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Miah Johnson

@MrsMouse @flexion Oldest in my pile of stuff is my set of Xenix floppies. Not as cool as y'alls tapes!

25 comments
Miah Johnson

@MrsMouse @flexion

Ah! You've got it on 5 1/4's nice! I have the set on 3.5's.

SCO XENIX Operating System floppy disk set in its box.
Miah Johnson

@MrsMouse @flexion I recognize that box set. Its a core memory for me. I used to install OpenServer and UnixWare for our clients at my first tech job in 1997. Usually it was OpenServer + Advanced File and Print services.

It was $$$$ (priced per AFP user IIRC)! I got my boss to try out Linux + Samba and we started selling that too as we could charge less to our clients and they'd get _more_ (unlimited users) than what you got with the SCO solution.

Miah Johnson

@MrsMouse @flexion We also sold the full suite of Netscape server tools, Netscape Mail, HTTP, Proxy etc. I don't have any media from that time though, just memories! :(

Mrs Mouse :verified: :queer:

@miah @flexion
I started on a help desk, then in ~97 spent a year at RH, then jumped to IBM doing software testing. Ironically, I was the only applicant with ANY experience with SCO Unix, which was supported, that got me the job. A few years later, they made me a software engineer when they decided to support Linux.

Mrs Mouse :verified: :queer:

@miah @flexion
I had actually started with Linux first, and got my hands on SCO Unix and was thinking, "Wow, I love Linux, and that's the amateur thing; just wait till I see what the Pros use!
...
Anyway. that was educational.

Miah Johnson

@MrsMouse @flexion LOL I had that same thought! And then I tried to install SSH + SSLeay on OpenServer. Or really.. just getting a driver for a 3c905 onto a floppy that SCO could read so I could get it on the Network was a head scratcher. Linux was the clear winner =)

Miah Johnson replied to Mrs Mouse :verified: :queer:

@MrsMouse @flexion Nice! I actually interviewed for Redhat around 2000, at their San Francisco office. I got the offer, but they weren't sure if they wanted to place me in SF (they were closing the office) or NC. I ended up taking a job from the people who likely printed that CD... Turbolinux aka Pacific HiTech. It didn't last though, they laid us all off within a few months.

I didn't actually end up working for RH until a few years ago, but I was in the wrong department and left soon.

Mrs Mouse :verified: :queer: replied to Miah

@miah @flexion
I def remember TurboLinux, but I don't remember much. That was in the day before I had VM's everywhere so I don't think I had the HW to spin up everything to try. I was at IBM by 2000

Miah Johnson replied to Mrs Mouse :verified: :queer:

@MrsMouse @flexion I was really disappointed in our release. There were things that just simply didn't work and were clearly untested _in the installer_. Like.. IIRC you couldn't do a FTP install even though it was offered, it would error. I filed so many bugs but like I said, we were laid off soon after. There was a Japanese company also doing Turbolinux for Japan and that distro was 1000x better than ours.

Mrs Mouse :verified: :queer: replied to Miah

@miah @flexion
thinking of it, I might remember turbolinux being the Japanese one.
that makes a lot of sense.

Miah Johnson replied to Mrs Mouse :verified: :queer:

@MrsMouse @flexion I think the TurobLinux US distribution had nobodies attention since it was a _bad_ fork of Redhat ~4 (I know a lot of us put love into it, but it was bad).

At the office we had some folks from the Japan Turbolinux visit and show us their distro and we were all in total awe of how amazing it was compared to what we were working on.

Miah Johnson replied to Miah

@MrsMouse @flexion I remembered I have one artifact from around this time... After TurboLinux I ended up working for Penguin Computing! For Christmas we all got these watches. I wore this thing for _years_ as you can see its quite worn down. I'd love to get it fixed up at some point.

A watch case and a watch with no bands. The watch has the Linux logo Tux The Penguin embossed on its face. The watch case is a shiny silver metal and has a Penguin Computing sticker on it.
A watch with no bands. The watch has the Linux logo Tux The Penguin embossed on its face.
The back of the Penguin Computing watch. It has the Penguin Computing logo and LIMITED EDITION 081/100.
/usr/people/flexion replied to Mrs Mouse :verified: :queer:

@MrsMouse @miah thank you both for sharing photos and stories! I also worked at IBM in 2000 and did my 'Red Hat Certified Engineer' test there :)

Miah Johnson

@vathpela @MrsMouse @flexion No. I worked for a small company doing technical support for other small companies.

Jima :Compromise_bi_flag:

@MrsMouse @miah @flexion I found a box set of SCO UNIX in a dumpster once.

25 years ago.

I'm sorry. 😔

Mrs Mouse :verified: :queer:

@jima @miah @flexion
Worth EVERY PENNY you paid for it.

My best dumpster find was a vaxstation 3100

Jima :Compromise_bi_flag:

@MrsMouse @miah @flexion Best gear I can recall was a RamBus-era Pentium 4 system with a wrecked case.

Best-for-the-lulz was probably jima.us/wang/ 😇

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