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My first Linux distro was Slackware. I tried downloading it but my modem was too slow and people in the house kept picking up the phone. So, I supported OSS b
by Corrado 3y ago
My first Linux distro was Slackware. I tried downloading it but my modem was too slow and people in the house kept picking up the phone. So, I supported OSS by purchasing a copy from, I want to say, Walnut Creek sometime around 1995. I still had the 7 disks 10 years ago or so. They are probably still around here somewhere.
I learned so much from Slackware and basically owe my livelihood to it. Everything from compiling the kernel to trying (and failing) to get X11 working. On the flip side, I'm super glad I don't have to do that anymore and can just use Linux without having to fiddle with the internal parts.
- rconti 3y agoMy favorite Slackware memory was how the version I downloaded disksets of (on a 14.4k modem, yeah) had a broken bootloader. Not sure of the Slackware release, but it was kernel 1.2.8, before the ELF transition. Anyway, every time I reinstalled, the bootloader hung on `LI` because the config was just broken, and I had to remember how to fix it.. every time. So many hours recompiling kernels. My 4MB-equipped 486 took about 8 hours per. I only realized many years later after somehow finding the $400 for a memory upgrade, that it was only slow due to swapping. Going from 8 hours to 10 minutes was eye-opening. X11 failed to run, for the same 4MB reason. I mean, it would launch, but I want to say it took 20 or 30 minutes.
- akoster 3y agoGreat story and thanks for sharing! $400 is a lot for a RAM upgrade! Did that upgrade double your ram to 8MB or something greater perhaps?
- rconti 3y agoI think I had 4 slots with 4x1MB so $400 would have been 4x4MB for 16MB. I made do for a few more years though, I didn't have anywhere near that much cash for "just" memory. That 486/DX33 ended up being upgraded to a Cyrix 5x86/120 (?) and I think I went to 16MB at that point. Memory prices were cratering around this time (99?) so in the end I think that whole upgrade was cheaper than the 16MB would have been a few years earlier.
- pjmlp 3y agoKernel 1.0.9 was the first with ELF support, and I remember it quite well, because it is written on the CD from Slackware 2.0 ("now with ELF support").
- rconti 3y agoMan. Talk about a terrible time for me to have installed :D
- sillywalk 3y agoI remember X11 modelines were not that fun.
- Corrado 3y agoOMG! I think I still have nightmares about X11 modelines! I spent so much time changing one thing and restarting X. Definitely not one of my favorite things about my Slackware experience.
- herewulf 3y agoVery good point about owing your livelihood. Same here. I learned a ton from installing Slackware 8.1 in the early '00s (from printing out the manual no less -- something I would be aghast to do today). I should probably cut Patrick Volkerding a check! Anyway, happy birthday, Slackware!