The first computer Linux was ever installed on

I stumbled upon an LWN.net article from 2023, in which Lars Wirzenius, a long-time Debian developer and friend of Linus Torvalds, recalls the very early days of Linux – in fact, before it was even called Linux. There’s so many fun little stories in here, like how the Linux kernel started out as a multitasking demo written in x86 assembly, which did nothing more than write As and Bs on the screen, or the fact Linux was originally called Freax before Ari Lemmke, one of the administrators of ftp.funet.fi, opted for the name “Linux” when uploading the first release.

However, my favourite story is about what installing Linux was like during those early days.

During this time, people were interested in trying out this new thing, so Linus needed to provide an installation method and instructions. Since he only had one PC, he came to visit to install it on mine. Since his computer had been used to develop Linux, which had simply grown on top of his Minix installation, it had never actually been installed before. Thus, mine was the first PC where Linux was ever installed. While this was happening, I was taking a nap, and I recommend this method of installing Linux: napping, while Linus does the hard work.
↫ Lars Wirzenius at LWN.net

The entire article is a joy to read, and since it’s from 2023, I’m sure I’m late to the party and none of it is news to many of you. On a more topical note, Wirzenius published a short article today detailing why he still uses Debian, after all these decades.