

10 years of Linux and Red Hat Linux 9 (Shrike) is the best OS i have ever used - jerrymannel
http://www.jerrymannel.com/tech/2012/03/29/10-years-of-linux-and-red-hat-linux-9-shrike-is-the-best-os-i-have-ever-used/

======
nullflux
_The whole joy of something not working and you sitting in front of the system
for hours at length to get it working is something i truly miss._

I certainly don't. Are you sure this isn't just rosy retrospection?[1]

There's a reason why apt and yum exist today, and it's because most people
want their primary OS to "just work". You only have to play this game once to
get it. The second time the configure && make && make install doesn't change
much, except for needing a flag here or a utility there.

I wonder if a lot more people would be using nixes on PCs today if something
like a current Linux distro existed ten years ago and worked as well with the
varying hardware in common PC laptops/desktops.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy_retrospection>

~~~
jiggy2011
Had "the year of the Linux desktop" occurred in 2002 , I'm not sure it would
necessarily be the awesome experience we would all have hoped for.

Sure , we would have had better support for commercial consumer apps and
drivers etc.

But basically the situation would have become more like android, instead of
people getting their distributions from debian or redhat every PC manufacturer
would have created their own distro.

So you would have Dell Linux , HP Linux , hell maybe even Microsoft Linux.

Of course they would all have crap pre-installed from the vendor approved
repos which would carry whatever software the vendor had struck a deal with,
probably no GCC etc.

Fragmentation would also be an utter nightmare with many app vendors only
supporting their apps on the most commonly used distros and home made PCs
would have to run some "white label" type distro like debian which would have
all the problems it does today.

~~~
nullflux
_But basically the situation would have become more like android, instead of
people getting their distributions from debian or redhat every PC manufacturer
would have created their own distro._

Upvoted for a very intelligent reply and extremely insightful comment. The
"Linux desktop -> Android" bit oddly resonates with the way things feel today.

Is this really _worse_ though? Distros themselves technically work as the
vendors in this case with "crap pre-installed" (Unity, anyone?) , depending on
how cynical you want to be and your choice of distro. Install Fedora Core 9
and Ubuntu 11.10 side-by-side to see that difference in play.

~~~
jiggy2011
I think it could be quite a bit worse. Sure we have fragmentation today with
distros doing their own thing but these are mostly due to differences either
in ideology , philosophy or technical goals.

Having this controlled instead by OEMs run by MBAs who are more interested in
kickbacks and splashing their logo on everything could be a worse experience.

GNU/Linux has a great deal of flexibility which is great for hackers, but is
also great for those who would seek to abuse it.

------
jiggy2011
_Later the next year RHL9 was introduced and our Head of Dept. gave us strict
instructions to move to Linux._

When I was at uni , if I had been given "strict instructions" about what to
install on my own PC I would frankly have told them where to go.

Edit:

His entire argument in this article was that he liked RH9 because the
usability sucked.

------
wladimir
When I read this I wasn't sure whether this was really meant (those steps
sound awful, especially if you have to do it over and over) or a
parody/sarcastic. Poe's law is getting to me.

------
dino12
I respect the truthfulness of the author. In fact most people using computer
believes that there will be some point in future when technology will be
better and all their misery will be gone then.

People go on checking windows 8 rumors and iPad rumors. And they buy the
tablets and electronics gadgets immediately when they are available thinking
that the product will save their life in a new way. After windows 8 gets
released, people will start running for windows 9 news, as Apple fans are
looking for the new iPhone and next new iPad.

Even though the author projects his past, the notion that he misses long hours
of tweaking red hat is wonderful. Most of the people miss their childhood, not
long hours in front of the computer. It needs more energy for a person to miss
it.

I love his writing more than the time when hacker news front page flooded with
the death news of Steve Jobs. People started weeping for the person who has
already gone. He was in constant work to make something perfect in the future,
which is never possible.

And people won't go to Steve before his death. They won't go to him, talk
something and make him happy. They jump out of their bed and run to the
funeral in a good dress, looking in the mirror in their way - only to see the
person who has already died.

------
b-plus
This is a rather random and pointless article. I'm surprised it made it to the
front page.

~~~
reginaldo
It looks like HN's ranking algorithm is giving a boost to submissions by new
users. I submitted a perfectly fine story (shameless plug about my an emulator
I wrote) that got 48 points in 9 hours and didn't make it:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3769498>

------
nthnclrk
I'm not sure if I'm missing something. I'm truly not trying to be a grammar
nazi, but is there a reason the OP doesn't use caps when referring to himself
as "I"? It made that whole article difficult to read seeing it over and over.

------
kev009
TLDR: "RH9 was the best because I was forced to use it and had to jump through
hoops to do certain things."

It's a nice story but void of significant meaning. Good on you but not sure
how this made the front page.

