this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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    [–] [email protected] 103 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

    Linux was not muscled like that in 1991 - it's first, barebones kernel was released in September of that year.

    I remember installing Linux on a 90MHz 486 in the mid 90s and it barely ran X server with a simple window manager. And if the machine was turned off while Linux was running, you might not be able to boot again.

    Linux now, however, is unrecognizeably better.

    [–] [email protected] 38 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    I remember someone here made a detailed list of how lots of the early linux FOSS stuff was essentially ripoff of unix software lol. I think XFCE was originally a knockoff of CDE or something with XForms. Now it's the de facto performance DE and the default on Kali.

    [–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago

    KDE’s name was a direct rip off of CDE’s name

    [–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago

    XFCE's old panel was a distinct mimic of CDE's. I liked it..

    But now CDE is open source and NsCDE gives you the same look with a highly customised fvwm config if you don't want to stick to the Motif universe.

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    [–] Greg 71 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

    I liked OpenSolaris, you could order a free CD from their website and they’d post it, even internationally.

    [–] [email protected] 54 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    I still have one of those! πŸ˜†

    Didn't use it too much, tho. Never installed it on bare metal, only in a VM, and back in those days I was in my distro-hopping phase (I was discovering Arch), so I tested it and quickly forgot about it.

    [–] tegbains 19 points 2 weeks ago

    We ran OpenSolaris as our NFS server for several years on ASUS Xeon servers. zfs was a big part of that. Ilumos is still alive and keeping the OpenSolaris world going in a small way.

    [–] Greg 5 points 2 weeks ago

    Thanks for digging it up and sharing the photo! It's nostalgic seeing this

    [–] [email protected] 25 points 2 weeks ago

    Ubuntu did that too for a while. I had a kubuntu cd.

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    [–] [email protected] 39 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    While much of the Unix family has died, (especially in the System V family) there is an old one surviving and a few new additions being added.

    Solaris is still alive, and from it was forked illumos. Meanwhile BSD has spawned its own family made up of FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, and DragonFlyBSD, but also MacOS and Playstation. Other systems that appeared without any prior history like Linux include Redox OS and SerenityOS.

    With that being said, the Unix family has noticeably shrunk, and the System V family is very much in danger of going extinct, with only the Solaris branch looking like it will survive the next year. If the System V family goes extinct, it would make the BSD family the only surviving branch descended from the original Unix.

    [–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

    Oh, and Minix still exists.

    [–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

    If you have an Intel based system with AMT, you're running minix on a 486 and probably don't know it.

    [–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

    I watch a lot of videos to this day from Bryan Cantrill (Oxide computer) and he's got some wild stories about the forking of illumos and how difficult it was to essentially "save" Solaris. His company uses their own illumos based distro called heliOS on their oxide computer rack.

    [–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago

    Out of all those I only ever used Solaris and the most polite thing I can say is: I have no nostalgia for that time.

    [–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    There are a lot of hobby Unix-like OS's however. I don't see the point in most of them, but still.

    You also forgot macOS. It's a shitty "UNIX-certified" OS though.

    [–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago

    In a sense, NextStep is the only one of the old Unix vendors to still have a significant install base.

    [–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

    Its a BSD derivat tho.

    [–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

    They may be dead, but we still have some amazing alternative OS's that exist that, as far as I'm aware, are still being updated. First thing that came to my mind was AROS ( Amiga Research Operating System that had to change the name to AROS Research Operating System ).

    I personally don't use it since I don't use Amiga software, but it's still really cool. Under no circumstances would I recommend it as a daily driver because any software based around Amiga is purely hobby at this point, but it's still cool to check out.

    [–] corsicanguppy 23 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

    I used Solaris today. I've never been on BSD.

    If you lament the death of AT&T Unix, blame IBM.

    [–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago

    AIX is not dead yet.

    [–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

    SCO crashed and burned in part because they tried to sue multiple Linux providers claiming that they owned all the rights to certain pieces of code that they'd contractually leased from IBM, and that IBM giving code to Linux distributors violated the terms of their agreement with IBM. It was a lawsuit that dragged on for over a decade and a half--I think that it's still going--and it's bled SCO of tens of millions of dollars ,esp. since they've lost nearly every single claim they've made.

    [–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago

    I use hpux everyday. Mostly it still runs what it needs to run and the hardware for the most part is a tank so you don't have to think about it.

    When it breaks it's the most infuriating thing in the world. All the hardware is bespoke and obsolete, old unix is maddening coming from modern Linux, it's a nightmare but kind of fun at the same time. My only hope that HP will open source it at the end of the year.

    [–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    Redox OS is a little baby sprout of grass on the very right

    [–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

    Just wait for Hurd!
    Hurd will kick all those little asses, you'll see, whenever it comes out!
    And then GNU will be really independent and superior!
    Can just be like a few years now!

    Edit: I shouldn't type anymore today ...

    [–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

    I don’t think that’s a good fit there, Redox OS is 10 years old and has yet to go stable. In the same timespan in the 90s, Linux managed to carve out a notable portion of server market share. I am not going to Tanenbaum myself and claim it’s never going to go anywhere but as is, Redox is more like the one who didn’t show up because they are still in their moms basement.

    [–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
    [–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
    [–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

    2030: Plan9

    [–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)
    [–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

    Which is BSD with a paint job and kiddy gloves

    [–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago

    Well there are BSD components in there, but much of the kernel comes from Mach.

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    [–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    Qnx Unix still technically kicking

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    [–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    but why was mematic used if GIMP was used?

    [–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

    Why are there only five headstones and two characters in the second panel when there are eight operating systems in the first panel?

    [–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago

    The ghost doesn't get a gravestone

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    [–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

    Probably the format had the watermark already baked in

    [–] hellfire103 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

    Β―\_(ツ)_/Β―

    [–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago

    Irix is missing. It was quite cool at the time. (Well, its desktop was).

    [–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago

    Actually Solaris is still squirming while the first shovels of dirt are being heaped on.

    [–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

    SCO died by self inflicted gunshot wounds.

    [–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

    Unfortunately, I have a very large client whose core business app runs on SCO still. They're coming up on year 10 on their migration attempt.

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    [–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

    SerenityOS has some relevance and its new.

    [–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    No love for temple os 😒

    [–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

    Temple OS wasn't Unix-like.

    Also it gets way too much attention as is IMO. Its the only hobby OS project people know about, purely because 4chan turned its mentally ill creator into a meme.

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    [–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

    I spent so much time working with Solaris, in a weird way I kinda miss it

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