[ILUG] just a little something about today

[Michael Watterson]

Paul O'Malley - gnu's not unix - wrote:
> Padraig Kitterick wrote:
>> Paul O'Malley - gnu's not unix - wrote:
>>>  > From: torvalds at klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
>>>  > Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
>>>  > Subject: Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT
>>>  > Message-ID: <1991Oct5.054106.4647 at klaava.Helsinki.FI>
>>>  > Date: 5 Oct 91 05:41:06 GMT
>>>  > Organization: University of Helsinki
>>>
>>> This makes it happy birthday to the Linux kernel today!
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>> P.
>>>
>>
>> I think that was version 0.02, although that's the earliest release 
>> that Linus can pin to a particular date 
>> (http://www.dina.kvl.dk/~abraham/Linux_Birthday). Aparently, 0.01 was 
>> released sometime in mid September.
>>
>> -Padraig
> I am agreeing with calling it the birthday for exactly that reason.
> There was no "public announcement" just a few of the interested 
> parties testing stuff with him.
>
> It is generally how people do this kind of madness, test in a small 
> group if needing a fix do that then shout about it from the tree tops.
>
> P.
RE: > Subject: Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT
I used Minix in 1991. Linux was never ever remotely Minix like. Though 
I've no wish to re-open the micro-kernel vs Kitchen Sink Kernel wars, 
other than to comment that if Linux was "minux like" I'd be very very 
happy when trying to port Linux from one ARM SoC to another. It's crazy 
you have to recompile the kernel for different USB/Touch 
Screen/LCD/Serial port/Ethernet/Keyboard support etc.

My memory was that 1993 about same time as NT 3.1 was released was the 
"real" Linux release date.

Or can we claim now that NT ver 1.x was IBM/MS joint OS/2 in 1985 approx 
and that NT.2x was "really" the almost unknown MS only sideways version 
of OS/2 + integrated LAN Manager?

Minix isn't the Parent of Linux either in sense that OS/2 and VMS are 
part of heritage of NT. If anything BSD or something is the "parent". 
I'm still a bit baffled actually as  I was  using "FREE"  (as well as 
the original Xenix and AT&T commercial) UNIX on 386 in maybe 1986 
helping on the C++ porting to DOS... So at the time (1993 release) I 
never took much notice of Linux. It wasn't till 1998/1999 I had to first 
commercially support Linux in form of giving training on RedHat 6.0  If 
Linus had invented a new OS rather than yet another version of UNIX in 
early 1990s maybe Windows wouldn't exist today. After all it was really 
only in 1992 to 1994 that Windows (DOS GUI version and NT real version 
in parallel) took off.