I just saw a DistroTube video with this question. Quite a thought provoking question [for this seasoned distroholic at least].
“What’s the hardest Linux distro you’ve tried?” can be interpreted many ways, and I wonder what kinds of answers we’ll get.
Especially these days, with much change underfoot and newer users having a different distrosphere to explore…
What’s the hardest Linux distro you’ve tried?
SLS Linux. I feel old.
First challenge: getting it.
It was about 25-30 3.5" floppy disks, but you had to download the disk images, and I downloaded them to my PC via a modem connected to the modem pool at the University where I worked. At the time, they had no limits on the use of the modem pool, so I was able to stay connected and just keep downloading until I had it all.
Then, you had to manually create the disk partitions and create the file systems on them. When that was all done correctly, you could run the install script.
I switched to Slackware when it came out. I also downloaded that to a SunOS box at work and used that to write the floppies.
Slackware. 64 disks. Three of them somehow failed verification, and i had to re-download them the next day at university.
With “download” being an euphemism here. I had to get the disk images via email from bitftp@pucc (if anyone remembers), over the 38400 baud line of the department. Get one disk image in 64kb emails, decode and join the attachments, log in on the PC, copy it to disk, and log out. Delete everything on the VAX (the disk quota did not allow for more), and request the next disk image from Princeton.
I like to believe that I had a part in causing the university to implement time limits on the modem pool.
However, the University had an excellent Internet connection, so once it dawned on me that I could download it and copy it to floppies there, it was a lot easier.