My Linux History article

In this post, I'm going to look back at my article on the History of Linux. (also available from here ).


Ok, let me start with how it began. Back in 1999, I had just installed Linux, and was one of the first members of Bangladesh Linux Users Group (BDLUG). Back in those days, I had a rickety 19.2 kbps dial up connection, at cut-throat price ... taka 3 per minute. Yet, I spent probably a week looking for the History of Linux. Those were the days before Google became such a hot thing for search, so I think I probably used Yahoo! search. After learning the interesting History of Linux, and with the zeal of a newbie, I wrote a small article on the history of Linux.

First, I posted it in my free web host, hypermart.net. It was also mirrored at the BDLug site. It remained there, and I almost forgot about it, until I started getting mails from complete strangers regarding permission to use the article. Many of them wanted to use it for a course, or a LUG meeting, but several of the people wanted to use it for inclusion in a book. After thinking about the whole thing, I decided to release the article free for all non-commercial use.

Next, in 2000, I published the article in a local news paper, The Daily Star. I'd have to check to see if they kept an archive back to 2000, but I may have the copy of the news paper.

By this time, I got several requests from people, who wanted to translate it to other languages. The first one is probably from a Japanese guy, who translated it, and put it in his website. Following that, the article has been translated into 5 or 6 more languages. Here is a list of the different languages.

[Hebrew] | [Bulgarian] [Japanese] [Chinese] [Romanian] [Portuguese]


I recently released version 2.2.0. I wrote about Tanenbaum, Richard Stallman, and other people who were influential in providing the whole basis of Linux.

I keep expanding and enhancing the article on a regular basis. What makes me happy is that the article has proven to be useful to a lot of people, and also many instructors (at least 5 I know of) have used it for their university level courses.

Year-ending Group Lunch

Rishi proposed that we should have a group lunch to celebrate the end of the year. So, Prof. Winslett and our whole group went to El Toro for a group lunch on Saturday, December 17. I was interested in meeting Arash, another student of Prof. Winslett, whom I am yet to meet. However he didn't show up. Lars was also missing.

Anyway, the lunch was good. I was surprised though, because I thought El Toro would be a costlier restaurant. It turns out that El Toro is a chain restaurant, and this is one of the two branches in Champaign.

We had a nice chat during the lunch. Everyone recounted where we have travelled, the different anecdotes from the travel experiences, and also where we want to go. I haven't travelled to too many countries. The only two I've been to are India and USA. But if I get the chance, I want to visit Europe and South America. My cherished place is the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu. I also want to visit the Pacific Islands like the Easter Island, Tahiti etc. I've read so much about them since I was a kid.

It was great to have such a nice gathering. It enhances the interaction among the students of our group (although already we have a lot of interaction going on). 

M.S. Conferral Ceremony

I got my Masters Degree on December 18th, 2005. This was my first commencement ceremony. I had missed my undergraduate convocation (that's what the ceremony is called in Bangladesh). That was a great loss ... as the ceremony was a grand one ... with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh giving out the certificates. I got 2 gold medals for my undergraduate results (passing Summa Cum Laude). My wife, Jaria, attended that ceremony and got the awards on my behalf. Anyway, that's why my MS graduation ceremony was so important to me.

I took Jaria and some of my friends to the ceremony. I was impressed ... the ceremony was smooth and flawless. We didn't get the actual certificates, those will be mailed in about 2 months. But to attend the ceremony with the cermonial gowns and the orderly procession was a great feeling.

After the ceremony, we celebrated at our local Indian fast food restaurant.

I put more photos in my website's album pages. 

My poster at the ITI Dependability Workshop

This is my poster from the ITI dependability workshop at UIUC on December 6, 2005. Basically, this shows my Master's thesis work. The system is still a work in progress, so not all bits and pieces of information are there, and not every sort of details figured out, but still it was a nice experience to work on the poster and also to build the system.