...from whence we came, and to whom we owe so much...
Scot Finnie!
(https://i.imgur.com/WLg1vjY.png)
Thanks Eric
SNF (as we refer to it) was founded March 8, 2003 and I registered on October 20, 2003. I don't recall how I heard about it -- most likely having run across the actual newsletter that Scot published or, perhaps, a reference in a Computerworld article.
I've unlocked this thread so folks from Scot's Newsletter Forums who come here can tell us their stories about how the found Scot's and other fun they've had there over the years.
My story...
I actually used to read Scot's Newsletter on his original site waaay back when. I believe I had subscribed to it, also. I used to be an email newsletter junkie at one time. ;) However, I don't know why, but I guess I didn't realize there was an associated forum back then.
In mid-2005, I was playing around with GNU/Linux for the very first time at the behest and coaching from my Real Life® best pal Gary's son, and a couple fellows (Urmas and SweetLou) from my Cabin In the Woods forum. Gary's son Jason had given me a nine-disk set of floppies to install Slackware on one of my computers. I was hesitant, to say the least. Urmas was pushing for Ubuntu, and SweetLou was harping for Debian. I was confused.
Then, something happened... MS Windows sent out three major "service packs" for Windows XP. Downloading and installing them completely trashed my Windows operating system. Ooops! I was somewhat peeved, to put it mildly. Josh (SecurityBreach) probably remembers the story of me dancing the Irish Jig on my computer in my kitchen floor. HA! Anyway, at that point, I made my decision. Simultaneously, I reinstalled my Win XP on the slightly dented and refurbished system along with a dual-boot arrangement of Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake (this is June of 2006 by now).
Yes, it was relatively easy to install and figure out the basics, but back in those days, I was a serious customizer/tweaker of my setups. My Windows XP was awesome, which is why I was so angry when it crashed and burned. By the way, that wasn't an MS Windows fault, actually. It was a brand new defective Seagate hard drive... the one and only Seagate I've ever used in a system.
So, I was having some troubles tweaking and customizing my new Ubuntu setup. I made the mistake, knowing that Ubuntu was Debian-based, of going to the Debian Support Forums for some advice. I only did that once. That place was a burning inferno of serious asshats whose favorite response to new Linux users was RTFM. Enter Mr. Urmas...
Urmas tells me one afternoon at my Cabin forum that he knows a fellow whom he thinks I would really like to get to know better. He's over at a place called Scot's Newsletter Forums. His name is Bruno. So, Urmas dragged me kicking and screaming over the Scot's to meet this fellow. This was my very first time logging in at Scots.
This story continues on the thread here titled, "There Once Was a Man Called Bruno... (https://www.landzdown.com/linux-help-news-and-information/there-once-was-a-man-called-bruno*/)"
I ended up at Scot's in 2007. I had a crummy old Dell Dimension 4100 system that ran Windows Me, and I did not want to pay to upgrade it to XP. A local computer shop gave me a copy of Ubuntu Dapper Drake on CD (remember those?) and I got it installed. I wanted to install wifi on it and use it as a basement system in my house, but wifi on Linux back then was a challenge.
An online friend (SueD) suggested I join Scot's forum. Once I did, Bruno and his colleagues advised me on suitable hardware and configuration. After I got everything set up, I stuck around to pay it forward.
Scot's has been a special place for me - friendly, unjudgmental, helpful, kind. If we have to start over here, I believe that the right people to do it will join this community and contribute in the same way.
Ah... SueD. I miss her. She's a member at my Cabin In the Woods, but hasn't logged in there since 2016. Have you kept in touch with her, Ray? Can you contact her and let her know we're here?
OK I let her know.
I read Scot's newsletter and when he started the forum, I joined on May 28, 2003. I was still on dialup at the time so it took patience to do anything beyond reading and composing email!
Squeak... Beep... Beep... Dingle-dingle... Screech... Squeal...
Ah... dial-up. I remember it well. Fortunately, I progressed to DSL pretty quickly once it became available in my area. It was BLAZING fast at 3Mbs down/1Mbs up. I sit here and laugh as I compare it to my current FIOS speeds of 50Mbs/50Mbs.
Well I just found Scots forums after searching for a linux forum after getting Mandrake installed. Not long afterwards Bruno and a few others helped me get Slackware installed. The rest is history. My first post was back in 2004 trying to configure Slackware 10.1.
QuoteOK, I have been hearing everyone talking about Slackware. I have downloaded all 4 disks.I have been using Mandrake for awhile now and think I will learn alot more about Linux by installing Slackware 10.0. I was just curious if anyone had any comments for a Linux beginner jumping in and installing Slackware. Is there some package manager for Slack or is it all ./make, ./install? Also, I have a 30gig harddrive. What should I sett my partitions at? Any help would be grealty appreciated. Thanx
https://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?/topic/9530-slackware-100/&tab=comments#comment-115230
Oh and hey plodr.