History
Prior to its first release, the closest approximation to a Linux distribution had been H J Lu's "Boot-root" floppies. These were two 5ΒΌ" diskettes consisting of the kernel and the minimum tools required to get started. So minimal were these tools that to be able to boot from a hard drive required editing its master boot record with a hex editor.
The first release of MCC Interim Linux was based on version 0.12 of the Linux kernel and made use of Theodore Ts'o's ramdisk code to copy a small root image to memory from the previously wasted space of the boot floppy, freeing the floppy drive for additional utilities disks, although the inefficient kernel ramdisk code of the time in practice led to problems on systems with only 2 MB of RAM.
He also stated his distributions were "unofficial experiments", describing the goals of his releases as being:
- To provide a simple installation procedure.
- To provide a more complete installation procedure.
- To provide a backup/recovery service.
- To back up his (then) current system.
- To compile, link, and test every binary file under the current versions of the kernel, gcc, and libraries.
- To provide a stable base system, which can be installed in a short time, and to which other software can be added with relatively little effort.
Indeed, no attempt was ever made to distribute it with a wide range of software or even the X386 windowing system.
Read more about this topic: MCC Interim Linux
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Yet poetry, though the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done. It is the chief and most memorable success, for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Modern Western thought will pass into history and be incorporated in it, will have its influence and its place, just as our body will pass into the composition of grass, of sheep, of cutlets, and of men. We do not like that kind of immortality, but what is to be done about it?”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
“Spain is an overflow of sombreness ... a strong and threatening tide of history meets you at the frontier.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)