OFFTRACK - Re: 1st Linux Distro [was:Re: Crowdfunding critical infrastructure]

[Miles Fidelman <mfidelman () meetinghouse net>]

On 6/27/19 3:21 PM, Eric S. Raymond wrote:
> Chris Adams <cma () cmadams net>:
> > Once upon a time, Eric S. Raymond <esr () thyrsus com> said:
> > > Tell it to Patrick Volkerding, who sweated to created the first Linux
> > > distribution
> > No, he didn't.
> Can you be more specific?  Are we possibly having some definitional issue
> about what constitutes a Linux distribution?
>
> It is certainly possible you are right and all my other informants are
> wrong, but...  facts, please?

Certainly offtrack, but it only takes a little googling to find 
Softlanding, which was the predecessor of Slackware, and a few more 
(anybody remember Yggdrasil?).

Debian was released so close to Slackware as to be essentially 
simultaneous (5 months).

And then there were a few other minor distros.

There's a pretty good family tree at 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution#History

Now, if you mean, the oldest EXTANT distribution, that WOULD be Slackware.

Miles Fidelman

--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.  .... Yogi Berra

Theory is when you know everything but nothing works.
Practice is when everything works but no one knows why.
In our lab, theory and practice are combined:
nothing works and no one knows why.  ... unknown