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What was Linux like in the 90s
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
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this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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My first experience was with two floppy images I found on "So much shareware! Vol.2".
It was labeled Linux 0.99b, no distro. It was not of much use to me at the time.
A couple of years later I got my hands on Slackware 2.0 on CD. So much time spent compiling your own kernel, because no modules and the whole thing had to fit in main memory (640kB). So much time spent fiddling with xf86config hoping you wouldn't fry your CRT.
Good times.
Then came gentoo, which had package management. No more did you have to browse sourceforge for endless dependencies to install something. No more did you have to re-install slackware on your root partition to update. So user-friendly in comparison.
We spent a lot of time on IRC.
MUDs kind of bridged the gap between IRC and games.
I remember spending a lot of time playing abuse, snes9x, quake + team fortress and quake2 + action quake.