On Wed, May 20, 2020 at 10:49 PM James Knott via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2020-05-20 10:31 PM, David Mason via talk wrote:
This is not news… except to me, but I thought the article might be interesting to someone.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a24397193/ibm-red-hat/ < https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a24397193/ibm-red-hat/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_pop&utm_medium=email&date=102918
IIRC, IBM also had some involvement with SuSE a few years ago and ran it on their "big iron". Back in the late '90s, when I was working at IBM, I was on the distribution lists for various software and I'd frequently find packs of a few CDs in my mail slot. One of the lists I was on was for Linux and the pack would contain the various distros available at the time. In fact, I first started working with Linux at IBM, when I installed Mandrake on a ThinkPad, where it took a bit of effort to get it working with token ring. A co-worker was never able to get Debian going properly on a micro channel desktop system, again due to token ring issues. Linux didn't like token ring. ;-)
Or perhaps IBM token ring didn't like Linux TCP/IP, but now they do. I think IBM's business plan of the day was for semi-open source stacks. They had released the OSI bus architecture as "open" source in order to encourage outside industrial manufacturing of compatible peripheral component products. I believe however, they wished to keep certain token passing methods under the rose, so to speak. By then, M$ was a preferred ISO partner alongside INTEL.
My first Linux experience at home was a firewall, based on Slackware, though I had tried earlier setting up Yggdrasil, without much luck.
My first true Linux experience was buying Jan Carlson's monthly Red Hat CD
at tlug in the mid nineties. Best five bucks I ever spent. Not only was the LILO install robust, he had amassed a huge collection of open source resource configuration scripts to help with resource configuration issues for sound, modem's, NIC's and associated running services. All that came with give me a call if you have a problem, Prior to that I had successfully installed Minix on a dumpster dived 8088. I got those 24 - 3.5in floppy disks for $25 from a hacker running slack. He told me he used a pop top from a can as the on off switch on his own recycled box. He laughed when he told me he had to keep an eye out on the street because the new safety pull tops, which didn't leave you with a sharp shard of metal in your hand, wouldn't work and the old ones were getting harder to find. That was also the best $25 buck's I ever spent, even though I was on my own with problem solving. Sorry to digress, but social distancing has me walking down memory lane.
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-- Russell