🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1995Aug29.155838.7685@hobbit>,
Raymond A. Bailey <bailey9@marshall.edu> wrote:
>..I believe the Free/NetBSD's were available before 
>linux. There was minix too, but I'm not sure how much it cost to purchase.

     I can't believe how much of this crap is getting posted here.
Sheesh.  Linux was out at least 6 months before I ever heard anything
about 386BSD (at least the initial Jolitz free release).  I know this
because I was running Linux at the time that 386BSD came out...anyone
remember Linux releases 0.001 and 0.10 (when you still had to have
minix to create a filesystem)?  Hell, anyone remember the minix-386 by
Bruce Evans?

> I think Linux became popular because it ran on damn near anything even 
>in it's earliest beginnings.

     Linux became popular because it provided people with (not
necessarliy in any sort of order, or complete):

- virtual terminals.
- shared libraries (disks weren't nearly as big back then).
- VGA console support (for things other than 80x25).
- ran in less memory (1-2MB).
- didn't crash as much.
- had regular releases (no weird patchkits to install).
- merged vm/buffer cache.
- wasn't 'contaminated' (remember the USL - BSDI suit?).

    All of these things gave linux a tremendous head start.  However,
both the NetBSD and FreeBSD groups have been doing a amazing job of
getting their systems caught up and even surpassing linux in these
areas and others (does linux have a ccd device driver?).  And they're
stable too. =)



steve


-- 
// stephen clawson				sclawson@cs.utah.edu
// university of utah