How About the Good Old Days? Dustin Kirkland's Ubuntu Museum
Texan Dustin Kirkland shows that it doesn't take heaps of cash and government funding to open a museum. All by himself he opened one exclusively for Ubuntu.
The Ubuntu Museum consists of a webpage that displays Ubuntu versions since the beginning years of the software. If those were the good old days, some amount of browsing the galleries will reveal.
Among the interesting exponents of the museum is the collection of screenshots of the various Ubuntu releases, from Warty Warthog through Jaunty Jackalope. To the right of the screenshots are links to the boot sequences for each release -- certainly cause for nostalgia.
Still further to the right on the webpage are the download links for the Ubuntu versions to bring them to life again in a virtual machine. These are the desktop versions inclusive of all updates, although only the unsupported versions can be downloaded.
Kirkland came up with the idea of a museum while regression testing the virtualization stack for Ubuntu's KVM package, according to his blog. He and Jamie Strandboge "kicked around" the idea of "Linux museums" six months ago, Strandboge having since branched off to found yet another virtual museum called the Debian Archives.
"I find some strange satisfaction," says Kirkland, "hitting a few old, memomorable bugs and then thinking 'boy, am I glad we fixed that!'." He is also pleased with the improved Ubuntu startup and shutdown times over the years.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Kernel Project Releases Project Continuity Document
What happens to Linux when there's no Linus? It's a question many of us have asked over the years, and it seems it's also on the minds of the Linux kernel project.
-
Mecha Systems Introduces Linux Handheld
Mecha Systems has revealed its Mecha Comet, a new handheld computer powered by – you guessed it – Linux.
-
MX Linux 25.1 Features Dual Init System ISO
The latest release of MX Linux caters to lovers of two different init systems and even offers instructions on how to transition.
-
Photoshop on Linux?
A developer has patched Wine so that it'll run specific versions of Photoshop that depend on Adobe Creative Cloud.
-
Linux Mint 22.3 Now Available with New Tools
Linux Mint 22.3 has been released with a pair of new tools for system admins and some pretty cool new features.
-
New Linux Malware Targets Cloud-Based Linux Installations
VoidLink, a new Linux malware, should be of real concern because of its stealth and customization.
-
Say Goodbye to Middle-Mouse Paste
Both Gnome and Firefox have proposed getting rid of a long-time favorite Linux feature.
-
Manjaro 26.0 Primary Desktop Environments Default to Wayland
If you want to stick with X.Org, you'll be limited to the desktop environments you can choose.
-
Mozilla Plans to AI-ify Firefox
With a new CEO in control, Mozilla is doubling down on a strategy of trust, all the while leaning into AI.
-
Gnome Says No to AI-Generated Extensions
If you're a developer wanting to create a new Gnome extension, you'd best set aside that AI code generator, because the extension team will have none of that.