
Linux 3.11 Officially Named "Linux For Workgroups" - parfe
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Linux-for-Workgroups-Linux-3-11-s-feature-set-now-confirmed-1917712.html
======
16s
I was part of a Windows system install in 1993 for a mid-sized corporation. At
that time, Windows 3.11 was wonderful. People were amazed by it. There were no
writable CDs back then (floppies ruled), but it was being researched and
people were excited about the huge storage potential. Things have changed a
lot since that time, but some things have stayed the same (red black trees are
still red black trees). MicroSoft is ___still_ __a heck of a systems
programming shop, but back then, they were God.

The Linux name change is a fitting tribute to Windows system programmers
everywhere.

~~~
pbsdp
As a Mac user at the time, the love for Windows 3.11 left me scratching my
head something fierce. By comparison to System 7.1+, Windows 3.11 was
_awwwwful_.

Of course, around that time you could also run an Irix desktop, complete with
Photoshop and SoftPC and even (later on) IE, but that was sadly beyond the
reach of most consumers.

~~~
SwellJoe
One word: Networking. Mac OS and Windows were _awful_ at networking at that
time (and Mac OS remained awful at network for some time beyond this point).

UNIX variants, OS/2, and the BSDs were the options at the time for decent
networking...Mac OS wasn't in the running.

~~~
__david__
Not sure why you would say this. My first job was running phone lines through
the lowered ceiling to hook up localtalk for the Macs. It worked wonderfully.
Even back then Apple was very auto-configure-y which made finding printers and
file servers very easy. Just go into Chooser and there they all were. IP over
localtalk was not difficult either. After a couple years it moved to ethernet
(coax, yay!) and that worked fine too. Networking Macs has always been
extremely easy.

~~~
fzzzy
I agree. The Mac was great at networking in 1993. Sure, MacTCP and MacPPP may
have had strange configuration UI but localtalk and ethertalk Just Worked, and
getting MacTCP and MacPPP working wasn't too hard.

------
artificialidiot
[https://lkml.org/lkml/2013/7/13/132](https://lkml.org/lkml/2013/7/13/132)

I think he's trying to tell us something. :)

~~~
alatkins
For those interested in adding to their Finnish vocabulary:

[http://translate.google.com/#auto|en|perkeleen%20vittup%C3%A...](http://translate.google.com/#auto|en|perkeleen%20vittup%C3%A4%C3%A4)

~~~
jeltz
That is not a literal translation though, just the closest English equivalent.

~~~
sampo
"Devil's cuntheads" would be a close-to-literal translation (I'm Finnish)

...Although "perkele" is a native god, and it can be debated whether it should
be translated to "devil";
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perkele](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perkele)

~~~
skrebbel
"Perkeleen" is used nearly synonymously with "fucking" though (as in, "devil"
isn't really considered swearing in the English language). I read it as
"fucking cunthead". Which is lovely indeed!

Disclaimer: my knowledge of the Finnish language is mostly limited to
profanity.

~~~
nawitus
I'd rate 'perkeleen' to be slightly 'softer' than 'fucking'. 'Vittu' (or
'vitun') is the best translation for 'fucking'. Not sure if there's a better
word for it in English, but maybe something like 'damn' or 'bloody'.

------
sampo
Here's the Makefile:
[https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/Makefile](https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/Makefile)

Here's the changeset:
[https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/ad81f0545ef01ea6518...](https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/ad81f0545ef01ea651886dddac4bef6cec930092)

~~~
petepete
And this makes me question whether Github comments (at least on high-profile
projects) should be open to anyone.

------
josteink
Charming gestures like this is part of the reason I like the open-source
community.

You don't see nonsense like this very often in commercial products (except
maybe the Goats transported system-counter in Android, whose open-source
status is constantly under debate).

------
mikevm
Zswap looks very interesting. It seems that a similar feature is included (and
enabled by default) on the new OS X Mavericks
([http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/advanced-
technologies.html](http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/advanced-
technologies.html) \-- called "Compressed Memory").

As a Windows user, I'm always surprised to see how conservatively Linux uses
its swap area. On Windows, even with enough free memory, it still pages to
disk and gives me a sluggish experience. Does anyone have any idea why Windows
is so aggressive about paging disks out compared to Linux?

~~~
jstanley
I can't explain the sluggish experience, but a plausible explanation is that
Windows sees a bunch of unused pages, and also a bunch of uncached disk blocks
that are used often, and decides that it would be preferable to put those disk
blocks in memory in exchange for putting the "unused" memory in swap.

------
theboywho
Windows For Workgroups 3.11 was relased on August 11, 1993.

~~~
aidenn0
IIRC 3.11 Was August, 3.11 for workgroups was later that year

------
jlgaddis
I really hope that Linus officially releases 3.11 on August 11th.

------
jebblue
I'm still on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS which has kernel 3.2.0-49, I thought 'old' was
2.6 or really old 2.4. What the heck is going on now, the kernel is already up
to 3.11? Did I miss anything good in between? By my perceptions I would have
imagined that newest kernel would be around 3.6 or so but I was wrong:
[https://www.kernel.org/finger_banner](https://www.kernel.org/finger_banner)

~~~
laumars
The kernel numbering system changed when Linus moved over to v3. Basically the
switch from 2.4.x to 2.6.x was the last major change to the Linux kernel.
Since then, all the 2.6.x releases have been pretty standard incremental
updates. So a few months ago Linus decided it was time to switch to v3 - just
to round the numbers off (it wasn't a big nor noteworthy release - it was just
an excuse to round the numbering off). So now the the second digit is what
used to be the 3rd digit in the 2.6.x releases.

~~~
asdfs
I believe that 3.0 actually coincided with some Linux-related anniversary.

~~~
milkmiruku
The third decade of Linux development.

------
uzyn
Nice homage.

Just an interesting observation that both of these "3.11" are actually
referring to different relative versions.

Windows was not using the now-common semantic versioning. Windows 3.11 is
actually a patch to 3.1, which in semantic versioning would actually be 3.1.1.

Linux 3.11 however, is a minor upgrade to Linux 3.10.

------
jjindev
Re. old times, if you were an early QNX user you kind of wondered what took
everyone else so long ...

------
archmacbookuser
Does this mean my MacBookPro8,2 will stop acting as a hot water bottle?

------
caycep
What's wrong with "Unicycling Gorilla"?

~~~
mcv
Sounds prone to crashes.

------
ivanbrussik
I came here to say, "wow, isn't that reminiscent of Windows for Workgroups."
Touche linus, touche.

~~~
jlgaddis
> I came here to say ...

I believe your packets may have made a wrong turn while en route to
reddit.com.

------
ivanbrussik
[http://i.imgur.com/YrFvRzp.gif](http://i.imgur.com/YrFvRzp.gif)

~~~
cheese1756
Welcome to Hacker News! I don't mean for this to come off the wrong way, but
please try to put more effort into your comments than Imgur links. This is a
place for discussion, not one-liners and images. It may be that way on Reddit,
but Hacker News has a focus on higher effort content.

~~~
petepete
Badmouthing Reddit at every opportunity doesn't reflect all that well on HN
either.

~~~
Flimm
In what way did cheese1756 badmouth Reddit?

