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I was using Coherent, a Unix-like operating system famous for its thick manual in the early 1990s. I eventually switched over to Linux due to the limitations li

I was using Coherent, a Unix-like operating system famous for its thick manual in the early 1990s. I eventually switched over to Linux due to the limitations like networking. I had wanted to set up an NFS server at home. I bought a set of 5.25in floppies from someone advertising on Usenet. The distribution was Softlanding Systems (SLS) with Linux kernel version 0.99pl13. switched to Slackware shortly after that, though I tried most of the popular ones at some point in the 1990s.

cmrdporcupine 6y ago
I too used SLS in the early days, and before that I believe MCC Interim Linux. Then eventually Debian after SLS, a year or two after it came on the scene. I believe the first kernel version I had installed was 0.97ish. Definitely a.out pre-elf era, X didn't work yet (at least for me). X was always a hassle with my Trident 8900 card. Modelines and all that. Wish I remembered more. And wish I could have been more focused and done some real programming and contributed back. I mainly spent my time on MUDs, MOOs, and IRC, and tinkered in an unfocused way in C without accomplishing much concrete. Man those were cool times tho.
- bch 6y ago
  > Definitely a.out pre-elf era Ignorant of the details of a.out vs elf, when the switchover was being discussed I thought this was a decision I’d have to make and agonized over what to choose, hoping I didn’t pick Beta while everybody else went VHS.
- pjmlp 6y ago
  My first Linux was Slackware 2.0, which I got via the first edition of Linux Unleashed book, and it had a big sticker bragging about being the first Slackware release with elf support. I shared your Trident woes, having a Trident 9000, couldn't set it beyond 640x480, whereas I was already on 800x600 on Windows 95, on a 14" monitor.
  - cmrdporcupine 6y ago
    Yes the modeline thing was the worst; I could never understand (and I haven't gone back to analyze now) why it was that Windows could manage screen resolutions and modes automagically but X required manually futzing with the X config to make it work. It took a half decade or more before any of this just worked out of the box.

cmrdporcupine 6y ago

I too used SLS in the early days, and before that I believe MCC Interim Linux. Then eventually Debian after SLS, a year or two after it came on the scene. I believe the first kernel version I had installed was 0.97ish. Definitely a.out pre-elf era, X didn't work yet (at least for me). X was always a hassle with my Trident 8900 card. Modelines and all that. Wish I remembered more. And wish I could have been more focused and done some real programming and contributed back. I mainly spent my time on MUDs, MOOs, and IRC, and tinkered in an unfocused way in C without accomplishing much concrete. Man those were cool times tho.

bch 6y ago
> Definitely a.out pre-elf era Ignorant of the details of a.out vs elf, when the switchover was being discussed I thought this was a decision I’d have to make and agonized over what to choose, hoping I didn’t pick Beta while everybody else went VHS.
pjmlp 6y ago
My first Linux was Slackware 2.0, which I got via the first edition of Linux Unleashed book, and it had a big sticker bragging about being the first Slackware release with elf support. I shared your Trident woes, having a Trident 9000, couldn't set it beyond 640x480, whereas I was already on 800x600 on Windows 95, on a 14" monitor.
- cmrdporcupine 6y ago
  Yes the modeline thing was the worst; I could never understand (and I haven't gone back to analyze now) why it was that Windows could manage screen resolutions and modes automagically but X required manually futzing with the X config to make it work. It took a half decade or more before any of this just worked out of the box.