Amber Linux Fundraiser
Ten-Year Linux Mint Fundraiser

Vintage Computing
Auction

Four original pieces of computing history — a 1990s Slackware manual, a set of OpenSUSE documentation, and two IBM 8086 Technical Reference binders — up for auction. Every penny of the proceeds goes directly to Linux Mint.

This is part of my ten-year Linux Mint sponsorship celebration. The auction closes on 1 May 2027 — the ten-year mark. Bid by email. No platform fees. No intermediaries. Donation proof shared with every winning bidder.

Contact to Bid →
Auction closes
1 May 2027
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All proceeds to Linux Mint — no deductions.

Auction Items

Four lots. All originals.

No reprints. No photocopies. These are the physical artefacts — handled, used, and kept for thirty years.

1990s Rare

Original Slackware Manual

The printed manual that shipped with Slackware in the mid-1990s. This is not a photocopy or a reprint — it is the physical document I used to install Linux on a home-built Intel 486 DX2 machine, hand-editing XF86Config for VGA timing, reading the pkgtool instructions by desk lamp, and figuring out how a UNIX filesystem worked before the internet was a useful place to look things up.

It covers installation from floppy disk, basic system administration, the X Window System setup process (including the sync-rate warnings that would prove personally relevant), networking with PPP, and the early Linux package format. A document from the year Linux was genuinely difficult and the people who used it knew exactly why they were there.

Condition

Well-loved. Some wear on spine and cover, pages intact and readable. The kind of marks that come from actually using it.

Opening bid £20

IBM binders can also be bid as a pair — opening bid £60 for both. State your interest in the email.

Place a bid by email → andre@amberlinux.org
2000s Complete

OpenSUSE Manual Set

A set of original printed OpenSUSE documentation — the kind that Novell/SUSE produced when Linux distributions still shipped comprehensive printed manuals as a matter of course.

These are the real thing: installation guides, system administration references, and configuration documentation from the era when a Linux distribution came in a box with a printed manual because that was simply what serious software did. Each volume is thorough in the way printed technical documentation had to be — there was no "just search for it."

Condition

Good. Minimal shelf wear. Covers clean, pages crisp. Stored flat.

Opening bid £15

IBM binders can also be bid as a pair — opening bid £60 for both. State your interest in the email.

Place a bid by email → andre@amberlinux.org
1980s Original IBM

IBM 8086 Technical Reference Binder — Vol. I

An original IBM Technical Reference Manual binder for the 8086 processor family — the kind that came out of IBM's Boca Raton facility when the IBM PC was a new thing and every byte of the architecture was documented because IBM expected engineers to actually read it.

These binders are what serious hardware developers and system programmers worked from in the early 1980s. They contain the complete hardware interface specification, BIOS source listings, and circuit schematics — the document that made the IBM PC an open architecture and, indirectly, made the entire PC industry possible. An artefact from the moment computing became something that happened on desks rather than in air-conditioned rooms.

Condition

Good for age. Binder intact, dividers present, pages complete. Some yellowing consistent with 40-year-old paper.

Opening bid £35

IBM binders can also be bid as a pair — opening bid £60 for both. State your interest in the email.

Place a bid by email → andre@amberlinux.org
1980s Original IBM

IBM 8086 Technical Reference Binder — Vol. II

The second binder from the same IBM Technical Reference set — the companion volume covering expanded hardware interfaces, peripheral specifications, and additional BIOS documentation. Together, Vol. I and Vol. II form the complete reference set.

They can be bid on individually or as a pair. If purchasing as a pair, the combined reserve price applies (see below). Either way, both are going to the same destination: all proceeds directly to Linux Mint, the distribution that kept this tradition of documented, open computing alive long after IBM stopped printing binders.

Condition

Good for age. Matching set with Vol. I. Binder intact, contents complete.

Opening bid £35

IBM binders can also be bid as a pair — opening bid £60 for both. State your interest in the email.

Place a bid by email → andre@amberlinux.org
Process

How the auction works

01

Send a bid by email

Email andre@amberlinux.org with the lot name, your bid amount (in GBP), your name, and a postal address for shipping. There is no minimum increment. State if you are bidding on both IBM binders as a pair.

02

Highest bid wins

The auction closes at midnight on 1 May 2027. The highest bid received by email before that time wins. In the event of a tied bid, the earlier timestamp wins. Winners are contacted within 48 hours of closing.

03

Payment and shipping

Payment details are agreed directly with the winning bidder. Items are shipped tracked and insured from the UK. Shipping cost is covered by the buyer and agreed before payment. International shipping available.

04

Proceeds go to Linux Mint

Once payment clears, the full amount — minus only the actual shipping cost — is donated to Linux Mint via linuxmint.com/donors.php. A screenshot of the donation confirmation is emailed to every winning bidder within 7 days of their item dispatching.

Authenticity

Verify before you bid

Anyone can claim to be running a "Linux Mint fundraiser auction." Before trusting this page — or anyone making similar claims — verify independently.

01
Check the Linux Mint community forums

My sponsorship history and this auction are announced and verifiable at forums.linuxmint.com. Look for a post tied to the same email address (andre@amberlinux.org) and cross-reference the auction details. A legitimate post has years of forum history behind it — not a fresh account created to run a fundraiser.

02
Donation links must point to linuxmint.com only

The only legitimate destination for Linux Mint donations is linuxmint.com/donors.php. I will never ask you to send money to a crypto address, a third-party fundraising platform, or any destination other than the official Mint site or directly to me (andre@amberlinux.org) for the purchase of these items.

03
If in doubt, donate directly — skip the auction entirely

If anything about this page or my emails does not feel right, please ignore this auction and donate directly to Linux Mint with no intermediary. The goal is to raise money for Linux Mint. The auction is one mechanism. A direct donation to linuxmint.com/donors.php achieves the same thing without any trust required on your part.

Go direct to Linux Mint: linuxmint.com/donors.php
The reason

Why this auction exists

On 1 May 2017 I made my first monthly donation to Linux Mint. Not because anyone asked me to — because Linux Mint had become the operating system I used every day, and I thought the people building it deserved reliable funding.

Thirty years ago I installed Slackware on a home-built Intel 486 DX2 with 1 MB of RAM, almost cooked the VGA card getting XFree86 configured, and spent two years learning what a real operating system looked like from the inside out. That experience — frustrating, slow, and deeply educational — is the reason I still care about Linux enough to sponsor its development a decade later.

The manuals in this auction are the physical record of that journey. The Slackware manual is the one I actually used. The IBM 8086 binders are the architectural foundation underneath every PC that ever ran Linux. The OpenSUSE documentation is from the era when distributions still thought it was worth printing what they knew.

They should go to someone who will appreciate what they represent. And the money they raise should go to the project that kept that tradition alive.