A Look at Linux from 20 Years Ago - OpenLinux Installation & Overview

In today's video, we're taking a look at a Linux Distro that's 20 years old! It's called Caldera OpenLinux, a business oriented distro that was first released in 1997.

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Some materials in this video are used under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which allows "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, commenting, news reporting, teaching, and research.

[freeworld]

I remember a time before this, when KDE was alpha, I spent days installing stuff, compiling kernels, downloading things on a 28.8k line. Man, we thought we could rule the world with this OS. My gf thought I was crazy but thankfully Linux is my main job now and the pay is decent.

[akselhovdar]

Windows in 2019: Forces you to watch a spinning wheel for hours on end during regular system updates.
Linux in 1997: Lets you play Tetris during OS installation process.

[brt]

I worked for Caldera systems from about 1999 to 2004. This video is taking me back to the good ol' days

[SomeDudeInBaltimore]

Logging into a GUI as root? What year is this, 1999? Oh....

[RockfordRoe]

I think the reason why distros now don't have that Tetris screen when you install it is because you can run other applications like Firefox while it does its thing.

[eznix]

Caldera did make a freely available download edition without the extras like FlashPlayer, Acrobat Reader, RealPlayer, StarOffice, NetWare IPX connectivity, and maybe even Netscape Communicator. It was pretty stripped down. Considering most people did not have broadband, downloading CD iso's was not a practical method of distribution for many. $50-$60 for a boxed set, with all the extras, and 200-300 page manual was not a bad deal at all. Back then, charging for the convenience of a boxed set with value added extras that were not freely available was not unusual. Red Hat, Mandrake, and SuSE all did the same thing.

Caldera did have the best installer back in 2000. Version 2.4 came with Pacman at the end to play while the install finished. Caldera eDesktop 2.4 was my first successful Linux system. I used it in 2000 until about 2002 when Red Hat 7.3 came out and I switched over to that. Caldera OpenLinux was excellent for the time. Caldera got me into KDE and I stuck with it until KDE 4.0 came out and then switched to Xfce. The desktop elements of KDE 1.1 (which is what you are using) were heavily borrowed from Windows and Mac, but also CDE on Unix. The menu bar along the bottom of the screen is very much a CDE inspired creation. The window widgets (maximze & minimize on the right and close on the left) you mention were standard issue on most every GUI from Amiga, to Atari TOS, to GEM Desktop, and OS/2 and Windows 1.x-3.x, and Motif and CDE desktops on commercial Unix - from the early 1980's into the early 2000's

[ardsandlived]

Back in 99, I was a software engineer working for SCO (the original Openserver/UnixWare company). I was actually working on our (then creaking) OS install software. We had this CD in the office as it was the benchmark for where we wanted to be. It still stands up very well.

[adamled]

Wow! YouTube actually recommending quality content for once.

[zenithseeker]

That installer is really quite impressive for something so old (especially for old Linux).

[punkingindrublic]

Very cozy, familiar, and user friendly. This old KDE version looks great

[alpzepta]

KDE was That old?!!! I can’t believe they still use it today and it’s sexy!

[tobfos]

this is interesting as a 2020 linux user

[AlexGW]

16:15 To this day, even with Windows 10, you can still double click the top left of any standard window to close it. Though with all the UI overhauls, it's not so common anymore.

[shamka]

Had no clue virtual desktops were a thing in the mid 90s. Microsoft didn't adapt it until 2015. Linux was so far ahead of its time.

[MaxOakland]

I really like that it has the menu bar on top option. I wish every operating system had that option. Its way better that way

[celestialsylveon]

KDE actually has a whole lore story for it's characters, it's super neat!!!
I'm also watching this on modern KDE themed to look similar to Ubuntu Unity.

[WackyH]

Now I'm bummed that modern operating systems don't have Tetris when the installation is still going and there's nothing else to do.

[maruseu]

i remember this distro my dad tried to install it on our pc in the early 2000s it didnt work and it also probably deleted the windows partition and we were pretty much tech illiterate at the time and nobody there knew english so i just played with the tetris section of the installation

[pitfalljerry]

I used it for a year on various laptops. It was always a huge pain to get working. I then switched to Mandrake and was much happier.

[curtainsellet]

play Tetris while installing the operating system
how freaking cool
we need these savage features in every modern operating system
haha