Can Linux be retro? Sure it can, since it’s been around since 1993.
In the video below, I take a quick overview of Red Hat Linux 9 release, the last desktop version of Red Hat before the company decided to go "all corporate" and it became Red Hat Enterprise Linux or RHEL for short.
RHL 9 was released March 2003, back at a time when Windows XP was only 2 years old. It was a rather large 3-disc distribution available for download or for sale in places like Border’s and Barnes & Noble bookstores.
RHL was the name Linux was known for (mainly because of a high presence in stores) well before people knew what Ubuntu even was.
Some people even today still wish Red Hat would have stayed in the consumer market instead of concentrating on enterprise only. Admittedly, RHL was a very solid product; you can tell a lot of time was put into it.
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I enjoyed that. It brings back good memories and a few nightmares as well. I played around with it and it was no more difficult to install than OS/2, which was in all of its “short lived” glory in 1993. I was going to monthly OS/2 User group meetings in Farmington, MI at Stardock’s Corporate office. We use to bring in our tank PC’s and get the geek on. I recall installing it in a dual boot during one of the meetings. Good times but long gone.
I enjoyed that. It brings back good memories and a few nightmares as well. I played around with it and it was no more difficult to install than OS/2, which was in all of its “short lived” glory in 1993. I was going to monthly OS/2 User group meetings in Farmington, MI at Stardock’s Corporate office. We use to bring in our tank PC’s and get the geek on. I recall installing it in a dual boot during one of the meetings. Good times but long gone.
Cool article, Rich. Glad to read more about Linux around here again. FWIW, I used Ubuntu 10.04 – 10.10. Then, when v. 11 came out I botched my volume by trying to upgrade instead of reinstalling.(which is recommended)
Subsequently, I needed to get Win 7 anyway. And, I did install it on 2 PCs, both running great.
Left the linux scene for about 6-7 months, but I still have my data. Finally got around to installing KDE again. (10.10). Since it was a fresh install I proceeded to upgrade to Kubuntu 11.04….
Man oh man! I’m so glad to be using Linux again! Fast, Fun, and FREE!