I remember buying a brand new Gateway PC that was loaded with Windows and having it delivered to my office for the express purpose of installing Slackware ... for fun, heh. (We were exclusively a Unix shop developing software for AIX, Xenix, NCRUNIX, HP-UX and Solaris)
After work, a crowd gathered in my office to watch a buddy and me install Slackware. We had to crack the case to find the card manufacturers so we could download the code and compile device drivers for everything. Sometimes we had to modify the code, sometimes not. Seven keyboard commandos trading places to try this or that fix. There were lots of “ooohs and aaahs” as we’d get another device working. We were tweaking config parameters until late into the night. Empty Coke cans and Fritos bags littered the desk and floor. :)
There’s a video out there somewhere of the installation. It was a big deal back then. We felt like pioneers. Now anyone can install Linux. Ain’t that somethin’?
Linux has come a long, long way.
Those were the days. Good in some ways, bad in others. I burned through a wife (ex #2) during that time with 17 hour days at the office.
Good in that I got to be there for a lot of foundational RFCs and innovations.
Who knows what at TIFF is anymore? I was there when JPEG arguments were getting kicked around on Usenet.
Easier to be a cook. ;)
/johnny
One of the real breakthroughs in the *IX/Open Source world was Larry Wall's "configure."
Mark