5 ms·
CDs were common in redhat (still without the E of Enterprise linux), debian, slackware and all... But what to say about the manuals? Those manuals and books i
by txutxu 6y ago
CDs were common in redhat (still without the E of Enterprise linux), debian, slackware and all...
But what to say about the manuals?
Those manuals and books included with the CDs, in the box.
For me they were a catalyst in my Linux learning.
Really good quality manuals, with reference tables, and covering many (many) topics. From the the graphical environment to the command line, from the administration of the local system, to network services, good structure, nice tips, cheatsheets, reference tables, even covering kernel compilation!
As you say, they did include everything needed, to live together with win98... tools, floppy images, etc... and the documentation about howto do it beforehand.
In that modem times, with low speed internet, the CDs where valuable, indeed.
But those books included in the box, for people like me in such times (self-taught beginner with Linux) those manuals were like gold!
Did use my first linux from a CD in a computers magazine.
Did play with redhat, and debian, then I did buy my first suse box with suse 6.0 (around 1999), and did buy again the box for suse 7 and 8.
Latter I did get faster internet, and did jump 100% to debian for everything. But I still have those manuals with my books.
The complete package (cds + books) is something that I remember fondly for how useful it was to me, and a lot of respect for the work of the people who made it.
- tazjin 6y ago+1 - I learned a lot from those giant manuals. I also remembered calling their (free at the time, I believe?) customer support hotline about issues with some printer and the guy dictating a bunch of kernel parameters to me over the phone (which did fix the issue!). Different times ...
- pimeys 6y agoDefinitely better than me asking help to install some pre-1.0 KDE beta in an IRC channel somewhere in the 90's. Some helpful hacker asked me to give them the root access so they could install KDE for me. I guess that's how I learned about not trusting everybody...
- NikolaNovak 6y agoAgreed. I have dozen books on Linux in my home office and of course there's the Internets... But I've never ever found something so cohesive, comprehensive,understandable and with a great guided curve. I kept them long past obsolescence as they just couldn't be replaced by anything better :-/
- thetopher 6y agoJust to add another tale from the past: Sometime in the late 90s I ordered a Red Hat CD from cheapbytes.com (CD burners weren't common yet). I didn't have a credit card yet, but I did have a checking account, so I paid for the order by mailing in a check.
- codegeek 6y ago"CD Burners" Yep. They used to be premium in the 90s and even early 2000s. I remember how you were special if you had a CD burner on your computer instead of a regular CD Player :). Kinda like difference between a VCP and VCR for even older kids.