Although I’m still a fairly new GNU/Linux user I do know that even though I’ve been using GNU/Linux and other FOSS software packages.
I started my Linux journey back in the early 2000;s when you really only had three choices SlackWare,Debian or the really early generations of Ubuntu. I really enjoyed learning the learning process involved in getting Debian installed and working correctly on both and old Compaq Persario of some vintage or another and A Hp Laptop that was really for typing school assignments.
I worked around thees pain points one of which was the issue of getting WiFi cards based on Broad-Com chip-sets to work correctly via use of the bw43-cutter tool which was a huge nuisance. I can also remember how big a headache it was to get ATI Readon Video Card working under Linux.
I’m also decently versed in the workings of the Operating system licensed under the MIT and BSD license structure. Again I can also remember the time and effort that was required of the user, in order to get everything from Sound and graphics to WiFi adapters to work correctly. Most of my experience on the BSD side of things comes from using FreeBSD both on legacy and more modern hardware.
- My most common choices for Unix-Like operating systems
- My favorite Alternative Operating Systems
- Debian
- Red Had Enterprise Linux
- Antix
- NetBSD
- FreeBSD
- OpenBSD
The first machine that I installed Linux on was a mid to late 1990s. My first experience with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, I purchased a guide book at a local Barnes and Nobel that came with a copy of RHEL. This is where things start getting really uniquely odd. I dove right into configuring an old Pentium 3 or 4 pased Compaq of some model or another. I installed RHEL on the hard drive and then dove into configuring the machine as both a SAMBA file server and a CUPS print server and let me tell you that the second part of the adventure got annoyingly tricky as cups didn’t have the correct LPD files for the crappy Lexmark printer my family had at the time.
Porter's Pebbles 