Getting back to linux...

Back in my university days I was all about Linux. My first 'machine' was a 386sx, probably 16Mhz or so and booted of a 5.25" floppy. Having to compile the kernel every time you wanted to make any kind of changes and then 'rawrite' it out of the floppies. And forget about package management (well until slackware for me...) My first 'workstation/server' that I seriously used, scuba.uwsuper.edu, was a 486DX-50 with a Cirix CPU around 1992. I think it might have had 256MB of Ram and a 80gb Segate drive (3.5" form factor no less!). I think some archive.org listings for the web pages I used to host on it are still around, although from near the end of my use of it. http://web.archive.org/web/*/scuba.uwsuper.edu Good times...

Then I moved to the DC area and started working with Sun and AIX hardware. Linux moved to a novelty/side item for me. RedHat, back when you could run it and not pay for it if you didn't want to. I'd have a 2nd PC in my office, mostly to act as my X server for working with the Sun boxes more than anything else. At Convergys and Red Cross, we had linux. A fair bit of it too, but in most cases it was never the 'core' of the product/platform offerings.

Well my current job with StreamSage is primarily a Linux shop, in particular a RedHat shop (Comcast, the corporate parent is a large RedHat customer). So it's been an interesting time getting back into the swing of things. On the one hand, I really like getting back into the linux state of mind. On the other hand, I've really come to appreciate the work that has been done in AIX and Solaris in terms of hardware management, diagnostics and configuration. I mean there are Linux equivalents in a lot of cases and a lot of it is an artifact of the hardware and software being built by the same people but boy, I miss the AIX and Solaris troubleshooting tools.