Linux distributions are available both via anonymous FTP and via mail order on diskette, tape, and CD−ROM. There are many checklists and comparative reviews of Linux distributions out there. The Linux Weekly News site, in addition to being an excellent general source of news and information, carries a weekly report on distributions with pointers to many of them. In the dim and ancient past when this HOWTO was first written (1992−93), most people got Linux by tortuous means involving long downloads off the Internet or a BBS onto their DOS machines, followed by an elaborate procedure which transferred the downloads onto multiple floppy disks. One of these disks would then be booted and used to install the other dozen. With luck (and no media failures) you'd finish your installation many hours later with a working Linux. Or maybe not.