I'm > 65.
I Got my first Slackware from a book, Linux for Dummies. It had a Slackware CD in it. I think maybe 3.3. The time is is about right. Wish I kept it.

My first version of Slackware was 2.2. I remember the transition from a.out to ELF. The floppies are long gone, unfortunately.

60, but that's not what you're asking ...

No. 1st linux distros were SuSE 8.1 and Slackware 8.1 (after a brief confusing install of Red Hat) Pretty sure I bought CDs at the bookstore.

Not sure which version was the 1st on CD - I started with 8.1. Bought Slackware CD boxes from Slackware store :P . Still had them until recently too.

No.

No, but remember it discussed.

I posted on occasion, but mostly lurked. Scary and funny place. Some infamous trolls OMG.

Briefly until I smartened up.

I don't think so. Can't recall.

Sort of.

Ugh.

YES!!! And sbopkg. TY TY TY

Nope.

Nice question, but I would also like to see new (and young) Slackware users post about their experiences in a different thread.

Without new people Slackware will never grow

With that said, I think for us 'old' people this will be a fun thread.

Any old-timers here?
yes

Did you download floppy images with a modem?
Floppies, but from Work using SunOS to my PC.
At home I did not have any internet/dial up connections

Did you download or buy the first version on CD?
Not sure that this means, my first Slackware Verson did not have a CD Option. But when 3.4 came out bought thd CD and created floppies from that at work. My home PC had no CD until around 2000.

Do you use zipslack?
No

Do you remember the version jump from 4 to 7?
Yes

Were you one of the acerbic members of the Slackware newsgroup?
Yes, still there now. But originally there was only comp.os.linux (or comp.linux), but soon after that spawned lots of other groups (including AOLS). [edit] I just googled "acerbic", I realized I had no idea what that meant. No I was not "acerbic" if I understand its meaning.

Do you use linuxpackages.net?
No

Do you remember "It's a girl!"?
Not sure

Do you remember Linux 2.6 being in /testing for three releases?
yes

Do you remember hotplug?
I remember the term, but never looked into it

Do you remember when slackbuilds.org went live?
yes

Perhaps you are an original 1.0 Slacker?
No

One more question:

Do you remember a.out --> elf ?

old-timer yes, using Slackware for >25y, myself soon 58y old

not with a modem but with a Sun workstation next room that was connected to the net and had a floppy drive...

most probably download - though a few times i bought Slackware CDs too.

nop.

yes - so to stay in sync with everybody else who had offered a v7 then too.

nop.

nop.

i believe so, yes.

nop.

i am not sure...

i don't think so...

yes, i remember that very well, in the fall of 2013 !

see here : https://www.linuxquestions.org/...#post5991004

> Any old-timers here?
Started with a cd: SLS 1.0.3 i think, kernel 0.99pl9 so in text mode

>Did you download floppy images with a modem?
Nop but prepared about ~50 HD floppies within win95 /o\

>Did you download or buy the first version on CD?
Not concerned at that time

>Do you use zipslack?
Did i test that image? Possibly..

>Do you remember the version jump from 4 to 7?
'Course, remember my order of the 4'th cd set, the linuxthreads you must compile for using at least x11Amp

>Were you one of the acerbic members of the Slackware newsgroup?
newsgroup?

>Do you use linuxpackages.net?
Nop

>Do you remember "It's a girl!"?

>Do you remember Linux 2.6 being in /testing for three releases?
Maybe so

>Do you remember hotplug?
An old thing

>Do you remember when slackbuilds.org went live?
Went later

>Perhaps you are an original 1.0 Slacker?
SLS, parent of Slackware

I am 75 if that qualifies!
I had used sco-unix on a lappie (64MB disk!!!) from about 1993-or-so, started with slackware in 1996 (I believe it was 2.2 but might be wrong). In any case - yup, downloaded floppies on a corporate network at a blazing 50-or-so Mbps. Only problem - there was no way I could get the graphics going on a hp-lappie, but had great fun from the cli. Swapped the hp with a coworker and got a 'mint' lappie - and lo and behold, I had graphics and could have more than one terminal window open!!
And yes, I remember the jump in versions, but with my somewhat failing memory I thought it was from 3+ to 8 - obviously I am wrong.

I have used slackware since (1996), but these days more as servers. However, any computer I have ever owned/possessed has been running slackware, making my own kernels as the need arose. These days I must admit I am too lazy, but slackware is still there as a backup for when the proverbial SHTF. My present goto is mx-linux-18 (yes, I have mx-linux-19 as well) which is the nearest I can get to slackware in this era of windowization! So why not slackware? One stooopid reason I can't be bothered to investigate - my recent lappie is running 20C warmer with slackware than mx-linux.

Also - I am still using legacy grub and ancient dos layout for disks - makes for easy multibooting using chainloading to whichever linux I am trying atm (oh yes, also been a distro-hoe all my life).
Corporate-wise, first sco-unix, then redhat then centos. Never used any of those on _my_ rigs, did all the code development with slackware.

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When anyone asks my age, I reply, 105.
Once upon a time a Bangkok bargirl asked my age and I said, 105. When she did the translation from English into Thai her eyes got as big as saucers and her chin almost hit the floor. Wish I had a picture of that. Guess you had to be there. Funny!

Bought a CD set in either '95 or '96. The receipt is in the bottom of a box in storage.
The thing I remember was it wasn't as difficult to install as I had imagined.
I remember the version jump and, finally not having to manually mount a CD/DVD, but that is about all that comes to mind at the moment.

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I just turned fifty, a spring chicken compared to some here.

The secret to eternal youth can be found in this equation:
effective age = (chronological age) / stubbornness
Obviously as long as you keep cranking up the stubbornness, you can stay effectively young forever.

My first Slackware install was 1996, from the CD included in the back corner of the book "Linux Unleashed". It was Slackware 3.0, and I used it my last year at college because as a CS major I had to get my homework assignments done on some sort of Unix, but UCSC's shared SunOS systems were swamped (particularly when there was a program due soon). Slackware ran great on my i486DX-50, so I did my homework on that and I've been a happy Slacker ever since. I've tried a few other distros (and FreeBSD), but always came back to Slackware pretty quick.

Before that I had been an OS/2 user. To this day I've never owned a Windows system, and have never used zipslack, but remember a lot of the events listed in the OP. As for the newsgroup, I participated in it a bit, but tried to be polite and considerate, so of course the regulars ate me alive.

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55555555

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69 years old; First installation in early 1995, but I couldn't get modem or cups working at first.

No, downloaded floppy images at work.

I bought the CD as soon as it was available.

Zipslack - not sure but I think so.

Yes, I remember the version jump.

"It's a girl!" - yes

Yes, on kernel version 2.6.

No, don't remember hotplug.

Not really, I compiled from source for a long time.

Not an original 1.0 Slacker. I know one though.

I'm 65, and have been using Slackware since 2000.

I already had high speed internet when I started using Slackware. My dial-up time with Linux was with Debian 2.whatever it was in 1998.

Download.

Nope, never did, although I used the loopback-filesystem version when I was forced to use Win95 & 98 at work. IIRC, virtual machines hadn't been invented yet.

Before my time, although I did hear about it. I started with 7.1.

Get off my lawn!

Used to. Also used LinuxMafia, but before slackpackages, I usually got my source files from Freshmeat.

No.

I didn't realize it was there for that long.

Yes, and I had few problems with it.

No. I started using it maybe 5 years ago.

Long before my time.

I down loaded Slackware 8 via Dial-up... I liked it so much I bought v9 from Slackware store to support the Effort.

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Came from the world of DOS 5/6 and win3.1/95. Slackware was my first Linux distro,
I started experimenting with it back in the mid 90's, I remember downloading the floppies
and installing the OS on a 386 pc, then found this cool book which came with a CD,
book was written by a certain Patrick

The major breakthroughs for me were figuring out how to connect to the internet from Linux
using a dial-up modem, and how to dual-boot. I'd needed Windows for college work and to run PC games
and other software, but that OS's days were numbered

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Started off with downloading SLS with a friend when I was in high school. Then went Slackware as soon as that became a thing, and have been here ever since. I once rang up one hell of a download fee from my then-ISP when I was trying to dl whatever was the current Slackware version circa 1996 or 1997 because I used the ISP's shell account to do the dl to, then I dl'ed it from there to home. The ISP was actcom.co.il (it doesn't exist anymore, seems that it was pulled into Bezeq Internet), and I misread the ToS about use of the shell account. The fact is that on a 33.6kbps (I think, it might have been slower actually) modem at the time back in those days to ftp across the Atlantic to get it was waaaaay slower direct to my machine than to grab it from the ISP's shell server. Ah the 3 1/2" floppy days, how I don't miss them.

Slackware, and Linux in general, has come a LONG way since those days. Nowadays it's pretty rare for me to encounter common hardware components that won't work. Back then, it was very hit-and-miss.