Hi. My name is Mike and i am retired myself! I have not worked in the IT industry, yet i have had a long history with computers starting with a Mk1A firecontrol computer (syncros and servos) aboard a converted WW2 ship, then TRS80 Model 3, then DOS 3.0 and forward! I was then introduced to Red Hat 3.0 by buying myself a book and self-installing at home. Started myself a home library of Linux books and started learning to to diagnose and correct hardware/software problems on my own. Didn’t know anybody that ran linux/unix personally! My iinterests are CLI, learning network operations, the linux/unix way, troubleshooting tips and tricks and scripting for linux system operarions for a near future home lab.
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Welcome Mike! sounds like you are a linux veteran
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Mike, very interesting history and experience.
These days, do you have a particular favorite Linux distribution?
My personal favorite is a small, efficient Debian based distribution called antiX. I’m generally partial to Debian based distributions but I have also been interested in Slackware, Cachy OS and Endeavour OS recently.
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Welcome to the community! Speaking of CLI, what do you think of terminals like Warp and Wave?
I’m Eric. I retired after doing electrical and electronic systems design for heavy trucks and buses. Part of that time, I wrote specifications for the (production) computer systems that were used to program vehicle controllers.
Computers have been a hobby, and occasional love/hate relationship, since I started working with the original IBM PC. I sold computer systems to students in college. Just out of college, I worked as a beta tester for a game software company. And throughout my career, I’ve tried to stay up-to-date on relational database design concepts, as I’ve dealt with a lot of data storage and management problems where I’ve needed to work with IT professionals.
I first installed SuSE Linux to dual-boot on a computer running Windows 98 - back when Linux distros were more commonly purchased as a “shrink-wrapped” product because download over a 19.2kbps modem would tie up a phone line for days.
I’ve used SuSe, RedHat (before Fedora became the development branch), Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, and Kubuntu. Currently, I have three computers:
- My workhorse Linux-only system runs Fedora 42
- My computer dedicated to ham (amateur) radio, music, and digital photography is a dual-boot Fedora 42/Windows 11 Pro system.
- My general-purpose laptop is a dual boot Kubuntu 22.04 LTS/Windows 11 Home system. (The intent is to use this computer when I take my ham radio equipment out of my house on camping trips…but that hasn’t happened yet.)
Oh…and also early in my career, I worked for a well-known printer manufacturer, supporting color inkjet printers - including some of the first “Windows-only” printers.
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Thanks for joining! Some really good Linux and tech experience indeed.
Eric, I really identify with the comment about purchasing or acquiring CD or DVD images - years ago I had piles of them, and I also had people sending me their copies after they installed them, and I’d pay the postage to get them.
That was long ago for me too; these days I download just about everything when it comes to software.
Long ago, just before I got into Debian-based software, I reviewed and tested the old Mandrake, Red Hat, SuSE, and I was given my first Debian-based Canadian distro to evaluate - Libranet - and that started my Debian journey - around 2001; my Linux adventure began in 1995; my UNIX adventure began in 1982.
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