[TriLUG] Waxing Nostalgic

[Bill Weinel via TriLUG]

Well, my own personal history with Linux is as follows...

I started running CP/M as the 'personal computer' operating system back 
in 1975 on an 8085 S-100 machine while I was in CSC at college 
(...mainly so I could then do my homework assignments without having to 
go in to the computing center. :-)

Later, in the 1980's, I started tinkering with PC-BBS software and 
running modem linked BBS systems looking for a better way to communicate 
with others on topics of interest to me. As part of the BBS files 
section, I noted that a new 'unix like' O/S had appeared. The problem 
then was 'how to get a copy' of it, since its source was so large and 
modem data transmission at the time was so slow. I finally got a college 
friend up in PA to 'snail mail' me a copy on 44 floppy disks. That was:
Slackware v2.1 -- Spring 1995 -- I loaded and compiled it on an old PC 
using 44 1.44mb floppies obtained from a friends BBS site to experiment. 
The compile took around 48 hours...

I was so impressed with Slackware Linux (and it's potential) that soon I 
purchased an official copy of Redhat to play with:
Redhat Linux v3.0.3 - Spring 1996 -- I originally purchased Redhat Linux 
3.0.3 from Redhat software in Durham and started using it on a 
standalone machine primarily as a test machine for building and 
compiling software.

During this time, I was using Redhat Linux for specific tasks and not 
really as a daily driver. After I had been running Redhat here for about 
ten years, I received a CD in the mail containing a copy of Canonical's 
Ubuntu distro based on Debian. So I decided to try it out. I was amazed 
with its functionality as a desktop and I started running Ubuntu on a 
regular basis. I also began using it as a daily driver:
Ubuntu Dapper Drake v6.06 LTS -- Spring 2006 -- Got the distribution on 
CD from Canonical and installed it on a desktop workstation and then 
started using it on a more or less daily basis.

Soon afterwards, I discovered the Ubuntu 'flavors' and I switched over 
to Kubuntu (with the KDE desktop) since it was much more configurable 
and could be easily tailored to my personal preferences:
Kubuntu Dapper Drake v6.06 LTS -- Spring 2006 -- Ubuntu with the KDE 
3.4.3 desktop. I found that KDE was much more flexible and configurable 
to use as a desktop compared to Gnome. This made it easier to use as a 
daily driver desktop with the wide variety of applications available 
from KDE.

Since then I have pretty stuck with Kubuntu for my desktop operating 
system of choice until the present time. I have tried many other 
desktops and I do have other machines that run other Linux based O/Ses 
(BSD, Mint, Ubuntu Server, etc.), but Kubuntu tends to be my go-to for 
desktop operation.

On the current desktop I run the following:
Kubuntu Jammy Jellyfish 22.04 LTS -- current -- Plasma 5.24.7 LTS, QT 
5.15.3, KDE Frameworks 5.98.0, Kernel 5.15.0-105, LibreOffice 7.3.7.2, 
Firefox 125.0, Thunderbird 115.10.1

This will soon be upgraded to Kubuntu Noble Numbat 24.04.01 LTS as soon 
as the point release comes out.

All the best,
Bill