Twenty-six years ago today, someone from Finland posted the following message to comp.os.minix:
Hello everybody out there using minix -
I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and
professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing
since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on
things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat
(same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons)
among other things).I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work.
This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and
I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions
are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)
PS. Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never
will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.
Here's wishing him and his creation another twenty-six happy years of world domination.
(Score: -1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 25 2017, @05:24PM (10 children)
Was this necessary?
Editors?????
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 25 2017, @05:36PM (3 children)
But he is from Finland!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 25 2017, @05:44PM (1 child)
Not only is he from Finland, but he is equipped with an asshole.
The world needs more assholes!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 25 2017, @06:21PM
He is an embodiment of recursion.
(Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Friday August 25 2017, @06:39PM
> But he is from Finland!
http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/penpals/stats.php3?Pays=FIN [studentsoftheworld.info]
I'm glad to be running Linux, rather than Mikkox.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 25 2017, @05:51PM
Yes, because he's still an asshole. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 25 2017, @07:22PM (1 child)
Yip, one of them Euro-Commies. Pink and unpatriotic. Hail Trumppence!
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday August 26 2017, @01:01AM
I doubt Linus is a pinko collectivist. What I don't doubt is that he believes that Blacks and Jews are subhuman. You know it from the way he talks, even if he doesn't say it directly. I bet he's so angry because the subhuman hordes are invading his homeland and turning it into a third-world shithole.
Anyway, my own experience with Linux was extremely mediocre. I stopped using it when I got into big-boy school (except for the OS class which was terminal-heavy, and after that I stopped altogether). It had a lot of potential to be useful, but again collapsed backward into a super-autistic mess suitable only for dick-kneading booger-eaters. It is near-impossible to eke even basic functionality out of it, available applications have super-autistic UIs and are third-rate, and even my favorite feature -- the apt package management system -- becomes horribly broken if you use an older version of Linux.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Friday August 25 2017, @07:33PM (1 child)
It seems they got rid of it, but I laughed. In this case it's not so much an opinion of the submitter, but more of a universally accepted and oft lamented fact. Linus can be a bit of an asshole. I've never been in the forums, spoken with the man, or dealt with him in any way, but I know that he is widely reported to be an asshole.
I took it as more of a humorous jab at the man, but maybe it didn't need to happen on his birthday either.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday August 25 2017, @07:37PM
How dare they do this on Linux Torvalds's birthday.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday August 25 2017, @10:23PM
You act like I insulted the guy or something. Linus is an asshole. Linus needs to be an asshole. Could you imagine the flaming piece of garbage Linux would be today if he were sweet and mild-mannered towards shitty coding? Odin bless his assholish little heart.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by SDRefugee on Friday August 25 2017, @05:53PM (1 child)
This is funny.. "Just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu".... Linus
is a great programmer, but his prognosticating skills leave quite a bit to be
desired..
Happy Birthday, Linux, you've rescued me (and a LOT of others) from continuing to be
abused by that behemoth corporation in Redmond, Washington, that a LOT of us have
come to loathe, whose name will NOT be uttered here...
America should be proud of Edward Snowden, the hero, whether they know it or not..
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Friday August 25 2017, @06:02PM
If only we could all be so wrong. Happy birthday, Linux!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mmcmonster on Friday August 25 2017, @06:43PM (2 children)
Thanks for bringing Linux into the world.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bart9h on Friday August 25 2017, @07:32PM (1 child)
And git!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 26 2017, @07:56AM
He has children?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 25 2017, @10:30PM (1 child)
I looked at the .01 release years ago. Recalled lots of curse words in comments. Fortunately, that didn't stop it from growing.
In case you want a copy, it's at: ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/Linux/kernel/Historic [funet.fi]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 26 2017, @04:58AM
Also the amount of profanities grew https://www.vidarholen.net/contents/wordcount/old.html [vidarholen.net]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 25 2017, @11:04PM
Neither timely nor anything that people don't already know.
Pure filler. At least it's not political.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Saturday August 26 2017, @12:10AM (2 children)
I was a consultant through most of the 90s. In 94 I was hired by a company making a commercial product based on linux. It was what, 2-3 years old at the time, yet worked very well?
Something went very very right with Linux, I suspect it was a combination of a very smart programmer (Linus), and right time right place.
I still remember the thrill I got when I sent Alan Cox a bugfix and got a thank you email back. (our product consisted of 30-40 networked Linux boxes that every few minutes sent video files to and fro, with a hard deadline on how long it could take. In 95/96 network switches came out, solved all our problems).
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Geezer on Saturday August 26 2017, @12:40AM
Right time, right place, and legions of rebellious, beer-sodden cats herded by Linus.
Sometimes it takes an asshole to herd cats, and Linus mastered the art.
Somewhere in a long-lost Prodigy email archive are the burned-to-the-crisp replies I got to some very small driver-related code commits.
But he was right.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 26 2017, @09:20AM
and then systemd came along..
(Score: 2) by chewbacon on Saturday August 26 2017, @02:07PM (1 child)
Let's compile a kernel, he said.
It'll just be a hobby, he said.
Thanks, Linus! I'll go compile a birthday cake myself.
(Score: 2) by chromas on Monday August 28 2017, @01:07AM
🎜 Would you like to build a kernel? 🎝