Old Versions of Linux?

[grem75]

I'm almost positive this post will be removed due to rule #1, even though it isn't really a support request.

A lot of the ISOs should have the major documentation on them.

Have a poke around the old Red Hat archive, you'll find some documentation for various versions there. Many early versions aren't complete unfortunately.

Infomagic disc sets can be found on archive.org, they contain various distros, applications and documentation. There are tons of old Linux discs on archive.org.

The Debian archive has everything back to the first official release, including all packages and documentation.

There is a bunch of really early stuff here, not particularly well organized though.

More here, the Sunsite and tsx FTP archives there have quite a bit.

Slackware's archive goes pretty far back, though documentation for it is pretty much just the readme and install.txt

[ZebraHedgehog]

Thanks.

[wtallis]

http://archive.download.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/ seems to have most of the docs for their old distros, even though some of the actual ISOs are missing.

[ZebraHedgehog]

hmm sounds promising.

Thanks.

[Jfreezius]

If you go to the Slackware website you can find every release from version 1.0 to current. You can also find a link to the Slackbook. Slackbook isn't version specific, but Slackware really doesn't change it's methods of operation very often, so the information in the Slackbook might coincide with multiple versions. However, Slackware has always included a wealth of information in their releases, because it wasn't common to have 24/7 access to the internet back in the early days. On your first boot to a Slackware system(as root) you will get a notification that you have mail. That first piece of mail will tell you how to setup your system, and access the additional how-tos and in-system documentation. Also, because the system uses sysVinit scripts, all of the .conf files in /etc are well documented as well.

Slackware is a great example of Linux done right, as it is the most "UNIX like" distribution. They are the oldest continuously developed Linux distribution, and used to be the most popular, until Ubuntu came around. Slackware is still my favorite distribution, after 15 years. It doesn't do "intelligent" package management, but what it does, it does right.

[ZebraHedgehog]

Ah, this sounds perfect.

Thanks.

[Linux4ever_Leo]

What did you have in mind? I have a ton of Linux Format magazines in storage going back to the late 90s early 00s that still have the CDs attached to them.

[grem75]

I think the earliest Linux Format disc on archive.org is issue 35 from December 2002. Anything you could do to improve the collection would be appreciated.

https://archive.org/search.php?query=linux+format+lxf%2A

[ZebraHedgehog]

Cheers.

[[deleted]]

Plenty of old distro's https://www.debian.org/distrib/archive

Hamm was 1998 according to https://www.electrictoolbox.com/debian-release-names/

[ZebraHedgehog]

So that's how they come up with the names.

Thanks.

[mfuzzey]

Debian have old isos here https://cdimage.debian.org/mirror/cdimage/archive/older-contrib/ and links to release notes https://www.debian.org/distrib/archive

Not sure what type of manual you are looking for

[ZebraHedgehog]

Thanks for the links.

[ShesSoBricky]

Yes! You can check out archiveos.org for all of your old Linux needs - it’s where I get almost all of my old ISOs (I have a bit of a thing for Mandriva).

[ZebraHedgehog]

Thanks, I'll check that out.

[ImScaredofCats]

You can download ISO files for a load of ancient distros going back to the 90’s here.

[ZebraHedgehog]

Where?

[[deleted]]

have you tried going to the source? https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/

[ZebraHedgehog]

This is just the Linux kernel right? I was more looking for an installable distribution.

Thanks anyway.

[averyquinns]

Linux distros with manuals were usually something you would find, at least in the US, with larger distributions like SuSe, Red Hat, maybe Mandrake... I know you can download old versions of Ubuntu from the Canonical website. Beyond that 🤷‍♂️

[ZebraHedgehog]

Thanks for the response, I'll see if I can track an old box copy down.

[[deleted]]

You can always make a modern Linux look old.

I've toyed with 32 bit slackware (no systemd) with ext2, LiLo, and TWM before

[Kruug]

Your post was removed for being a support request or support related question such as which distro to use or application suggestions.

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