When did you start using Linux and what distro?

[zorba64]

Has this one been done before? Hope not.

Anyway... I started in 2000 using Dragon Linux which was Slackware Linux 7.0 designed to run on windows fat32 filesystem, if I remember rightly.

It took me about two days to get a gui up and running and I remember my first meeting with "vi".

I think I reset the machine as I had no idea what to do with all those tildes. :smile:

Michael

[dizzie]

1992/93 (kernel 0.98) Distro? Well, was a migrate from a bit of this and that, what you today can call LFS. My first "real distro" was RedHat 2.0 :)

- Been using Linux ever since. Had a "dark" period where i used OpenBSD and NetBSD, but shhh! :)

[krusbjorn]

i started about a month ago, just choosing a random distro that was said to be newbie-friendly. happened to be Yoper, but i quite soon realized it was crap, and went hutning for another one. found ubuntu, and here i am, happier than ever ;)

[hard_i]

about three months ago , tried Suse and Fedora about a week , but i'm really being USING linux since I installed Ubuntu in January.

[Slapdash]

Saw Linux for the first time in 99 I think Suse 5 I think it was could be mistaken.

Then in 2003 I downloaded Mandrake. Used it a bit but not lots, just switched it on now and then to play / show people , and then in 2004 it was Mandrake 9 and 10 started experimenting with Linux then Moved to Ubuntu..then moved to MEPIS ( SORRY!!! ) and then moved back to Ubuntu about 2 months ago. I have decided to stick to Ubuntu but also start using Fedora because so many companies here in SA requires "Red Hat Linux experience" so just not to alienate myself completely If I ever become good enough to be a Linux Admin( or User ), yeah thats my experience if you can call it that.

[Zaphod_B]

Actually, I started using Linux at the end of 1994 using Suse Linux 11/94, which was a slackware those days.

Mi first try with a floppy SLS version a few month before failed but the Suse installation stayed on my System for 2 years, then I got a new System with a new Suse.

It was a nice System.

[A-star]

Actually, I started using Linux at the end of 1994 using Suse Linux 11/94, which was a slackware those days.

Mi first try with a floppy SLS version a few month before failed but the Suse installation stayed on my System for 2 years, then I got a new System with a new Suse.

It was a nice System.
first tried linux some 5 years ago,
was a big catastrofe then,
during these 5 years I cheched once in a while how linux behaved for my needs, only recently I changed completely to linux.

[gw90se]

When did I start using linux? About a month ago when I installed Ubuntu. Before that I have loaded Red Hat and Mandrake. I can't say I used them though because I spent so much time trying to get thing installed and working.

[kevanf1]

I first used *nix back in 1996. Note, used not administered. That was one of Unix flavours - not sure which as it was at the uni I worked at. I had to get to grips with chmod etc because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to set up a website. I first tried Linux in about 1998. Disaster! The about a year later I tried Corel Linux - who remembers that then? Xandros took them over and debatedly made it better. I got Corel sort of running, surprisingly enough I even managed to get it connected up to the uni LAN. I don't know how because I hadn't got a clue what I was doing :confused: Then I spent time in Australia - I'm based in the UK - and picked up the Pocket Book series with Red Hat and Mandrake on it ( 7 and 7.2). I came back to the UK and could never get them running properly. Then I won SuSE 9.1 (later I won 9.2 as well) and it just worked :-D Then I got the pack of ten Ubuntu CDs. Oh dear, major problems. The live CD killed my hard drive. Dead, finito, chuck in the bin rubbish. I don't know what happened but I filed a bug report. The standard install CD just wouldn't.....install. But, I vowed to try again. So, with a new graphic card - and hard drive of course - I tried again last Sunday. Success :-) Now all I've got to do is get a modem up and running. My USR one died - I don't have much luck do I :cry: Which means I am having to type this on a w2k tin, sorry everybody. I really do prefer Linux.

Take care all.

Kevan

[lordofkhemenu]

Well, dizzie has got me beat for sure...but I started in 1996 with Redhat, Slackware, Debian ("potatoe"? Very ugly install process whatever version it was it kept me away) and Caldera (all were part of a Linux Mall "6 Pack"). I think RH was at 4.1 or 4.2 in '96. dizz, maybe you could confirm or correct that?
I did it the hard way, too. During one of my fast n furious installs of the 6 pack, I wiped out my Windows partition - and didn't have a Windohs restore or system recovery disk. I'm not too sure it was accidental, though...Regardless, I haven't looked back, haven't regretted it one iota.
My site has the full story (http://lordofkhemenu.com).

[Buffalo Soldier]

Middle of 1997 - RedHat 4.x & Caldera (gave up after a few weeks and back to MS)

Nov 2004 - Ubuntu and it's been with me ever since :)

[HungSquirrel]

RedCrap 7.3, early 2002. I eventually saw the light and tried other distros.

[-Rick-]

Gentoo was the first distro I installed(in september last year), before that I loaded some live cd's but didn't really give it too much attention.
After using gentoo for a while I wanted something that didn't took so much time and had a decent package management system...couldn't think of anything better then ubuntu :)

[oddabe19]

started in 2002 sometime....
2002 - Mandrake 9.0 (only because mandrake was the only one i've ever heard of at the time)
I attempted at the 2002 versions of Gentoo, Debian, slackware, suse and other with little success.
later 2002/2003 - Redhat 7.3/8/9/FC 1, started using Linux 99.9% of the time.
Early 2004 - FC 2... which fscked up my system really badly.
Early 2004 Tried Gentoo again, liked it... but started using Debian...
Mid 2004 - Debian on all my PC's/servers
Late 2004 - Ubuntu became my home... Hoary when the repos came online.

Happy ever since. I've tried so many live cd's as well... i always keep several handy, just... in... case.... *shifty eyes*

[dewfis]

Started with Slack from something called the InfoMagick CD, which contained 3 distros. This was long about 1995. Actually, the first was a commercial SCO UNIX about 1993.

Then went RedHat, SuSE, Debian, Mandrake, with a little Mepis, Knoppix, Gentoo on the side as dual boots.

These days, I no longer buy the major commercial distros, like RH, SUSE, Mandrake. They've become too much like Microsoft.

[dizzie]

Well, dizzie has got me beat for sure...but I started in 1996 with Redhat, Slackware, Debian ("potatoe"? Very ugly install process whatever version it was it kept me away) and Caldera (all were part of a Linux Mall "6 Pack"). I think RH was at 4.1 or 4.2 in '96. dizz, maybe you could confirm or correct that?

RH 4.x was '96/'97 - Got it my self thru buying a InfoMagick(i think it was called) - 3 distros (RH 4.0, Slack 2.0, and a 3rd which i have forgotten, prolly a Debian 1.x)

I think the Rh 4.0 had the codename "colgate" or something silly. :mrgreen:

Been spending all day doing back up and installing Ubuntu on all my PC's :)
Why? - Easy to answer: Ubuntu is easy to install and administer + it is a nonBS system (no freakin bloatware installed)

If i was single and met a girl named Ubuntu, i would marry her 8)

[poofyhairguy]

For me it was last september. I just decided one day that I was bored with Windows, and I wanted something new. I tried mandrake for two weeks, suse for two weeks, debian sid for two weeks (then when I couldn't get Sid to work right)- Ubuntu.

Ever since...

[neom]

My first linux distro was mandrake 2 and I HATED it. It put my off linux for almost a year. -nothing- worked on it, and I took me AGES to configure it, and if I ever added anything new, it NEVER worked. gah, I really really hated that distro.

After that I ran redhat for around 2 years, and now I'm on ubuntu and lovin' it. :D

[KiwiNZ]

1998/99 and from memory Redhat 6

[jayded]

Redhat 4.0 back in '95 or '96.
I've tried every other major distro since then, Caldera, Mandrake, Suse, Debian, Slackware, Corel, Turbo etc. etc.
I also ran FreeBSD for a while.

Last few years have been Fedora (ugghhhh) and now I am happy on Ubuntu.

[lordofkhemenu]

If i was single and met a girl named Ubuntu, i would marry her 8)
If she looked like the blonde chick of the Ubuntu "calendar" & "human" series wallpapers, and gdm themes, darn tootin' =P~

[wulf]

Late 90's and Redhat 5 or thereabouts (came with a book on Linux). I toyed with Linux for the next few years, normally having a Linux machine around somewhere but not often booting it, because I didn't normally know what I wanted to do when I got there.

Phatlinux (c. 1999) was quite significant - it ran from within a windows partition and I quite often booted into it at lunchtimes to run simple games but it did give me my first glimpse of a slick looking Linux desktop (probably KDE2 or earlier!).

The next turning point was when I started using Suse (7.2?) on my second machine at work. It didn't get used all the time but did allow me to start building Linux based websites. When I got a new main machine I installed Win2K but discovered HD problems (which weren't clearly signalled until, out of frustration, I put Mandrake 9.0 on it). After replacing the disk, I decided to stick with Mandrake as my main desktop system and the Windows become the OS on the secondary box.

Now I'm using Ubuntu on my main machine at work and 99% of the time on my laptop at home and I think I'd feel very limited trying to do the things I do in a Windows only environment.

Wulf

[Noel Cower]

I started around 1999 when my parents got me my own PC for my birthday and a copy of Mandrake 6.5. I installed it thinking it would be all cool and stuff - sorely mistaken as Mandrake, and most software, at the time was really quite hideous. Promptly went back to Windows afterwards. I can't remember when, but eventually I asked my sister (she's the only person in this family that lives somewhere with broadband.. sad, I know) to download Mandrake 9 and Slackware 10 so I could try them out. I installed both of them and found Slackware more to my liking (still not quite sure why), so I've stuck with it since then.

Now I ordered a few CDs of Ubuntu so I could attempt to get more people around town using Linux (I intend to drop some off at the local library and internet cafe), and of course I'll be trying it out too as I've heard only good things about it (usually there's an "I liked it, but.." when you ask about other distributions).

So, if I like Ubuntu I'll let you all know (still haven't found a Linux distribution that works really well for desktop stuff) :) In any case, I'm definitely looking forward to giving it a shot.

[StacyWebb]

Around 1998 with Caldrea OpenLinux. I still actually own the orginal cds.

[Noel Cower]

Around 1998 with Caldrea OpenLinux. I still actually own the orginal cds.
Love the avatar, StacyWebb :)

[machiner]

1997/8 - Caldera Linux. Sucked - but I was lazy...bought some admin books - they collect dust.

After supporting win (pick an admin role) since 1998 I decided I had had enough of that windows nonesense....freakin' apathetic and st*&id end-users....same old problems, same lack of interest in learning/working their computers. Same corporate stupidity and greed.

I had enough with anti-viruses as well ( the being diligent part - I never personally suffered any malady that I didn't create) - and if I couldn't find a backup...or whatever - I got pretty sick of taking hours setting windows up enough to "go online" and be useable.

in March of 2004 I downloaded and installed Red-Hat 9. Seemed pretty stable, fast, et al -- but I couldn't get networking and I didn't really want to do kernel recompiles (chicken) so I downloaded and installed Mandrake. What a joke that was -- it was different every time I installed it...and many things simply didn't work or were broken. This was mdk 10. Then I did the distro dance.

I liked Debian (still waiting for 3.1), Slack, Mepis (sort of) Yoper (sort of - it's got problems)...really liked Libranet (waiting for version 3) ...and a few others.

I ran Fedora 2 and then 3 for a little while. THey were road-hogs, though.

Found Ubuntu in October - right after Warty was released, installed it and here I am running Ubuntu (Hoary, sloppy) right now.

In fact in about 2-3 months I'll be opening RightCoast (rightcoastweb.com). It's another project of mine that will focus on a few things - one of them will be helping people migrate from windows to Linux (Ubuntu - definately Debain, maybe proper, Ubuntu or Libranet -- although Librantet is $$$). I won't ever support windows again, but I could really get into supporting Linux (taking back my "I'll never be admin" stance). It's just as easy as it is tedious and difficult...and OH - the things one can do with Linux.


Woohoo!