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Happy 15th Birthday Linux

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the what-do-you-get-a-penguin dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It's 15 years already! On August 25th, 1991 Linus Torvalds submitted the famous message to comp.os.minix: 'Hello everybody out there using minix — I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things)' Happy Birthday Linux!"

31 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Well, that's great by chriso11 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is it just 15 years? Amazing what Windows hasn't done in all that time.

    --
    No, I don't trust in god. He'll have to pay up front, like everybody else.
    1. Re:Well, that's great by soliptic · · Score: 2, Informative

      Er. Windows 3.1 (arguably the first usable version) didn't come out til 1992. So I'd say it HAS come quite a long way in the last 15 years. Still, enjoy your cheap laugh :)

    2. Re:Well, that's great by Jugalator · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey, it went from being a 16-bit OS, to a bugged 16/32-bit hybrid, to a 32-bit OS with severe security flaws, to being an OS sued by courts on an international scale, to having a pretty glass theme on a DRM foundation. I'd say it has achieved quite a lot! Sure, with Vista, you have around 600 MB RAM consumption directly after start up in its Release Candidate, but I'd say this is a small price to pay for all amazing things it can do to you.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    3. Re:Well, that's great by Kadin2048 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think that day will come when you can get a consumer PC from a major manufacturer pre-installed with a Linux distro. That will take care of a lot of the hardware issues, and might cause more 3rd party manufacturers to list Linux compatibility. The problem isn't the amount of hardware that's compatible with Linux, it's determining if "Widget X" is going to work or not. Mac users probably have a similar or less amount of compatible hardware, but it's not a problem because you can go into most stores and immediately tell which stuff is going to work with your Mac or not.

      --
      "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  2. Second try by suso · · Score: 4, Informative

    We went over this last year. Linux was released on September 17th, not in August.

    1. Re:Second try by e4g4 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Right....but it was today, 15 years ago, that Linus told everyone about it...I suppose you could say that it's not really Linux's birthday, but more like the anniversary of the day that Linus Torvalds told everyone that he was pregnant with a beautiful baby androgynous operating system...

      --
      The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
    2. Re:Second try by ID10T5 · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...but your parents did.

  3. don't forget by anti-drew · · Score: 5, Funny

    Happy, uh, zeroth birthday to the Hurd.

    Good thing Linus didn't decide to just wait for GNU to finish their OS instead...

    1. Re:don't forget by 2.7182 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't think zero has come yet. -1 or -2 or less ?

      And while I am here, let me just reiterate that "hurd" is a poor choice of name for a kernel.

    2. Re:don't forget by Kenshin · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hmm... The fact that Hurd hasn't been born yet may be the reason that RMS is so fat.

      --

      Does it make you happy you're so strange?

  4. desktop readiness by legoburner · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wow, and just one more year and it will certainly break into mainstream desktop usage

    (recycled from last year ... disclaimer, I like a good number of you use linux on the desktop)

    --
    Warhammer forums
  5. You gotta love /. by aaronwormus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    10 years of annoucing minor point Linux Kernel releases, and then Linux's 15th birthday doesn't even make it to the front page.

  6. Never trust guys (or girls) who use nested clauses by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Funny

    Never trust guys (or girls) who use nested clauses. You just can't (as I've learned from past experience) know that what you've heard (or perhaps read) is really what they (or their source) really meant (or felt).

  7. Aw, how cute by the_humeister · · Score: 3, Funny

    Honey, I think it's about time we give him the "talk."

  8. Stay off the roads. by krell · · Score: 4, Funny

    Next year, Linux drives a car.

    --
    Where were you when the voynix came?
  9. First usable version of Windows? by krell · · Score: 5, Funny

    "arguably the first usable version"

    I don't expect the first usable version of Windows until 2022.

    --
    Where were you when the voynix came?
    1. Re:First usable version of Windows? by Directrix1 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      XP (Pro at least) is a fine operating system. So is Linux. Just because you've learned to drive a car doesn't mean you know how to drive a tank. If you couldn't get X to load at any resolution then you obviously didn't even try (as in put forth effort). Furthermore, you fail to declare what distro and version of Linux you are using. What are you "learning the computer" or something?

      --
      Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
    2. Re:First usable version of Windows? by fotbr · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Arguing by example is stupid.

      For every example you can throw out about Linux/Mac/Windows/etc being better, someone else can throw out a counter example thats every bit as valid.

      Use whats best for you, and drop the fanatical fanboyism. Windows/Linux/Mac/PS3/360/Wii/whatever -- whats best for YOU isn't going to be best for EVERYONE and claiming it is just makes you look petty.

    3. Re:First usable version of Windows? by soliptic · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Actually, I did try, thank you very much: I spent about a week on it IIRC. I also asked for help on the interwebs, although I didn't get anything more helpful than "RTFM n00b" type remarks. Well, anyway, after a week of not getting beyond a command prompt, I gave up. What, should I have given it two weeks?

      FWIW, it was Slackware, and whatever the latest version was in about 98. I await the "well try a n00b distro like Ubuntu" - well, sorry, I can't be bothered any more. I use Ubuntu a bit at work, and it's very nice, but at home I'm passed caring because XP does the job for me. Back in 98 I found it fun to use my computer pretty much for the sake of using my computer, which is why I wanted to try Linux, but now I just want to use some apps and get things done, and Windows suits me just fine in that regard.

      Anyway you're (all) missing my point, which wasn't to bash Linux exactly, but just to that this "OMG ROFL Winblowz Sux0rz!" attitude is really not +5 funny because it's quite obviously wrong. You guys saw 98 bluescreen seven years ago. That's great. But I failed to get X to load seven years ago. Now, when I come along and offer that silly (and admittedly completely trivial one-data-point) anecdote, you're falling over yourselves to dismiss it. (With cheap personal attacks on my level of computer competence no less. No, I'm not "learning the computer", I've been programming since I was 6.) But when you come along and harp on the same old judgements based on 7 year old Windows, it's +5 moderation all the way.

      That was my essential point. Not a "this OS is better than yours" thing - just saying ungrounded MS-bashing as a quick route to popularity around here is pretty lame.

      Like you say - both Windows and Linux are decent OSes these days. Why is that? Because both have come a long way since 1998, or, to get back to where we started - since 1991.

    4. Re:First usable version of Windows? by soliptic · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Bad form to reply to myself, but I realised I forgot something I meant to say.

      Basically, there are things to justifiably bash MS for. Biggest on my horizon is the creeping DRM, which may well be the factor that does eventually persuade me to bother switching to Linux. So, focus on those genuine issues, and you might persuade people. But come out with nonsense, like suggesting Windows has made no improvement between v3.0 and XP, and it just undermines your credibility.

    5. Re:First usable version of Windows? by alienw · · Score: 2, Informative

      You either have a failing piece of hardware (memory/HDD) or a bad driver. I have never seen XP crash. Now, viruses are a different story...

    6. Re:First usable version of Windows? by Directrix1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As I said before. Microsoft makes good software. Linux is good software. They are both tools, and should be treated as such. It just happens that when you insult a tool made by a lot of the ones using it, you end up insulting a lot of people, and will get a lot of hot headed responses. I apologize on behalf of all geeks who would have genuinely helped you had you seeked help in the appropriate channels. But you insult Linux because you were not familiar with it, not because of any short comings of the operating system itself. Which is not itself a failing of Linux.

      --
      Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
    7. Re:First usable version of Windows? by Waltre · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Actually, I did try, thank you very much: I spent about a week on it IIRC. I also asked for help on the interwebs, although I didn't get anything more helpful than "RTFM n00b" type remarks."

      This is definitely an area where general linux has improved considerably since '98. It's rare to see 'RTFM N00b' on a forum/mailing list nowadays.

    8. Re:First usable version of Windows? by Kyle_Katarn-(ISF) · · Score: 2, Informative

      Slackware. Eight years ago.

      Now, I'm a linux-user myself, but I can see how trying to get X running on Slackware could be a daunting task NOW, not to mention 8 years ago. Incidentally, I tried Slackware first myself, and was extremely annoyed with it. I was ready to give up on Linux and go back to WinME (See why I wanted Linux?) when a friend suggested I try Debian. I did, and it was MUCH easier. As a matter of fact, it's my main system today.

  10. Re:to be fair by Cyberax · · Score: 5, Interesting

    GNU/Hurd developers are commited to create THE best possible kernel. They don't have any time pressure so they can freely make experiments in the true spirit of Open Source.

    Right now, there is an ongoing effort to use Coyotos ( http://coyotos.org/ ) to create the first operating system with the proved correctness of its kernel.

    Besides, message-passing interfaces (the core feature of microkernels) can be potentially very efficiently implemented on multicore processors. For example, ARM Fast Address Space Switching (FASS) can potentially make microkernels FASTER than common monolythic ones.

  11. Thin glass windows. by krell · · Score: 2, Funny

    "to having a pretty glass theme on a DRM foundation"

    Glass? Are you referring to how the OS is easily broken, or how the DRM schemes are easily shattered?

    --
    Where were you when the voynix came?
  12. Bah. Statistic of one. by Hillgiant · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My 20 month-old daughter bluescreened XP after only 2 minutes of un-attended use. And no, it did not involve pouring juice into the box. Only using a standard keyboard and mouse.

    --
    -
  13. Re:just promise me by Richard+Steiner · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh, it's not so bad. Just imagine Ballmer in a red dress. :-) :-) :-)

    --
    Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
    The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
  14. portable... by pe1chl · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Simply, I'd say that porting is impossible. It's mostly in C, but most
    people wouldn't call what I write C. It uses every conceivable feature
    of the 386 I could find, as it was also a project to teach me about the
    386. As already mentioned, it uses a MMU, for both paging (not to disk
    yet) and segmentation. It's the segmentation that makes it REALLY 386
    dependent (every task has a 64Mb segment for code & data - max 64 tasks
    in 4Gb. Anybody who needs more than 64Mb/task - tough cookies).

    And now it is running on, what, 20 different architectures?
    With or without MMU, running hundreds...thousands of tasks of up to
    gigabytes in size. Of course, of that version nothing will have
    remained. Not even the name, because that came later.

  15. Re:Wonky drivers by alienw · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Doesn't sound like either of those is a Microsoft problem. You should probably take the issue up with the firewire card manufacturer. Linux has much more serious problems with some of its drivers. Try unplugging a mounted USB drive and see what happens. Last time I tried it, it permanently locked up the USB subsystem, which nothing would cure short of a reboot. Not to mention hibernation support, which is still horrible and usually doesn't work. I like Linux myself, but I am of the firm belief that people living in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks.

  16. I'm so going to jail ... by soren.harward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... for screwing around with a 15 year old. For the last nine years.