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How 10 Popular Linux Distro Sites Looked When they Launched

This is how some of the popular Linux distro websites looked like when they launched initially. Thanks to the archive.org for all the screenshots. Redhat website looked pretty decent for a 1996 website. Which one of these websites did you like?

1. Ubuntu.com 2004 Screenshot

2. Debian.org 1997 Screenshot

Debian 1997 Website

3. Centos.org 2004 Screenshot

CentOS 2004 Website

4. Fedora.RedHat.com 2004 Screenshot

Fedora 2004 Website

5. RedHat.com 1996 Screenshot

RedHat 1996 Website

6. Archlinux.org 2002 Screenshot

ArchLinux Website 2002

7. OpenSUSE.org 2005 Screenshot

OpenSuse 2005 Website

8. Slackware.com 1999 Screenshot

Slackware Website 1999

9. Gentoo.org 2002 Screenshot

Gentoo 2002 Website

10. Mandriva.com 1998 Screenshot

Mandriva 2005 Website
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Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Andrew McCombe April 7, 2010, 1:19 am

    I remember these so well. And to be honest, slackware.com hasn’t improved or changed much in the last 11 years.

  • Adam Williamson April 7, 2010, 9:30 am

    #10 clearly isn’t from 1998, because the Mandriva name change happened in, uh, 2005-2006 IIRC. The ‘News’ link at bottom left shows 2005-dated items.

  • Patrick Dickey April 7, 2010, 11:24 am

    I liked the Mandriva one the best. Followed by Slackware, RedHat, Fedora, and Gentoo (they were all pretty close in my opinion). Centos looked too much like one of those Domain Parking sites to me.

    Have a great day:)
    Patrick.

  • Stefan April 7, 2010, 11:32 am

    @Adam:

    And the mandriva stock price is given in €.

  • saymoo April 7, 2010, 11:45 am

    redhat’s first site is not known. (not archieved.) you know why?
    cause redhat is born in 1993 (and they had a site already back then, i know i visited also with my dailup modem)

  • Gen2ly April 7, 2010, 6:55 pm

    Besides Slackware, I noticed Gentoo’s hasn’t changed much either. Cool profiles, thanks.

  • headsup April 8, 2010, 9:05 am

    Mandriva was not released until 2005 so the date 1998 is a little wrong.

    In 2005, MandrakeSoft acquired the assets of Lycoris, and purchased Conectiva. As a result of the forced name change, the name Mandriva was selected to reflect the combination of MandrakeSoft and Conectiva.[4]

  • Marcos April 8, 2010, 10:18 am

    @ Patrick Dickey April 7, 2010 at 11:24 am

    ” Centos looked too much like one of those Domain Parking sites to me.”

    LOL!

  • Ace April 8, 2010, 10:40 am

    @Stefan and @Adam,
    Mandriva was way ahead of its time 🙂

  • Jormingo April 10, 2010, 5:54 pm

    @ Patrick Dickey

    Mate, when I saw your comment, I read the comment I was about to post.

    I liked Mandriva’s website the most, and, on CentOS, I was about to say it looked like a stock search webpage. And there’s something geeky but strangely catchy about Slackware’s homepage layout I can’t help but love. Incredible.