lol

Where am I be able to download a older release of gnome (linux) , like gnome 1.x ?

Hello Asphalt,

The definitive source of GNOME software is
  http://www.gnome.org/
or more specifically on the gnome ftp site at
  http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/gnome-core/
There are several versions of GNOME 1.x (starting with 0.99 through
1.5) at this location.

If you browse the web site, (parent directory) you can find similar
directories for the other gnome products (other than the 1.x core).

However, I should also note at
  http://www.gnome.org/start/2.8/
there is the statement...
  "While we recommend obtaining GNOME from your distributor, our
sources are always available for you to build GNOME from scratch. See
the Release Notes for links to build scripts or the installation order
to help you."

So if you have a particular Linux distribution like Red Hat, you can
get the source and binary from that distribution site. For Red Hat
version 6 for example, the GNOME version was 1.0.4 and can be found
at:
  ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/6.0/en/os/i386/SRPMS
for the sources or
  ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/6.0/en/os/i386/RedHat/RPMS
for the x86 binary RPM's. If you match the specific distribution
version, the binary files should be OK. If not, you should build from
source.

I found the overall information through simple search phrases such as
  gnome download
and browsing the site until I found the old versions.

At Red Hat, I "knew" the name of the ftp site so I went directly to
the top of the site and browsed from there.

If you need any additional information related to this question or if
the answer is unclear - please use a clarification request.

  --Maniac