[F00Fbug]

That was my first exposure to Linux in 1995. I remember downloading 30-something floppy disks over a painfully slow T1. I deployed our company's sendmail email server a few months later, running on an old PC. In 2006 I switched to Linux as my daily driver and if I need windows these days, it runs as a VM.

[housemusicfan]

Check out Mr. Fancy T1 line over here. I remember downloading Slackware floppy images over 28.8 dialup. Talk about pain. I recently stumbled on a dusty box of them whilst cleaning out the attic.

[sillywalk]

(Caution: Monty Python Reference) 28.8? I used to dream about 28.8, I had 14.4, and before that 2400baud.

Do you remember the dreaded 'floppy disk is probably unreadable' sound during installation of any software on floppy?

[tssva]

2400 baud. I wish. I had to manually dial my rotary phone and then place the handset into my 300 baud CAT acoustic coupler modem.

To be fair by the time I 1st used Slackware that 300 baud modem had long been replaced and I at the time I had bonded ISDN channels for 128kbs connection paid for by my employer. Soon replaced by a T1 to my home also paid for by my employer.

[sillywalk]

Noice!

Did you employer give you a spec-'d out computer/workstation too? I don't even know how you hook up ISDN equipment, but I know an SGI Indy had it built in.. ~1993.

[tssva]

We were a DEC partner , so I had a DEC 3000 AXP which was eventually replaced by a 500 series AlphaStation.

[LennyHenrysNuts]

I just heard it again as I read your comment, and it sent shivers down my spine.

[akoster]

I'm thankful I never experienced that. My family switched from AOL dial up to an AT&T ADSL connection (either started out as 128, 256 or 512kbps down circa 2006 IIRC). It still didn't make downloading FreeBSD and Fedora Core 6 ISOs easy but it definitely was doable in a reasonable amount of time!

[rconti]

I set a kitchen timer to 12 minutes for each floppy disk's worth of download at 14.4k. It took many evenings of interrupting my TV watching every 12 minutes to kick off a new zmodem download. If it was indeed 30 disks (which seems reasonable; some of the disksets were only 3 or 4, others were 8 or more, depending on which packages you wanted), that would have been 6 hours in one shot with no overhead.

[johnwalkr]

I have fond memories of installing Slackware and messing around with it in high school, around ‘98. I had access to a cable modem and cd burner. If I recall correctly at that time booting directly from cdrom was still not always available so the default method to install Slackware (and also to boot it after installation) was using a floppy plus cdrom.

I soon figured out that it was easy to skip the cdrom altogether and make a minimal install using just the boot disk and ftp. So easy yet you had to be deliberate and understand what you were doing. Such a great learning exercise.

[bluedino]

A T1 was about ten times faster than a 3-1/2" floppy drive wasn't it?

I never thought of a T1 as "slow" until I started downloading CD images for Linux distros. The first cable modem connections I had were so much faster for downloads.

[pests]

I remember being a kid and hearing about T1 lines and being amazed at their speed and how the server for the game I played was running off one. I pictured it as some special commerical offering that was rare to have.

Funny learning how slow those are by today standards.

[mattl]

T1 is about 1.54mbit/sec IIRC

[bluedino]

You could download a floppy in like..10-15 seconds on a T1

It would take a minute to copy the files to a floppy.

[cpach]

It was T3 that was the bomb back then, wasn’t it?

[icedchai]

In 1995, many early ISPs were still on fractional T1s or even 56K leased lines! I remember upgrading one from 56K to T1 in mid 1995. T3s were rare: large regional ISPs and backbone providers.

[doublerabbit]

Yeah, sounded cool too. Back then 512kbit ADSL was exciting.

T1, T2, T3, OC-3, OC-12, and OC-48 are terminologies you don't hear anymore.

[akoster]

Where I’m living ADSL is still exciting (and one of only 2 options for wired Internet service). Currently on 2 (semi-stable) 60mbps down / 15mbps up pairs bonded together sold as a 100mbps down / 20 mbps up service. I keep it because the cable provider charges a ton for anything over 10mbps up when not on a promotional rate.