From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
I miss the days of Ubuntu being a new upstart and Mark Shuttleworth going into space and being cool. I was involved with the project a bunch back then and even talked to him briefly once online.
There's been a lot of poor decisions honestly since then unfortunately and I haven't used Ubuntu in a while.
I made the switch to Mint (and Windows) a while ago, but I still use Ubuntu for stupid little IOT projects. I should probably learn how to build my own with Yocto, maybe that'll be a future project. BalenaOS is great for quick a dirty stuff but Balena collects A LOT of telemetry from your system and it's only a matter of time until they sell that data or lose it in a breach. It's hard to give up what I'm comfortable with sometimes.
Had to dig through the basement but I found it.
Did you request that from their website?
Yup, I think it might have been the first thing I ordered online.
Very cool! Keep that. It’s a piece of history now.
When I was young and fucked up my Windows XP with viruses and toolbars and viruses for my toolbars, I downloaded Ubuntu and burnt it onto a spare CD. Wrote “software of the gods” since I was able to grab all my windows files and transfer them to USB with that live cd. Felt like a true hacker man.
This article brought back memories. I remember struggling with various versions of Linux but when Ubuntu hit the scene it was a game changer. They had the first forums that were actually approachable for noobs. For the first time you got helpful, encouraging responses from people.
Back then it wasn incredibly common to get told to fuck off or read the manual, derided, talked down to, and generally treated like shit for asking questions or not knowing something. There was tons of gatekeeping.
So when the article says they cared about the whole user experience they left out one of the best parts: the support forums!
I know it gets some flack here, but they really got a lot of people into Linux and helped the whole FOSS world immeasurably.
As much as Canonical are a bunch of dinks and snaps make my balls itch, Ubuntu has been an awesome gateway OS for getting users in control of their devices. If the project were every to go away it will be a sad day for the Linux/*nix/GNU/BSD world.
Exactly! There will never be a "year of the Linux Desktop". The only way you're going to win that one is if you get Dell or HP to make Linux the default, and that will be a cold day in hell before any publicly traded company puts anything other then Windows on a computer. Facts is facts.
Just be happy that we get little wins. God knows that SteamDeck and Android have been huge with helping Linux grow.
I'll forever have a soft spot for Unity. Ubuntu 14.04 was my gateway drug into Linux.
Dual booting Windows XP and Ubuntu 12.04 on my parents desktop.
I broke the boot loader so many times that my mom learned what GRUB was just so she was sure she could yell at me and it wasn’t just our ancient desktop finally dying.
Ubuntu 8.04 here!
I am a current Ubuntu user since around 2020. I left windows for good when they release windows 11.
Love the look of the new snap store in Minotaur, but want the ability to install local deb file back.
But... You still can? Even with the new Appstore, it supports snaps and debs.
Edit: Oh, you mean like double-click a deb file. I just use dpkg -i or apt install ./filename.deb.
I installed GDebi from the store and used that. But the snap store use to let you use the store to install the local deb file. To be more user friendly, I hope they make this work again.
I have installed things with the CLI but like a GUI better.
Always good to know the CLI speak of GUIs you access. I don't trust the software GUI for debs. dpkg -i!
I switched 100% away from Windows to Ubuntu with KDE. It was a good desktop OS, but I switched to a rolling release for desktop as that suits me better.
But for servers, Ubuntu, for me, is still king. It's so simple to use, the docs are great, there's always a guide for Ubuntu and it is so incredibly stable. It is just a totally solid rock of an OS and I can't see myself moving away from it for server use anytime soon.
... I'm the same age as Ubuntu.
Like others, I remember when they were the new exciting upcoming distro. Though Fedora was my main daily driver at the time, I test drove 5.04 (Hoary Hedgehog) - it came with a video of Nelson Mandela (unless I'm embarrassingly misremembering), I still have the CD somewhere.
I ended up eventually using the LTS's 6.06 (Dapper Drake), 8.04 (Hardy Heron) for a lot of things, good memories, until eventually falling out with them over Unity and the Amazon thing.
To bad its a ghost of the past
Damn. Really? I remember when Ubuntu was first released!
Jesus, do you remember boot floppies? Was that ever a pain in the ass.
Of course, and of course!
And it all wents to shit.