FOSS projects: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=donations https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=donations Terrific!

orliesaurus 10y ago

I was like 12 or so, rocking a Celeron cpu with a 15 inch screen that weighed as much as my dog (rip Gus) when I started downloading Mandrake Linux from distrowatch! great to see you still floating around the web!

xufi 10y ago
Same here. Albeit this was only a few years ago when I was 15 or so. I ran across DistroWatch and used it religiously to try out new distros on my newly built computer.

claudiug 10y ago

distrowatch is the reason that I've install dozen of distros. I remember slackware and mandrake. Is quite amazing that the website remains almost the same over the years. I guess, they really manage to put the fun back in the computers. Sometimes :) As for me, I know that I'm getting old, as I'm starting to forget memories from past. Ohh the rpm -Uvh that always failled

lighttower 10y ago
I credit distrowatch for helping me find SolydXK. At the time they took debian testing as upstream. They ran on the updated packages for a few months and then, of stable, would release a big bundle of updates. So you were on a semi-rolling distro. They don't have enough resources to be doing this anymore - so their stable is now basically the same as debian Jessie.
faizmokhtar 10y ago
Yup, It's my goto site during my distro-hopping days. I remember trying each distros in the most visited list one by one every few weeks.

nnain 10y ago

Good read! DW has been the go-to resource whenever I had to decide on a new OS install. The website/favicon/logo et al. have become pretty dated though. It's still on HTML4. What's a general opinion on updating the site just a little bit?

massysett 10y ago
As a user I don't care what kind of HTML it has. It conveys the information it needs to. So my general opinion is he should update the site if needed to convey the information. Updating it just because it is "dated" is silly.
- Zikes 10y ago
  In my opinion, being "dated" isn't entirely a property of a site's design, but of its functionality and usability. With HTML5, a plethora of new features and tools are available enabling new accessibility, semantic, and usability options. They may not seem strictly necessary, but they can greatly improve the quality of life of e.g. blind/disabled users, mobile users, search engines, users with slow or intermittent connections, users with bandwidth limitations, and a host of other things I'm forgetting off the top of my head. This isn't to say I'm being judgmental of the distrowatch site, I think they have accomplished great things, I simply mean to say that I believe that a site update has much more value than you may think.