Linux

Broke my dual boot iBook (Mac 9.1.2 and OSX) in about ‘06 and was too poor to replace it; and my still to this day used Psion 5mx was… limited to say the least. I bought a super cheap net book that didn’t have Windows installed. After a week I discovered I could remove the (acer?) oem os and replace it with something I could burn onto a thumb drive. It was called “Ubuntu”, and could apparently do more. Seemed interesting and worth a shot. Stuck with that until the desktop went all weird (unity?) and then migrated to Mint. I only use laptops as a tool, so as long as I had a word processor, browser and media player alongside a traditional file system I was quite happy.

Sometime in the late 2000s. Bought a used netbook and didn't know it was running on Ubuntu. Over the years I went through PeppermintOS, Crunchbang, BunsenLabs, Antergos, Arch, and many others. Now I'm on Mint because I don't have the time to maintain my OS and just need something that works. The graph meme where long time users end up with a "basic" distro in the end is somewhat true.

I started with RedHat 6.1, codenamed Cartman, on an i386. My god, the pain, the failed boots, the fail testing and source building by way of multi CD's provided through magazines. It was great

Now, many years later, after many, many different distros, after several immutable distros, I've ended up with NixOS, because I still like getting punished by my software.

Suck it, nix users. You know it to be true.

My first Linux distro was Mandrake. I'm not exactly sure when it was, but FiveStar sounds about right, so 2003 or so. I've since used Gentoo, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and possibly some others. I did use Windows 8.1 for a good few years, but came back to Linux when I saw where Windows was headed. Right now I'm on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, which is pretty darn good, and thinking of maybe hopping on to OpenMandriva, though not out of any real necessity. I have a PinePhone and have used Mobian and PosmarketOS on it. There's also my first generation Raspberry Pi running Raspbian.

The way modern commercial OSs are developing, I'm extremely glad something like Linux exists. Libre software is the future.

Half a year ago I tried it but I have destroyed the system so bad, that even live usb wouldn't boot. Few months ago I have tried again, seems in time what was broken before got fixed by itself also I stuck with it this time and love using it.

Started more than 2 years ago with Ubuntu, now I'm on EndeavourOS.

Started out with Mandrake in 1998 and got into Debian shortly after. I moved to Gentoo in 2002. In the later 2000s I only used my desktop for gaming and stopped dual booting for many years. My home server runs BSD and I was using a 2010 MacBook as my laptop. The only Linux box in my home was my HTPC, running Ubuntu.

When I heard of Proton I started dual booting again. In 2020 I got rid of Windows and the aging MacBook. Since then my desktop, laptop and HTPC run on Arch. The server is still FreeBSD.

bout 20 years ago, i was using knoppix and dyne:bolic... then backtrack, then kali...
linux mint, kubuntu, lubuntu... ubuntu...
probably because i like programming and thought hacking was kool...
I think im gonna try Void Linux next... i've heard great things...
i've still kept my dual boot all this time, because of a couple programs... and a backup for when i brick my linux partition...

I tried a long time ago on Mandrake or Mandriva, cannot remember. Didn't stick and eventually after trying to use Windows 10 on a HDD, Linux Mint welcomed me with open arms. Now duel booting on OpenSuse but haven't started Windows in 6 months. I just don't need it anymore. Thanks to the Wine and proton teams!

I started using linux as my mac got unusable with macOS First touch with Linux I had in Work, i test our products which run on an embedded Linux yocto build.

Now, my phone and my buisness windows are now the only proprietary OSs I use (have a pinePhone, bit it is not daily drivable for me)

Now I have the old macbookpro5,2 running Arch and my iMac running openSuse TW. For my smart home, I have a pi Zero 2W running hombridge via hoobs. Ah yea and a router on a board that I got from a friend running on OpnSense. With him I have a proxmox server running.

Dabbled in Linux Mint in 2013-14. Recently started using Linux more frequently. Started out on Pop OS this past June/July but moved to Opensuse Tumbleweed as my main OS. I do still have my Windows drive but havent ran into any issues where I needed to boot it up.

1999. I liked fooling with computers and installed it just to see what it was. I went through several distros over the next few years, Mandrake, Suse, Red Hat, compiled Gentoo from scratch, and finally settled on Slackware. It was my only OS for 14-15 years until I started a business in 2016 and needed software that's only available in Windows. I only use Windows on my PC now because my computer does weird boot stuff that screws up dual boots and I don't really use the PC that much anyway. I still use Linux on small servers for media and home automation

4 months now, Debian Gnome. Its on a laptop from work. Knowing what I want and how to secure things they gave me local admin rigths on Win11 to convert the device to dual boot. Slowly getting to know my way around.

overall - only a few years constantly - just a few months on mint now. I find I get frustrated at some things that I believe should be easy, but seem super convoluted. I'm sure its the years of windows BS beat into me thats making me show my bias, but im learning. I want it on my main PC but figured I would learn on a junker hp dual core pc first. I'm shocked at the amount of things I can now do on it where as with windows, it was useless. Only thing stopping me from putting it on my main pc is gaming. Once I learn more and figure out a good destro for gaming, i plan to switch everything over.

I started dualbooting W10 and openSUSE Tumbleweed in October of 2022, I got tired of Windows 10 and having to enter regedit to change basic things (they solved some things with winget tbh), using inconsistent UIs and submenus to change other ones. Also, I had constant performance issues, then driver issues that most people told me I'd have in Linux, but have been barely existent.

Since then I barely use Windows, I mostly start it for uni projects and to play Minecraft Bedrock because I get dizzy if I play in bigger screens. I also have less issues with my printer/scanner and the performance has been better. I also love customization and having the option to write small scripts to solve small issues nobody else cares about makes me so happy. There was some software I wanted to try too and couldn't because it was not available on Windows or it was unusable, like Docker (and WSL was uncomfortable to use; inconsistent file names if you don't use W10 in english don't help either).

It's been a great journey, I love troubleshooting and I've been able to solve all issues I found in Linux, while Microsoft Support only said to me: "Have you tried reinstalling Windows?". I'd say that using Linux daily has helped me to learn more about FOSS, containerization and operating systems, while also helping me develop more skills to solve problems by finding solutions or creating them :)

About 2 years ago but I can't believe it's been that long tbh. I started with Ubuntu but switched to arch after about a year mainly because I enjoyed the challenge and learning involved in installing it through a command line. I understand my computer a little more because of it.

I chose Linux mainly for privacy reasons; I didn't enjoy having a spyware as my OS but my friends call me crazy for going as far as I have to avoid being tracked. Idk it just bothers me.

Dabbled in it since 2006. About 2012 i had problems with my network card on windows, flipped out and just installed Linux on my main home computer and have not used windows at home since.

Started with Ubuntu and it's flavors, recently had problems with snap packages, flipped out and installed the first non Ubuntuoid distro that promised an easy install so I could get back to whatever I was doing at the time. I currently have Manjaro at home.

First install was Fedora core 6 it came with like 5 or 6 cds. This would have been mid 2000s I was mostly using it offline and then reinstalled windows so I could game on the lan with AoE and cossacks. (I had 2 PCs beside each other)

The in 08 I installed Ubuntu , 4 years later was Debian and ive been at home with Debian since.

Its been great to see the improvements over this time particularly in gaming.

I still use Ubuntu in work.

Must have been 2001 or 2002, and I started with the Red Hat CD that came in the back of my friend’s Linux For Dummies book.

In highschool, back in 2007, I got my first taste of Linux in my highschool electronics class. The class was mostly focused on electrical engineering, however we had a computer in the room for research and for whatever reason, my teacher was a hardcore Linux guy. We talked about it for hours and eventually, I ordered a CD from Ubuntu by mail and installed it on my home PC, a computer that originally ran Windows ME. I've primarily used Windows since I do a fair bit of gaming, but I've always maintained a linux partition of some kind. On my laptop, I'm currently testing out the latest Ubuntu release, but before that, I was running Linux Mint DE in the Mate flavor with BSPWM as the window manager. On my main PC, I have a Windows 10 partition, and a Garuda Linux partition. Garuda is running Mate with BSPWM as well. The funny thing is, I'm not really a tech guy. I just like it and use it mostly just as a consumer. I can work my way around and fix most things when they break, but I'm more likely to just nuke my installation and spin up a new one when things get really bad. I'm planning a full PC upgrade soon and plan to go AMD instead of Nvidia so I can enjoy Wayland. The latest Gnome release feels really good and matches my rose tinted memories of Unity from way back when. Hoping to run that, but may still mess with a tiling window manager set up as well.

Just started getting into it with the Win11 bullshit. I come to find that I can customize KDE to pretty much replicate every single thing I like (or just used to) about the Windows experience and toss everything else out. Fedora KDE has me hooked. No plans on going back.

For a while in middle school I would spin up Ubuntu or something similar in a VM just to look at it, but never really used it. The first time I really used Linux was Raspbian on my Raspberry Pi 2 that I got in 8th grade. As I went on tinkering with Linux, I eventually replaced Windows with Ubuntu on my HP Stream since it ran better, and by my Junior year of high school I was daily driving it. Now I'm using Parrot OS Home on my laptop and GhostBSD (I know its not Linux, but Linux led to me trying it) on my desktop

Around 1998 I'd guess. Some loadlin based setup on my friends Windows machine. Don't recall the name. I remember running Mandrake shortly after that.

I've hopped back and fourth between many distros, and gone back to Windows a few times over those years. But I've been using Linux as my daily driver for about a decade now. Currently using and enjoying NixOS.

Almost two decades ago, as a teenager, I decided to give Linux a try as a bit of fun and as a learning activity. I put Ubuntu 6.06 on an old Windows 95 desktop which was languishing in a cupboard having been long replaced. The install disc was, I'm fairly sure, a freebie that came with a magazine. I was amazed at how easy it was to install and how smoothly it ran, and had lots of fun playing around with it and learning the ropes.

Have had a Linux machine or two on the go ever since. At some point in the last decade I made the switch from using Windows as my main OS to using Linux as my main, and these days I only use Windows on my corporate-provisioned work laptops.

I'm still an Ubuntu user. I've distro hopped occasionally, and Debian has a place in my heart, but I always came back to Ubuntu. There's a lot of meming about Ubuntu being terrible, but the reality is that it remains an incredibly polished, high-quality, "just works" OS which largely keeps out of my way.

Over the last two decades I moved into software engineering as a career, although I've since moved out of the industry onto non-techy things. Linux continues to scratch my techy itch in my spare time.

2004 (Ubuntu) - 2024 (Arch)

Fucking still at home

When I was 14 and got my second PC. That must have been around 2005 or so?

Installed Red Hat, printed a book about C and gave up rather quickly.

Ubuntu 6.04 or so (Dapper Drake?) Was the first one that I actually used for real.

2009 i started studying computer science. Having windows on my Laptop wasnt helpful when compiling c, that was my first encounter with Linux (especially Ubuntu). Was running Xubuntu most of the time because i didnt like Unity.

Stopped using Linux after finishing my degree, since Linux wasnt useful for gaming or my work.

Skip forward to 2020. Hadnt really used Linux for anything for years, then windows 11 was announced. Didnt like where this was going and tested out Manjaro, since gaming on linux was supposed to be "okay".

Didnt like Manjaro and tried out EndeavourOS. All games that mattered at the time ran good. Switched to AMD graphics, deleted windows completly from my drive and use Linux exclusivly for private usage.

Also installed EndeavourOS on my work laptop and use a Windows VM if needed.

I dont want to go back to using windows for daily stuff ever

About in 2008-2009. I was about 15 years old. One of my teachers installed ubuntu on school computers. Remember playing around with wobbly windows and desktop cube and having a blast.

I didn't use much linux at home though until college about 2013 when I put it on my laptops. Took until like 2018 to fully switch. I ditched the last windows VM with GPU passthrough when its boot drive died.

Startet using Linux in 1999. Then I did a lot of distro hopping:

• Redhat
• Suse Linux
• Gentoo
• Sabayon Linux
• Debian
• Kdenlive
• Arch
• Ubuntu Studio
• Fedora
• Fedora Silverblue
• since 2017 NixOS

NixOS feels very contemporary and will stay a while. It is very advanced and usable in many diverse environments. In the past I did learn a lot installing and maintaining Debian and Arch – which has a great community.

I first installed Ubuntu on a laptop in 2016. I started using linux full-time in 2017 with Ubuntu MATE and I'm now on EndeavourOS after trying these:

• Ubuntu
• Lubuntu
• KDE Neon
• Antergos
• Manjaro
• Arch

I use Debian and Arch on home servers, and I want to install OpenSUSE Slowroll to replace my Arch server (it hasn't broken yet)

As far as I'm concerned it's still 2018 and the year of the linux desktop....

I installed Linux on my personal computer about 3 months ago. I have been running EndeavourOS and recommend it.

It all started when every browser dropped support on my old MacBook. I installed arch Linux and was completely blown away by the increase in performance. It's insane how much MacOS was holding me back. Insane. Decided to buy a new drive for my desktop computer and installed Manjaro on a trial basis, leaving windows as a fallback option if needed. A week later I installed EndeavourOS and got rid of windows altogether.

It has been a bumpy road, lots of small little problems. Nvidia GPU certainly doesn't help.

I first experienced Linux around 2020 when Windows was getting super slow on my gaming pc at the time but couldn’t make the jump because I was still heavy into games like League of Legends. I started off hopping around with Mint, Elementary and Fedora.

Once I started moving towards playing retro games on emulator and gaming on Switch I made the switch. I did A LOT of distro hopping and was never satisfied. Now I’ve finally settled on Fedora and built it from the ground up with the Everything iso and running Qtile. Using Linux has made me realize I love tinkering with computers, electronics and it has made me interested in programming. It’s been a ride (though a short one), but it has helped me find new interests I didn’t know I had and learn there’s a lot more than just Windows.

i started with mandrake linux in 2002, and now i use linux mint. i've tried and used a dozen distros in between.

It was Red Hat Linux 8.0 (not to be confused with RHEL 8), I think, that I first dabbled in Linux, that was around early 2003, and then I moved on to Fedora Core 1. But I went exclusively-Linux with Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) in 2006.

I've moved around since then but for the last 5 years I've ended up back on Fedora, where I've been since version 28, now version 39.

I think it was 1998 or so? I put Mandrake on my Sony Vaio Pentium II MMX.

I'm trying out Fedora again on an AMD Ryzen 5 system I built last year. Was running Nobara for several months prior. And Mint for about 10 years before that. Prior to that I was on MacOS and/or Windows. I don't think I had a Linux system at that time.

I was in college looking to avoid writing papers, and I installed Ubuntu Feisty Fawn (2007). Still run Linux PC s and servers. Work with Windows all day :p

I started messing around with Linux when I was ~15. I was trying to install it on an old laptop so I could actually use it. I started with Debian before moving to Linux mint. Eventually I bought a raspberry pi and started to tinker with that and made my own website for shits and giggles. Eventually, I kinda stopped tinkering with Linux for a while

Flash forward a few years and my job has a piece of software that boots into a live gentoo environment in order to perform hard drive wiping, and I got a lot more familiar with the Linux command line (bash in this case) as I had to do a lot of troubleshooting as well as testing as I was in technical support and then later QA. This was also my first experience with VI, as I had to edit configuration files while inside of the live environment.

At that point, I started to experiment with Linux again, and even managed to install arch on my laptop. I did end up switching to Manjaro as my daily driver, as I couldn't be assed to spend enough time to get arch working how I needed. I also now have an Ubuntu server (I know) that I use as a media and game server, and continue to daily drive manjaro though I'm planning on switching to EndeavorOS soon.

1998 - was working for a company using RedHat as a dev environment for AIX mini computer based software.

Started to dual boot my own pc of the time with Win95/8 and RedHat, then Mandrake Linux. Since then I've dual booted every PC I've owned with various distros.

When cfw for ps3 came out you needed either a ti-84 calculator or an iphone to put the firmware on the console. I had an iphone so installed ubuntu on my pc so i could dual boot ios and android on the phone then replace android with the cfw. I never even knew there was anything but windows back then.

I really started with Pop!_OS in early April of last year after watching a dual boot setup guide from LTT. I'm currently on Gentoo, tho I prefer Arch.