Diagram of Linux Distro History

Posted by JD 10/26/2010 at 07:04

A picture is worth …. 1,000,000 words in this case.
This link shows the way that different distributions are related, started, and some died. It only shows the most popular distros, perhaps 300 of them. I didn’t count.

1993 Linux

I started trying to install Linux in 1993 and after many failures, finally got Yggdrasil installed on a work PC that had a SCSI interface. I still own that original CD-ROM along with a number of the Walnut Creek 6-Dics Linux collections. This CD is what made me purchase a CD-ROM drive to go with the 40MB HDD.

Other Linux Installs

Eventually, I installed Slackware and ran that until 2000 when I switched to Redhat. I switched because all the hype at the time was about Redhat, not because Slackware had failed in any way. Redhat sat on a headless 2 CPU server in a closet with a UPS and CAT 5e cable for 3 years performing as an email, web, and file server until the cheap capacitors on the motherboard ruptured. A new box was built and the old desktop machine got Slackware again. The RH box had been in RPM Hell for over a year, so the failure wasn’t completely undesired. I don’t know when exactly, but around 2005, SuSE was becoming known. I installed and used it for a few years. I never felt light and never really caused any problems. Ubuntu was getting lots of press for being easier and less hassle. I’d also heard all the smug Debian guys talking about APT and how great it was. The next machine (another Windows desktop hand-me-down) got Ubuntu. In 2007, I started loading Ubuntu Server on server machines. Sure, I play with OpenSolaris and lots of other Linux-based distros like DSL, Puppy, Debian, TinyCore, and many, many others.

Current Linux In Use

Today I run these Linuxen for my company/home:

  1. Ubuntu Server (about 15 systems)
  2. Lubuntu Desktop (about 3 systems)
  3. Maemo (Nokia N800 ARM-based portable computer)
  4. VMware ESXi 4.x (1 hypervisor)

What’s your history with Linux?

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