From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: robert@timetraveller.org (Robert Brockway) Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2018 11:02:57 +1000 (AEST) Subject: [TUHS] Why BSD didn't catch on more, and Linux did In-Reply-To: References: <20180206230254.GB1977@thunk.org> Message-ID: On Tue, 6 Feb 2018, Andy Kosela wrote: > I think that if somebody was already exposed to BSD code in the 80s it was > more natural for him to adopt open source *BSD. Otherwise he went with > Linux. Initially I think it was a little bit smaller and simpler too. Here's a case study... I installed Linux on my PC in June 1994 after my university exams had finished. I only decided to go with Linux over NetBSD the night before I was heading to university to start downloading the 30 or 40 floppy images I'd need to do the install. The *nix enthusiasts on campus were split fairly evening between Linux & NetBSD[1] at the time so I was fairly assured of advice and help regardless of which way I went[2]. I chose Linux over NetBSD for one reason. Linux had a DOS emulator (DosEMU). Even then I wanted to run an emulator rather than multiboot. NetBSD got support for the dos emulator later but by then I'd made my choice. As an aside, while downloading the floppy images I came to the notice of local sysadmins. I had to go see one of the sysadmins about my usage of system and network resources. That sysadmin was George Michaelson, who is on this list. Hi George! George and I have since worked together. IIRC the university introduced a local Slackware mirror soon after. [1] FreeBSD wasn't getting as much attention among enthusiasts at my campus and OpenBSD was still a glint in Theo's eye. [2] A year later I founded a computer club on campus which embraced all flavours of *nix hobbyist. It's still running 23 years later. Cheers, Rob