In 1994, I was working as a computer desktop technician for bd Systems at Vandenberg Air Force Base (now VSFB), my first job out of college after Pizza Hut. Before that job, I only had experience with Apple computers and CP/M (from Osborne 1). I impressed my boss during the interview by telling him that I’d buy a PC if he hired me and become fluent with DOS and Windows. Though I was paid less at this job than Pizza Hut with tips, the experience gained made up for it. I quickly learned new skills such as troubleshooting/installing ethernet (10Base-2), DOS, databases, PowerBuilder, and email systems.

My boss had a Sparcstation in his office. I never saw him, or anyone ever touch it. It quietly sat there lightly humming, seemingly doing important work while shrouded in mystery. I once asked him what it did, and he gave me a vague answer to brush me away. This only made me more determined to find out what it did.

A couple of days later, he mentioned that I should look into “Linux”. Perennially vague, he didn’t give me any more details when I asked. Just the typical vague brush-offs that by then I had gotten used to.

I had recently started using this program called “Mosaic”, and Usenet (or was it gopher?) to find technical information on the internet. So somehow I eventually found the Slackware web page and then tried to download, if I remember correctly the “A” set of 5 3.5″ floppies for the base system, the “N” set of 3 floppies for the network system, and the “X” set of 6 floppies for X-windows. In the hours it took to download, the connection kept breaking, so I became very frustrated.

Someone from the base network, VAFBNET, called me up and let me know that I was using too much bandwidth and to please cut it out, but they let me know how I could use an FTP/UUCP gateway to obtain the sets. So I sent FTP commands to a some UUCP address which I cannot remember but which looked something like “ftpgw!vafbx25!wcreek!dist”. Then as the modem squawked, through a batch of UUCP mail connected to the MSMail gateway, finally chunks of Slackware dropped into my mailbox. Then I used some DOS utility (I’m guessing a clone of Linux “dd”) to merge the chunks into floppy images which I then “burned” to floppy disks.

Eventually, I was able to install it on a Dell laptop. I remember after getting it installed, I had a “#” prompt blinking at me. I didn’t know what to do with it. I rented a VHS tape from the base library on “UNIX fundamentals” and eventually learned “ls”, “grep”, “awk”, and “sed”.

I purchased a copy of “DNS and BIND” by Cricket Liu, which quoted Lewis Carrol, “Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?”, read the 1st 100 pages, and was able to figure out how to build a DNS server using Linux.

The firm I worked for, BD Systems, was the upstart young contractor competing against a larger incumbent. We wore ties to distinguish ourselves from them. I heard about how they had gotten lazy and were slow to respond to support requests from the Air Force. While I was making a service call in a building I had never been to, I got into a discussion with a Major who complained to me that he’d been waiting for months for a DNS record update. I told him I was not with the other firm that he had the ticket open with, that I was with BD Systems, and that I could fix his system. This story of how Linux usurped a VAX on an ethernet port to be continued…