thoth's Journal: Linux

I've decided to try out the Journal facility that Slashdot provides. Since this site is generally a positive Linux site, I figure my first post should be on Linux!

I first used Linux in 1994, as a grad student. Installing Linux on a spare notebook saved me from pulling late nights at the computer lab. I still pulled late nights, just in the comfort of my apartment ;) Anyway, it was Slackware something or other, the old distro you had to "download" on about 50 floppy disks - the "A" series of essential system files, the "D" series for development, the "N" series for networking... maybe somebody remembers what I am talking about. Linux came through for me on two classes: Network Programming, and Intro to Programming Languages (a theory class taught in Scheme).

For the next several years, I went away from Linux, mostly because I wasn't using it at work. I kept up with it (mostly) by reading, I just didn't run it anywhere. Yes, I was running Windows instead at work and at home (Win 3.1, NT 3.51, NT 4.0, Win95, Win98, Win2000, WinXP, Win2003). Plus, some experimenting with OS/2.

Anyway, in 2002 I took a new job at a company that has some Linux business. My job initially involved Java programming, some coworkers on a different project actually had Linux desktops... it was a shock/fascinating/etc. as my previous employers were Microsoft shops. My group was largely Windows based, and we reorged, and that is still true. However, there is a team looking at the feasability of a linux port... sorry I can't be more specific. I am on the Windows programming team though, not this other one. I may interact with them because of what I'm working on as far as the existing Windows product.

As part of my job, I got a copy of VMWare which included a home license, so I began to play around with Linux again. I started to read LWN, and try out various distros (Gentoo, Debian, Arch, Yoper, Knoppix), and recently set up a linux machine at home.

I'll write journal entries for these later...