Mastodawn

Do you remember your first FreeBSD install?
Many in our community remember when installing an operating system meant waiting on physical media, dial-up downloads, or carefully tested CD distributions, long before pulling source took seconds.

We’d like to hear your story:
• Was your first FreeBSD install from a CD?
• Do you remember your first release?

Share your experience in the comments.

🔗 Wayne Self’s original reflection: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wself_been-thinking-about-how-much-access-to-software-ugcPost-7431565320290619392-RHVM/

#FreeBSD #OpenSource #BSD #Community

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M

@FreeBSDFoundation The first time I put #FreeBSD 6.0 on a machine was back in 2005, using a CD. After that I just kept upgrading it to the 9.x series—no need to reinstall anything—and it survived three whole computer swaps. It all started on a little P‑mmx box running at either 233 MHz or 266 MHz, with roughly 64 MB of RAM and an 800 MB hard drive. I can’t recall the exact specs, but it was something like that. Later I gave it a bigger 80 GB drive and added more memory. By constantly rebuilding the kernel I finally got it to play movies from CD without a hitch.

Besides that, I used it for writing, GIS work, scanning and tweaking photos, and the usual day‑to‑day stuff. :)