• Re: Screaming Into The Vo

    From nblade@21:1/164 to Nightfox on Fri Jan 2 14:40:00 2026
    That would have been interesting from IBM. I feel like IBM could have promoted OS/2 better overall.. It felt like a more robust OS than

    From what I remember of that time, that seems to be accurate. I don't think
    IBM did a good job doing that. I don't think I ever really thought about
    using OS/2, although I did know one guy at a job I had that was really
    in love with.


    Part of that is I like PC games sometimes, and it seems to me it's
    still easiest on Windows. I've heard gaming support has improved quite

    It is getting better. I do some light gaming on my Linux machine but I pretty stopped doing a lot of complex gaming on PCs. Which is why don't have a windows machine (except in a VM for some HAM radio stuff). I know for the things
    my wife does, she got tired of a lot of things Windows does. Since she mostly just using the web browser, I got her on Linux. As a basic user, she is happy and she doesn't get weird popup or long load times. Still for someone that is a heavy gamer, I can understand why one would want to still do Windows.



    Also, I'm still curious to see how Haiku OS develops. I had tried BeOS for a bit in 1998, and I thought it was a nice OS. But these days, I'm not holding out any hope that Haiku will gain much traction (at least,
    not any time soon).

    Never really tried either of those, although I remember seeing the BeOS software
    boxes in the stores and was tempted to try it out, I just never did. Was there something in BeOS that you really liked?



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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to nblade on Fri Jan 2 14:21:13 2026
    Re: Re: Screaming Into The Vo
    By: nblade to Nightfox on Fri Jan 02 2026 02:40 pm

    Also, I'm still curious to see how Haiku OS develops. I had tried BeOS
    for a bit in 1998, and I thought it was a nice OS. But these days, I'm
    not holding out any hope that Haiku will gain much traction (at least,
    not any time soon).

    Never really tried either of those, although I remember seeing the BeOS software
    boxes in the stores and was tempted to try it out, I just never did. Was there something in BeOS that you really liked?

    I never saw the Be boxes in stores; I remember happening upon an article in my high school library that mentioned BeOS and the BeBox (I don't remember how I found that in the library now), and I later learned they ported BeOS to Intel-compatible PCs, and I decided to buy a copy to try on one of my PCs.

    There were a couple things I really liked about BeOS: It had great performance (particularly with multi-tasking), and I think the GUI looked really nice too. I think the GUI had a sort of artistic quality to it with high-quality UI widgets and nice-looking icons. As far as the performance, as an example of its multi-tasking performance, it had a demo app that would display a rotating cube, and you could drag & drop videos on all 6 faces of the cube and it would play each video while rotating the cube without skipping a beat. And on mid-late 90s computer hardware, this seemed impressive at the time.

    When I first tried BeOS, I had a thought that from the appearance of the GUI, it looked like something Apple would make. I later learned that Be's founder, Jean-Louis Gassee, was a former Apple employee, and Apple considered buying Be and BeOS (making that the basis for the next Mac OS) before eventually deciding to buy NeXT, to be the basis for Mac OS X (& bringing back Steve Jobs).

    Nightfox
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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Fri Jan 2 09:59:00 2026
    People are now advocating not working like gangbusters in your later
    life, instead retire more reasonably and enjoy life while you can.

    I assume that means "not working" as in employment, while remaining active otherwise? If so, I can vouch for this.

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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Fri Jan 2 10:00:00 2026
    Hit send too soon...

    Travel in your late 50s instead of your late 60s/early 70s, you'll
    enjoy it more and your quality of life will be better. Makes sense.

    I started taking long vacations and traveling in my mid-40s. 10 years
    later, I am semi-retired. I think I do enjoy them more than I might when
    I am older but, OTOH, I actually worry that I might have started too
    late at 40s. ;)

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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Fri Jan 2 10:02:00 2026
    There are individual times/experiences I might be sentimental about but I must remind myself that there were also many experiences at those
    ages that I really, really am glad are far behind now.

    Yes, but those experiences make you who you are now. I did some what-if
    thinking a while ago, and thought about what it would have been like to
    avoid painful moments in my life, but they built character and set a
    path for my life. Avoiding the pain wouldn't have caused a better path,
    and I wouldn't have the wisdom I'd gained from the experience - nor
    would I have the experiences I'd enjoyed afterwards.

    Agreed, but I also figure I'd not like to go back and re-experience them.
    I feel like I have learned my lesson, at the time or since then. So even though there might be some things I would like to revisit, I would really rather leave the past in the past.

    The person I responded to did mention a time they'd like to go back to.
    If I had to choose one, I guess it would be ages 5-10. Problem with that
    is that I assume I would have to also relive 12-40 and I would much rather not.

    There are moments but most of life is crap that is not really worth
    revisiting.

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  • From Mortar M.@21:2/101 to nblade on Fri Jan 2 22:03:46 2026
    Re: Re: Screaming Into The Vo
    By: nblade to Nightfox on Fri Jan 02 2026 14:40:00

    ...I remember seeing the BeOS software boxes in the stores and was tempted to try it out, I just never did.

    I got BeOS when it first came out. I had read various reviews and they were quite positive. The price was good, so I gave it a go. Loved it! Seriously, that was one awesome OS. Its main strength was its multimedia abilities. I remember running three video files at the same time and there wasn't any sign of slow-down. This was 1995, so that was kind of a big deal. Outside of that, it had an excellent UI; very customizable.

    It's unfortunate that it came out the same year as Win95. If it had premired a year earlier, it might of had a chance, but like Linux, it just couldn't stand up to the Microsoft juggernaut.
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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to ADEPT on Sat Jan 3 08:35:00 2026
    It's still fun to visit places in small towns in the US, or see some wide-ope places that are less common in Europe, but I think a lot of that wouldn't eve strike most Americans as "travel".

    AS an American, I can say that this is mostly how I travel now. Take the
    roads less traveled, when possible, and see things that I would otherwise
    miss.

    Our country is huge and there are a lot of things to see.

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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to GAMGEE on Sat Jan 3 08:43:00 2026
    Some companies already give employees the option to work 4 10-hour days or 5 8-hour days. If it's going to be 4 10-hour days, I'd rather
    things just be left as it is and give people the option. But if it's 4 8-hour days, I wouldn't mind that for more work-life balance.

    Would you mind the 20% pay cut? Also likely don't get
    benefits/insurance with only 32 hours per week...

    My guess would be that if a company went to a 32-hr work week, that'd be considered full time for them... although I can also see some underhanded companies considering all employees part-time in that scenario.

    I agree, though, that most are not going to keep paying their employees a 40-hour wage/salary for only working 32 hours. TNSTAAFL.

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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to NITER3 on Sun Jan 4 09:15:00 2026
    I started taking long vacations and traveling in my mid-40s. 10 years later, I am semi-retired. I think I do enjoy them more than I might whe I am older but, OTOH, I actually worry that I might have started too late at 40s. ;)

    Man, would love to be able to do this right now... Just cannot finacially afford to travel.

    I know what you mean. I was hoping to go somewhere in 2025 but needing to have a tree taken down and multiple repairs to the HVAC ate all of my
    vacation fund for the year. ;)

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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to UTOPIAN GALT on Sun Jan 4 09:17:00 2026
    First major trip was at age 43 to London. Visit London is my equivalent of Disney world.

    My equivalent to Disney World was visiting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
    to watch a week of practice and qualifying. I did that for a few years in
    the early 2000s before they screwed up the qualifying format.

    The museum was the pinacle of the visit, though. They have remodeled so I need to plan a visit in the near future.

    Since then I did find a couple of other Disney Worlds, and they are also
    in Indiana -- The Auburn Museum and the Studebaker Museum. ;)
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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Sun Jan 4 09:20:00 2026
    I started taking long vacations and traveling in my mid-40s. 10 years later, I am semi-retired. I think I do enjoy them more than I might when I am older but, OTOH, I actually worry that I might have started too late at 40s. ;)

    I was never much of a vacationer, am looking forward to travel when I
    retire - and trying to make sure I can make the most of it.

    I never really was, either, until I decided to take my first real road
    trip in 2015. I was leaving one job and starting another, so I decided to give myself some time in between. Enjoyed it and have been taking trips,
    large and small, since. The most recent long one was in 2023 when I
    followed US 66 all the way to Los Angeles. Then I followed US 60 back.
    Saw a whole lot of things I had not before.

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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Sun Jan 4 09:42:00 2026
    I thought BeOS came out on dedicated hardware first -- they definitely
    had some cool ideas, and in re-reading about it, sounds like the file
    system was heads and shoulders above what MS and Apple did at the time.

    IIRC you are correct. There was a machine called the BeBox. Later,
    probably about the time that Be went bye-bye, there was a version released publicly that you could install on many (at least Intel) machines. I
    played around with it some. It was interesting but, since it was already moving towards unsupported by then it was difficult to find much you could
    do with it.

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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Sun Jan 4 09:50:00 2026
    That's another question I've had - If there's a move to 4-day work week
    would that also mean benefits would change? Maybe they'd change it so
    that 32 hours per week is considered enough to get benefits.

    I thought the idea was 4 10-hour days, making it the same weekly hourly amoun

    I thought it was also but after re-reading the OP, I think that they were implying a < 40 hr work week.
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  • From Gamgee@21:2/138 to MIKE POWELL on Sat Jan 3 20:08:11 2026
    MIKE POWELL wrote to GAMGEE <=-

    Some companies already give employees the option to work 4 10-hour days or 5 8-hour days. If it's going to be 4 10-hour days, I'd rather things just be left as it is and give people the option. But if it's 4 8-hour days, I wouldn't mind that for more work-life balance.

    Would you mind the 20% pay cut? Also likely don't get
    benefits/insurance with only 32 hours per week...

    My guess would be that if a company went to a 32-hr work week, that'd
    be considered full time for them... although I can also see some underhanded companies considering all employees part-time in that scenario.

    Absolutely there are companies that do that. People take those jobs
    because their insurance is handled by a spouse's job/insurance, and
    similar arrangements. It's a great deal for companies, but generally a scumbag move.

    I agree, though, that most are not going to keep paying their employees
    a 40-hour wage/salary for only working 32 hours. TNSTAAFL.

    You got that right!



    ... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to MIKE POWELL on Sun Jan 4 18:07:11 2026
    Re: Re: Screaming Into The Vo
    By: MIKE POWELL to UTOPIAN GALT on Sun Jan 04 2026 09:17 am

    Since then I did find a couple of other Disney Worlds, and they are also in Indiana -- The Auburn Museum and the Studebaker Museum. ;)

    There's a great car museum in Blackhawk, CA. They have a collection of 1930s cars, I remember a Mercedes 540k, a Hispano with beech planking and brass rivets, a Duesenberg, then moving up in time, 1950s Porsche racing cars, a dozen Aston Martin racing cars, a 1960s JaG, a Porsche 917, and more... WHen I realized that all of the Aston Martins were donated from a personal collection.
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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to MIKE POWELL on Sun Jan 4 19:06:19 2026
    Re: Re: Screaming Into The Vo
    By: MIKE POWELL to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Sun Jan 04 2026 09:50 am

    I thought it was also but after re-reading the OP, I think that they were implying a < 40 hr work week.

    Too Much Coffee Man had a comic where he figured out the solution to the problems facing us.

    Half of the people are overworked, overstressed and suffering. Half are underemployes or unemployed.

    Have everyone work half-time, problem solved!
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  • From Mortar M.@21:2/101 to Nightfox on Mon Jan 5 21:53:08 2026
    Re: Re: Screaming Into The Vo
    By: Nightfox to nblade on Mon Jan 05 2026 14:20:46

    In the mid-late 90s, there was a company based in California called Walnut Creek that would burn Linux ISOs to optical disc

    I had one of those. It came with Slackware Linux. First distro I ever used. This around '93, I believe. There was no GUI, no real documentation so after fumbling about for...oh, a day, I scraped it. I guess I just wasn't ready for it yet.
    --- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Mon Jan 5 08:36:00 2026
    There's a great car museum in Blackhawk, CA. They have a collection of 1930s cars, I remember a Mercedes 540k, a Hispano with beech planking and brass rivets, a Duesenberg, then moving up in time, 1950s Porsche racing cars, a dozen Aston Martin racing cars, a 1960s JaG, a Porsche 917, and more... WHen

    Nice, I will have to keep that one in mind for future trips!

    dozen Aston Martin racing cars, a 1960s JaG, a Porsche 917, and more... WHen realized that all of the Aston Martins were donated from a personal collectio

    When you realized that, what? Looks like maybe you didn't complete a
    thought there? ;)

    Mike
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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to POINDEXTER FORTRAN on Mon Jan 5 09:05:00 2026
    I liked the UI of the Windows phone, CE felt too much like they wanted the Windows desktop OS on everything, but WP felt optimized for phones. I was surprised Microsoft didn't make WP work better in Microsoft corporate environments (or more accurately, break performance with every other platform to make WP the choice for corporate clients.

    I had a coworker who had a Windows phone. He liked it. I was actually
    not aware of when they discontinued them but from this conversation I
    guess they have.

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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to NBLADE on Wed Jan 7 09:31:00 2026
    I did that too. In the mid-late 90s, there was a company based in California called Walnut Creek that would burn Linux ISOs to optical disc (CD-R and DVD-R) and mail it to you for only the cost of the
    media, so you wouldn't have to download it yourself.

    Wow, I remember those guys. Never got media from them but I do remember
    the Ads for them.

    I got on their subscription list a little late in the game. I still have
    three or four of their Simtel CDs around here somewhere.

    Mike
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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to MIKE POWELL on Thu Jan 8 07:51:22 2026
    MIKE POWELL wrote to POINDEXTER FORTRAN <=-


    dozen Aston Martin racing cars, a 1960s JaG, a Porsche 917, and more... WHen realized that all of the Aston Martins were donated from a personal
    ollectio

    When you realized that, what? Looks like maybe you didn't complete a thought there? ;)

    All of the Aston Martins belonged to a private collector. Had to be
    millions of dollars worth of cars.



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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to MIKE POWELL on Thu Jan 8 07:51:22 2026
    MIKE POWELL wrote to POINDEXTER FORTRAN <=-

    I had a coworker who had a Windows phone. He liked it. I was actually not aware of when they discontinued them but from this conversation I guess they have.

    Yeah, the story of Steven Elop. He has quite a career that I can't
    fully document here. He was brought into Macromedia when his buddy was
    made CEO, promoted to CEO right before they were bought by Adobe,
    worked as a CEO at at least one company for a year and one day to vest
    his stocks, then bailed, was promoted at Microsoft, then appointed CEO
    of Nokia, where he killed off SymbianOS in favor of Windows Phone and
    killed the company, to then be acquired *by* Microsoft. Some call him a
    trojan horse.

    He landed OK, after killing the company and selling to Microsoft, he
    received a 18.8 million euro bonus - and was hied by Microsoft!



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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to nblade on Thu Jan 8 07:51:22 2026
    nblade wrote to Nightfox <=-

    Wow, I remember those guys. Never got media from them but I do remember the Ads for them.

    Way Back When, on a 768k/128k DSL line, it was easier buying Linux isos
    from Walnut Creek than downloading them.



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  • From MIKE POWELL@21:4/134 to ARELOR on Fri Jan 9 09:01:00 2026
    I suspect a lot of the layoffs we are seeing are due to corporations adjustin to the fact their budgets are very badly balanced and are using the AI excuse for PR purposes for the most part.

    Bingo!

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  • From niter3@21:1/199 to MIKE POWELL on Sat Jan 3 07:16:30 2026
    Travel in your late 50s instead of your late 60s/early 70s, you'll
    enjoy it more and your quality of life will be better. Makes sense.

    I started taking long vacations and traveling in my mid-40s. 10 years later, I am semi-retired. I think I do enjoy them more than I might when I am older but, OTOH, I actually worry that I might have started too
    late at 40s. ;)

    Man, would love to be able to do this right now... Just cannot finacially afford to travel.

    ... Old computers make great boat anchors

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  • From Utopian Galt@21:4/108 to Mike Powell on Fri Jan 2 21:31:46 2026
    BY: MIKE POWELL (21:4/134)

    |11MP|09> |10I started taking long vacations and traveling in my mid-40s. 10 years|07
    |11MP|09> |10later, I am semi-retired. I think I do enjoy them more than I might|07
    |11MP|09> |10when|07
    First major trip was at age 43 to London. Visit London is my equivalent of Disney world.


    --- WWIV 5.9.03748[Windows]
    * Origin: inland utopia * california * iutopia.duckdns.org:2023 (21:4/108)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to MIKE POWELL on Sat Jan 3 09:05:14 2026
    MIKE POWELL wrote to POINDEXTER FORTRAN <=-

    I started taking long vacations and traveling in my mid-40s. 10 years later, I am semi-retired. I think I do enjoy them more than I might
    when I am older but, OTOH, I actually worry that I might have started
    too late at 40s. ;)

    I was never much of a vacationer, am looking forward to travel when I
    retire - and trying to make sure I can make the most of it.



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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Mortar M. on Sat Jan 3 09:05:14 2026
    Mortar M. wrote to nblade <=-

    It's unfortunate that it came out the same year as Win95. If it had premired a year earlier, it might of had a chance, but like Linux, it
    just couldn't stand up to the Microsoft juggernaut.

    I don't think any desktop stood the chance, when Microsoft already had
    their foot in the door with DOS - they strongarmed vendors into buying
    a copy of DOS for every PC they sold, otherwise they couldn't get
    Windows to sell.

    I thought BeOS came out on dedicated hardware first -- they definitely
    had some cool ideas, and in re-reading about it, sounds like the file
    system was heads and shoulders above what MS and Apple did at the time.

    I don't know if Haiku has the same FS or not.

    I have a Haiku VM, it might be an intriguing "no-fuss" environment. I
    spend a lot of time playing with eye-candy, trying out new browsers and
    apps - it might be interesting using an environment with basic apps
    built-in.



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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to niter3 on Sat Jan 3 09:05:14 2026
    niter3 wrote to MIKE POWELL <=-

    Man, would love to be able to do this right now... Just cannot
    finacially afford to travel.

    I've always wanted a VW Westfalia camper, love the efficiency of them.
    They're pricey, though. Used larger campers with showers and bathrooms
    end up being cheaper.

    I'd love to go tour parts of the US I've not seen.



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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Jan 3 10:25:20 2026
    Re: Re: Screaming Into The Vo
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Mortar M. on Sat Jan 03 2026 09:05 am

    I thought BeOS came out on dedicated hardware first -- they definitely had some cool ideas, and in re-reading about it, sounds like the file system was heads and shoulders above what MS and Apple did at the time.

    BeOS did come out on dedicated hardware at first - They made their own PowerPC-based computer (the BeBox). I think it was only in the late 90s when they ported BeOS to Intel-compatible PCs, and by then, I think it was too late, as Microsoft had already captured the home PC market.

    Nightfox
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  • From nblade@21:1/164 to Nightfox on Mon Jan 5 13:31:00 2026
    Nightfox wrote to nblade <=-

    I never saw the Be boxes in stores; I remember happening upon an
    article in my high school library that mentioned BeOS and the BeBox (I don't remember how I found that in the library now), and I later
    learned they ported BeOS to Intel-compatible PCs, and I decided to buy
    a copy to try on one of my PCs.

    At least I seem to remember it that way, I could be mistaken. Of course that
    is around the same time, I would buy Red Hat Linux for the phyical media
    so I wouldn't have to DL it and burn it to CD (or was it DVD by then??)



    ... Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to nblade on Mon Jan 5 14:20:46 2026
    Re: Re: Screaming Into The Vo
    By: nblade to Nightfox on Mon Jan 05 2026 01:31 pm

    At least I seem to remember it that way, I could be mistaken. Of course that is around the same time, I would buy Red Hat Linux for the phyical media so I wouldn't have to DL it and burn it to CD (or was it DVD by then??)

    I did that too. In the mid-late 90s, there was a company based in California called Walnut Creek that would burn Linux ISOs to optical disc (CD-R and DVD-R) and mail it to you for only the cost of the media, so you wouldn't have to download it yourself.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
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  • From nblade@21:1/164 to Nightfox on Tue Jan 6 07:08:00 2026
    Nightfox wrote to nblade <=-


    I did that too. In the mid-late 90s, there was a company based in California called Walnut Creek that would burn Linux ISOs to optical
    disc (CD-R and DVD-R) and mail it to you for only the cost of the
    media, so you wouldn't have to download it yourself.

    Wow, I remember those guys. Never got media from them but I do remember
    the Ads for them.

    ... The number you have dailed...Nine-one-one...has been changed.
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  • From nblade@21:1/164 to Mortar M. on Tue Jan 6 07:26:00 2026
    Mortar M. wrote to Nightfox <=-


    I had one of those. It came with Slackware Linux. First distro I ever used. This around '93, I believe. There was no GUI, no real documentation so after fumbling about for...oh, a day, I scraped it. I guess I just wasn't ready for it yet. --- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux


    Slackware Linux, that was the first one I ever tried as well. Of course I had download the floppy images. Yes floppy drive images. I had something like 30 or so floppies, that I used to install it. At that point, yes it was more like something you experiment with. Not something you use. I don't think I really started using Linux until one of the Red Hat distro.



    ... The number you have dailed...Nine-one-one...has been changed.
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  • From s2r@21:3/100.2 to Nightfox on Tue Jan 6 12:38:10 2026

    Hello Nightfox!

    05 Jan 26 14:20, you wrote to nblade:

    I did that too. In the mid-late 90s, there was a company based in California called Walnut Creek that would burn Linux ISOs to optical
    disc (CD-R and DVD-R) and mail it to you for only the cost of the
    media, so you wouldn't have to download it yourself.

    There was also one name Infomagic that came with 6 CDs and had many distros. I remeber I subscribed to them and every couple of months I would receive a letter/box with those CDs. I still have them at my parent's house.


    Nightfox
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    s2r


    --- GoldED+/BSD 1.1.5-b20170303-b20170303 + HPT 1.9.0 + Binkd 1.1a-115
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  • From Bob Worm@21:1/205 to Nightfox on Tue Jan 6 16:27:34 2026
    Re: Re: Screaming Into The Vo
    By: Nightfox to nblade on Mon Jan 05 2026 14:20:46

    Hi, Nightfox.

    I did that too. In the mid-late 90s, there was a company based in California called Walnut Creek that would burn Linux ISOs to optical disc (CD-R and DVD-R) and mail it to you for only the cost of the media, so you wouldn't have to download it yourself.

    Walnut Creek? Arent't they the guys who hosted cdrom.com?

    Cheers for the nostalgia hit :)

    BobW
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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Bob Worm on Tue Jan 6 10:46:48 2026
    Re: Re: Screaming Into The Vo
    By: Bob Worm to Nightfox on Tue Jan 06 2026 04:27 pm

    Walnut Creek? Arent't they the guys who hosted cdrom.com?

    Yes, I believe so. Now that I think about it, I believe that was the site I used when looking at their stuff.

    Nightfox
    --- SBBSecho 3.34-Linux
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