--- title: 35 years ago today, Linus Torvalds made a Usenet post... description: Thirty-five years ago, Linus Torvalds posted to the comp.os.minix Usenet newsgroup announcing that he was building a free operating system for 386/486 AT... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/35-years-ago-today-linus-torvalds-made-a-usenet-post-that-introduced-linux-to-the-world-nhtsy0zo5 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: 35 years ago today, Linus Torvalds made a Usenet post that introduced Linux to the world | daily.dev og:description: Thirty-five years ago, Linus Torvalds posted to the comp.os.minix Usenet newsgroup announcing that he was building a free operating system for 386/486 AT... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/35-years-ago-today-linus-torvalds-made-a-usenet-post-that-introduced-linux-to-the-world-nhtsy0zo5 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/NhTsY0zO5.png og:image:alt: 35 years ago today, Linus Torvalds made a Usenet post that introduced Linux to the world og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 35 years ago today, Linus Torvalds made a Usenet post that introduced Linux to the world **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 2 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Thirty-five years ago, Linus Torvalds posted to the comp.os.minix Usenet newsgroup announcing that he was building a free operating system for 386/486 AT clones, calling it 'just a hobby' and not comparable to GNU. Inspired by Minix, the project would go on to become Linux, released on September 17, 1991, and eventually grow into a dominant force in the open-source world. The piece reflects on the humble, self-deprecating tone of that original announcement compared to what Linux became. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What did Linus Torvalds originally say when he first announced Linux on Usenet? Linus Torvalds posted to the comp.os.minix newsgroup on August 25, 1991, describing his project as a free operating system for 386/486 AT clones, calling it 'just a hobby' that 'won't be big and professional like gnu.' He noted it had been in development since April 1991 and asked for feedback, since its file system layout resembled Minix for practical reasons. _Developers curious about open source history can revisit foundational milestones like this through daily.dev._ ### When was Linux first released to the public after being announced? Linux was announced on Usenet on August 25, 1991, and then released on September 17, 1991, marking the transition from a personal hobby project inspired by Minix into what became a major open-source operating system used across millions of devices. _Anyone tracking open-source milestones can follow how projects like Linux evolved via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Linus Torvalds tells The Reg how Linux evolved from solo act](https://daily.dev/posts/linus-torvalds-tells-the-reg-how-linux-evolved-from-solo-act-p4kzkvymw) · The Register · 6 upvotes · 0 comments - [Linux was called 'obsolete' in 1992, and now it powers servers around the world](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-was-called-obsolete-in-1992-and-now-it-powers-servers-around-the-world-shsdtj0ya) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Linux was almost called Freax, and someone renamed it without asking Linus](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-was-almost-called-freax-and-someone-renamed-it-without-asking-linus-l1zj2sfaq) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Celebrating 35 Years of Linux: The Open Source Engine Powering Three Decades of Global Innovation and Infrastructure](https://daily.dev/posts/celebrating-35-years-of-linux-the-open-source-engine-powering-three-decades-of-global-innovation-an-z0ocoogoh) · Linux Foundation · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/35-years-ago-today-linus-torvalds-made-a-usenet-post-that-introduced-linux-to-the-world-nhtsy0zo5) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"35 years ago today, Linus Torvalds made a Usenet post that introduced Linux to the world","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/35-years-ago-today-linus-torvalds-made-a-usenet-post-that-introduced-linux-to-the-world-nhtsy0zo5","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/35-years-ago-today-linus-torvalds-made-a-usenet-post-that-introduced-linux-to-the-world-nhtsy0zo5"},"datePublished":"2026-08-25T07:08:58.873Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:32:03.574Z","description":"Thirty-five years ago, Linus Torvalds posted to the comp.os.minix Usenet newsgroup announcing that he was building a free operating system for 386/486 AT...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/0b172205f6f3a545d16ba3f4289888db?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/0b172205f6f3a545d16ba3f4289888db?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/35-years-ago-today-linus-torvalds-made-a-usenet-post-that-introduced-linux-to-the-world-nhtsy0zo5","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source,linux","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"35 years ago today, Linus Torvalds made a Usenet post that introduced Linux to the world"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/35-years-ago-today-linus-torvalds-made-a-usenet-post-that-introduced-linux-to-the-world-nhtsy0zo5#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What did Linus Torvalds originally say when he first announced Linux on Usenet?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Linus Torvalds posted to the comp.os.minix newsgroup on August 25, 1991, describing his project as a free operating system for 386/486 AT clones, calling it 'just a hobby' that 'won't be big and professional like gnu.' He noted it had been in development since April 1991 and asked for feedback, since its file system layout resembled Minix for practical reasons. Developers curious about open source history can revisit foundational milestones like this through daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"When was Linux first released to the public after being announced?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Linux was announced on Usenet on August 25, 1991, and then released on September 17, 1991, marking the transition from a personal hobby project inspired by Minix into what became a major open-source operating system used across millions of devices. Anyone tracking open-source milestones can follow how projects like Linux evolved via daily.dev."}}]} ```