[zevv]

This article is partly wrong, and partly nonsense. Apples and oranges. But still:

> Work with only 3 files [...] Boot in under 5 seconds [...] Use commands without spaces [...] Run CPU opcodes natively [...] Be real

I have a little PCB here on my desk that runs linux with 2 files: vmlinux and busybox. It boots in about two seconds and yes, it runs CPU opcodes natively.

I'm not sure how being able to use commands without spaces or running in real mode is considered better or worse than the alternatives.

[farseer]

The article seems atleast 20 years old (Geocities archive). So in that context, your PCB would not have been able to run linux in 2 seconds.

[Tor3]

On the other hand, when Linux was new (I switched to Linux in early 1992), you could install it all on a floppy and boot in a few seconds. Not much difference really. Just way more flexible with a Linux floppy than a DOS one.. I kept a Linux floppy around for doing various stuff with problematic PCs.

It's way more important (or was, at the time) that MS-DOS could run on 8088/8086 and '286, unlike regular Linux.

[userbinator]

you could install it all on a floppy and boot in a few seconds.

The first practically usable Linux kernel was already much bigger than the DOS kernel + shell + many utilities.

[Tor3]

Not sure what you mean by practically usable Linux kernel. It was perfectly possible to use the < 1.0 kernels on a floppy, with enough tools to do useful work.

[zevv]

I'm afraid it would: in 2002 I was involved with the development of a very early wifi AP implementation at Freehosting; this was running uclinux on an ARM7 with a pretty bare kernel and the whole OS fitting in under a megabyte. Booting was already pretty much instantaneous then.

[wobfan]

But could it change directories with "cd.."? That's the big question.

[rascul]

20+ years ago I was able to boot Linux with Busybox on a Pentium 2 in under 5 seconds after the BIOS POST completes.

[keithnz]

20 years old? more like 30-35 years old

[farseer]

They mention Windows XP, which was released in 2001.

[benterix]

But this is an artifact of a distant past, a small glimpse of the Geocities era. We would write whatever was interested to us enjoying the whole process. Look at the Lisp "article":

http://webarchive.me/geocities/SiliconValley/2072/lisp.htm

just a few notes with the conclusion "Well, that's enough LISPing for now. I may add more to this page if I actually ever learn anything else about LISP."

For me this submission isn't so much about the content, rather about how different the world was back then.