Nostalgia

This article triggered me. How long have I been using Linux?

I remembered using Slackware. I remembered it came in a red box of CD's (followed by a blue one). It must have been around 1995/96. But googling with those parameters did not get me anything.

Than I remember my so-called 'nostalgia box' in our attic. A box with all sorts of clutter that I don't want to throw away for sentimental reasons. My first Linux distribution is one of the items.

It turned out to be the August 1995 InfoMagic Linux Developer's Resource. A 4-CD Set containing Slackware 2.3 with kernel 1.2.8, and lots of sources and documentation (which were a revelation to me). So, I ended up in the top 16% of the oldest Linux users.

I also remember it being a pain to install, from tar-balls, requiring a fair amount of technical knowledge, which I did not have at that time. But it was my entry into Linux and Open Source, it was new, and it was exciting.