What Linux Distro were you using before Ubuntu?

[rudi]

I've used:

RedHat (various versions)
SuSE (various versions)
Mandrake (various versions)
Slackware (various versions)
Archlinux
Fedora
Debian

Several Live CD's
Knoppix
BioKnoppix
Vigyaan CD
DNA Linux
SuSE live CD

A regular distro shuffler :-D. Can't explain the whole distro shuffler think though. I mean, you've got a working system (sometimes it takes a while to get it to suit your needs) and when everything works the way you like it, you decide to wipe it all out and install another one..... and another one....then change back to the first one..

I've used Slackware for a long time, but when a SuSE live CD messed the install up (weird i know) i returned to my distro shuffling habit. Installed Debian, used it a while till Ubuntu came. Love it. I think it will stay on my disc for a while.

[rosslaird]

I started with Xandros, then went to Debian Sarge, then to Sid, then -- because I was frustrated with the delay in getting some packages up-to-date, I switched to gentoo. That turned out to be a bit of an adventure, and now that Ubuntu seems to be doing well I thought I'd give it a try. I Installed it in about 20 minutes this morning. It seems to have the best of Debian plus a few other tidbits.
Nicely done.

[darkcoder]

Slackware -> RedHat -> Mandrake -> Slackware -> Fedora -> Gentoo & Arch & Ubuntu

I use the latest three in different machines depending on the needs. I found Gentoo to be the best at servers (very little low profile, the only one I do not need to remove things that I do not need), Arch and Ubuntu work very well for desktop machines and are very up to date.

My only complain with Ubuntu is that it should provide an easier way to install things like the Sun Java runtime and Macromedia Flash plugin like Arch and Gentoo provide.

[manobes]

Redhat 5.1-9 > Debian > Ubuntu

[-Rick-]

Gentoo, its nice but after a while I lost my patience for all the compiling

[bilbavo]

actually, i am downloading the ubuntu cd right now.

i really enjoyed gentoo, but i've heard ubuntu was great. i'm going to install it and check it out!

[jerome bettis]

i have used:

suse 9.1 - not bad, but it just didn't feel right for me. lots of apps i didn't need, and yast was very buggy on my system. but overall it was a good first experience with linux. i think if i used it now i might like it a little more, but it still wouldn't feel right.

mandrake 10 - sucked. very bland and a lot my hardware wasn't picked up. i'm not sure why so many people praise mandrake, but i thought it was very sub par. it didn't stay on my system for more than a few hours.

debian 3 - awesome. apt-get owns me for life. if debian didn't have apt, i probably wouldn't care for it. but the package managment is so beautiful it more than makes up for the bloat and out-of-dated-ness (yes that's a word).

damn small linux - not bad for 50 megs. currently installed on an old desktop which is just used to backup files. but no way i could use it day in and day out.

ubuntu - pretty close to perfect. i enjoy using it everyday. after i reconfigured the kitchen sink of a kernel, performance is great. i love the desktop and everything else. right now, it's the perfect distro for me. it just feels right. i could go on, but you all know what i'm talking about.

next will be gentoo, as i think i will enjoy all of the choices it offers. but right now i'll probably still be in over my head with it, so i'm going to hold off until i've experimented with ubuntu enough to know what i'm doing. but there's a good chance i'll be coming back to ubuntu.

[Mute]

I started with Slackware (sometime in 97) and have used Redhat as well, though I must say I do have a new favorite, simply because of ease of use (coming from Slackware anything is basically easier), but the most important part is the community that is involved, simply amazing, kudos to everyone involved.

-Mute

[Sepero]

What? No MS option? ;)

[evangelion]

I'm a former Gentoo user. I used it exclusivley for a bit over 2 years and I've been playing with Linux probably a year or two before that. One day a couple weeks ago I realized that I had just spend about 15 minutes of my life compiling irsii, a text based irc program. Now Gentoo has a lot going for it, and I'd say that the time it takes to compile it's it's single, but fatal flaw. From its package managment to its init system, it's superb. I think I'm just getting lazy in my old age (of 20 heh). So I installed Ubuntu, but unfortunatley I was in a bad mood and the slightest thing set me off ("gstreamer!? rhythmbox? no mp3 support!? no mplayer?!") I was used to Gentoo's "start with nothing, build from there [which I later found out is Ubuntu's Custom Install ](*,) ] I just didn't feel like I was in control, so I quick threw Debian on. I'm still running Debian (Sid) but I do wish I would have been a bit more patient with Ubuntu because it's an excellent distro and the community is almost on par with Gentoo's in its beginnings (lots of great howtos). I do intend to stick around and help people out, and I hope I'll be welcome here even though I'm not exactly using Ubuntu :)

[Kimm]

I am most used to Mandrake 10.0 since its the one I have used the most. But the last distro I used was Fedore Core 2, I used it for like two days then I got sick of it and got rid if it (man... it was unstabel as 200 kg man on a toothpic). I just installed Ubuntu yesterday and it ROCKS!!

Just one question... anyone knows any good CD burning tool for Gnome?
parhaps included on the CD?? or available in synaptic??


I couldn't beleive Linux can be so fast. It is much, much faster then Fedora


I completely agree!!

[adbak]

Just one question... anyone knows any good CD burning tool for Gnome?
parhaps included on the CD?? or available in synaptic??

Gnomebaker, I hear, is good.
But Nautilus (the file browser) does a good job too.

[Bubbling Zombie]

i used slackware (quite happy about it), but a friend gave me some ubuntu-cd's. Going to try it this afternoon :)

[anticapitalista]

As someone new to linux (about 2 months), IMHO I feel that I have been fortunate to have chosen probably the best 2 debian based distros (apart from the original that is). ie MEPIS and Ubuntu.
Anyway this is my brief linux route.
First Windoze XP to Slax live cd (still use Slax occasionally, on an old box, I still think it is great)
Then MEPIS (to be honest it is still my number one choice as I have had less problems in configuration than Ubuntu)
Fedora core 3, but I never really got into it.
Finally Ubuntu.
I use Ubuntu and MEPIS now, more MEPIS(I do a lot of multimedia stuff), but I will be using Ubuntu more in the future.
It seems to me that Debian based distros are the future.
Forgot to mention that both the MEPIS and Ubuntu forums are superb, especially for newbies like me.
Cheers,

[bufa]

Was using Fedora Core 2. Currently finding Ubuntu much better.
I've tryed mandrake for 1 day... :rolleyes:

[easy_target]

Suse 9.1. Replaced with Ubuntu hands down.

[doublejoon]

Actually I still use other distros....Gentoo,CentOS, Fedora, Sarge..........
I just find Ubuntu the best thing for laptops IMO.......most everything works out of the box..

Ubuntu is my laptop distro from now on

[Jeffredo]

I've been using Linux all of two weeks! My first try was Xandros 3.0 (excellent for a complete beginner). It nicely partitioned my hard drive between XP and Linux without me lifting a finger. I got kind of bored with it quickly though. Read about Ubuntu and decided to give it a try just yesterday (installed it on the Xandros partition) Great toy! :wink: It makes me want to know more about Linux and I've spent most of the weekend Googling for instructions and tips. I've managed to install most software I used in Windows (that can run in Linux - or is even needed here!) and have Java working in all my browsers (no small feat!). I think I'm hooked on Ubuntu! It's a great OS and I appreciate the community attitude of the users and the phylosophy of the developers. :-)

[morethannoise]

Knoppix, Morphix, Beatrix, Vector Linux, Mepis and finally Ubuntu. Ubuntu is definitely a sweet ride! :-)

[Harri]

I was using Fedora Core 3 before changing to Ubuntu. I actually had both Fedora and Ubuntu on my hard drive for a few weeks, but then I decided to get rid of Fedora completely as it was only filling up the hard drive.. Don't miss it really.. :wink:

[vagabond]

Let's see... in the past 3 years, in no particular order, I have tried... Redhat 8&9, Mandrake, Suse 9.1&9.2, Lycoris, Libranet, Fedora 2, Xandros 2 OCE, Ark... and FreeBSD (not Linux, but deserves a mention anyway)

I used none of these for more than a week.

And I am not even that picky. I just want something that works and doesn't cause me to run to the CLI every 5 minutes to fix this problem or that issue. If it wasn't sound, it was an Nvidia driver, or it was a weird issue with my keyboard typing 3 letter for every tap (RH9 I think).

I have been using Ubuntu since the last week of 2004. I can report no major issue. My only complaints are with 3rd parties (Adobe) and with media support (not really much can be done about that).

I want to thank all the developers of Ubuntu and the great applications bundled with it, and I want to thank the community for helping a relative newbie get his system up and running perfectly.

After 10 years in Windows and all the fights with previous distros, I don't know what to do with myself now that I am not constantly working to fix problems with my computer. I guess I can finally get some work done. Or not, Wesnoth is an addictive game.

[IceAxe18]

I was using Slackware.

[Deka]

Mandrake

[j0217995]

I was using SUSE 9.1 on my laptop @ work and received the free CDs and installed it on one of my older PCs. The live CD ran really quick and even detected my video card which I had problems w/ other distros. Everything ran quick and smooth, so I made the switch over to this one from SUSE and everything is working great. Had some bumps w/ Evolution and Exchange but beyond that its rocking and rolling \\:D/

[Get]

I was using Gentoo. I changed to Ubuntu because after some times it was boring and take to much time to compile everything. And I never got my system working 100%. Therefore I changed to Ubuntu.

[izmaelis]

I switched from Gentoo to Ubuntu on my HP ze4910us notebook and I'm still using Gentoo on my desktop computer, but I'm thinking about switching it to Ubuntu too.
The main reason is that I don't have enough time in playing with my system configuration. I'm kinda linux-out-of-the-box lover.

[innocentson]

I am new to linux and before using Ubuntu I had purchased Xandros 3. I like Ubuntu over Xandros because it works right out of the box and i can learn with it as well.

[us3rQUE]

Long ago it my love for Linux began w/ RedHat to Mandrake to SuSE 9.1 to SuSE 9.2 (Thought I found a home.)
was testing Lycoris (for my GF) , fed up I found Ubuntu.

Ohh my cheatin heart, I think I love U Ubuntu Linux...

- I've been very pleased w/ Ubuntu (still testing on notebook, considering install on Desktop.)

[lordofkhemenu]

Ive been using Gentoo for about 3 years now, it's almost finished installing. :grin:
:lol: Anybody who's never used Gentoo, trust me. He's not exagerating much.
The PITA that is downloading source and compiling it just to acheive a small amount of speed and customization was the reason I started looking for a system that would just work.
Tried Mepis for a while, was happy, but it just felt too easy, too n00b.
It was NICE being able to just install and go, but my Gentoo Linux roots begged to see a little of what was going on behind the scenes.
Ubuntu (especially during the install ;) ) met the needs of the geek in me.
Plus, it's Gnome-centric. I like Gnome. :p

[lordofkhemenu]

Been with Redhat, Slackware then Mandrake to Redhat again ,
jumped to Mepis the last six monts before Ubuntu.
I been using Gnome more then KDE in all the Linux systems
i've used this is the reason i switched to Ubuntu.
(And also for the Debian repositories).
Hey, I'm a Mepis-Ubuntu convert, too :D
Aside from the gnome, my reason for switching was that Mepis just felt waaay to n00b oriented for ME. I'd still use to convert a non-techie though.
that is until Ubuntu has a graphical install and a install-from-liveCD LiveCD.

[tomcat5470]

I am new here, and am impressed with Ubuntu. Had tried Red Hat 6.2, Suse, and Damn Small Linux, never actually using them for long. Once I got to DSL, and it saw most of my hardware properly, I began to think that I may be able to do something useful. Open Office makes a big difference, also.

[bored2k]

Xandros 1 - > Xandros 2 - > Xandros 2.5 - > Mandrake 10 - > Xandros 2.5 - > Ubuntu [beta phase] -> Slackware 10 - > AuroX 10 [short time] - > Xandros 3 Deluxe - > :-D Ubuntu 4.10 . :-D

[beerorkid]

I spent all weekend testing different distro's
arch, ubuntu, vlos, mandrake, xandros, frdora3, and came right back to ubuntu. I use SuSE at work and am going to install ubuntu there tomorrow.
very impressed

[TestDummy!]

I've used all sorts of distrubitions.

I think it started out with a really old version of RedHat (v5, v6, who know, it was old), then it was SuSE Linux 7.1. Then, I kinda went into a little remission for a while. Then, I saw SuSE 9.1 for sale (Yes, I did buy it but this was when I was on dial-up and I'm not the order stuff online type). But, it was missing too many things. GTK, Gcc, etc. It was just really incomplete. I've tried some LiveCD's too, like Slax and DSL.

Then I downloaded Ubuntu out of curiosity just about 10 days ago and have been tinkering with it since then. It's been alright, but I still think there is some things that could use smoothing out :)

[factotum218]

my history:

mandrake>suse>redhat>slackware>mepis>debian>ubuntu
in the span of about 6 years

[Seandq]

my history:

mandrake>suse>redhat>slackware>mepis>debian>ubuntu
in the span of about 6 years
My Linux history in about 4 months:

Mandrake
Gentoo
Mandrake
Fedora 3
VLOS
Fedora 3
VLOS
Fedora
Ubuntu
VLOS
Ubuntu

[joplass]

Re: your above comment: I think the people here at ubuntu are probably the more intelligent ones out of all the forums I belong to. Other forums will attack you for any reason and hey... if youre a noobie...??? Watch out!!

People here are just plain nicer and I just like that! hehe :D

That's ok that a large number of the population stay away... I think... it would definitely change the energy of this forum.

I always say go for the niche market... youre more apt to have a success than if you market to everyone and their mother; as you will then be forced to deal with all the (lets put it nicely here) less intelligent beings out there in la-la land.

Well... just my opinion... everyone has one!

Thanks :twisted:

I will say you are right. My conversion to Ubuntu has been the best experience I have since the day I discovered Redhat 7. I was so use to someone not answering my questions for days that the first time I posted here I did not come back for about half a day to check if someone answered me back. But when I checked back for about 4 hours after that first post, there was a reply. Note that I did not specifically come back to check on the answer but I was just browsing the forum when I noticed that there was answer. Since then when I ask a question I keep that window open and all I do, I refresh it because I know my answer could be there any time now.
I want to thank everybody involve in Ubuntu development as well as all those assisting new comers like myself on the forum. I will say they assist us with a smile no grandeur attitude. It's been a great experience for me since I installed Ubuntu last Saturday after years of running Redhat, Fedora, and Mandrake. I have to confess that I was a Kde person until I started to use Gnome under Ubuntu. You will think that it isn’t the same Gnome as on all other distros.

[deviant03]

Wheres Suse on the list? I was using Fedora Core 3 than switched to Suse for its better laptop support. Ubuntu seems to be the best of both these two distros combined with better and easier (imo) software updates/installs (apt-get).

[jsgotangco]

I was using Fedora but I got tired of it for some reason and just switched to Debian. But when I got my Ubuntu CDs, i just found Debian as I want it.

[bored2k]

main reason for me was this

there is no urpmi, yast, yum, slack-get or whatever that can beat the good ol` mighty
#apt-get

[wbeck85]

Well, in the past week, I have played with yoper, vidalinux, and suse. I actually had suse 9.2 on my laptop for almost a month, a record for me. Im still trying out distros to see which I like the best. So far, ubuntu is at the top :)
Except that it didnt come with KDE. I like KDE.
Ohwell, powernow support, without fiddling is wonderful! when i get my mx900 mouse working, I will be sold.

[Quest-Master]

Except that it didnt come with KDE. I like KDE.

Apt-get for KDE if you are in Warty, and if you want a customized KDE for Ubuntu, upgrade to Hoary and sudo apt-get install kubuntu. :)

[bored2k]

Apt-get for KDE if you are in Warty, and if you want a customized KDE for Ubuntu, upgrade to Hoary and sudo apt-get install kubuntu. :)
u have the funniest avatar ever lol

[landotter]

Fedora--which when set up with apt and synaptic from the Dag Wieers repository is a rather nice distro. I just don't like all the crap installed by default. :P

Before that it was Mandrake, and while some of the gui system tools are brilliant, there were stability issues.

I cut my teeth on Suse 7.1 which was perfect for a beginner with no hands to hold.

Ubuntu is by far my favourite. I'd not hesitate to install it again. I helps that I'm on the Gnome side of the fence of course.

On a lower spec machine I'd probably install BeatriIX in lieu of Ubuntu.

[landotter]

to:lol: Anybody who's never used Gentoo, trust me. He's not exagerating much.


http://funroll-loops.org/

;)

[dizzie]

Greetings.

Let's see:

Been using Linux/BSD since 1991:

(cronical order)

LFS, RedHat 2.0->5.3, Debian, OpenBSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD (4.1->5.3), and Ubuntu soon if i like it 8-)

Want to migrate from BSD to Linux, and i'm a bit of a poweruser (i love my bash!), so i dont need to much eyecandy (as seen in KDE and the likes)

[jimmt]

I was using Suse 9.1 on my PC and OSX on my powerbook. OSX was a little more beefy than my powerbook could handle, so I decided to put linux on it. I tried a few flavors and settled on Ubuntu. I like Ubuntu so much that now I have it on my PC!

Jim

[occy8]

Hi,

first I'm using windows 98 still, but I played with Mandrake 8 a few years ago and recently with Fedora3.

I'm still using win98 because it works for me. But there are more and more problems with new software.
My pc is a home use home office pc with internet access but no networking. Of course there are plenty of USB devices around printer camera, flash memory,etc
In the past I had problems getting those to work and of course the dreadful winmodem story.
I'm not a programmer and I have no interest in becoming one. I'm a user, don't mind fiddling a little but thats it

So now I'm here and waiting for hoary to be released.
I believe this could be the ideal distro.
1. its small and got everything I need on there , more or less.
I don't like the massive installations of Mandrake or Fedora even though its good for fooling around, but here I can see a philosophy "keep it small and optimised"
2. from what I can see it supports all my hardware, perhaps not but be optimistic!!
3. it has great community support, (but thats with other distros as well)

Will keep you posted with all my problems or successes
Cheers
occy

[poofyhairguy]

Hi,

first I'm using windows 98 still, but I played with Mandrake 8 a few years ago and recently with Fedora3.

Hey Windows98 guy, I a agree that 98 works well (I like it more than XP).


Make sure if you are going to upgrade to Ubuntu, you have enough RAM though....

[occy8]

Quote:
Originally Posted by poofyhairguy

Hey Windows98 guy, I a agree that 98 works well (I like it more than XP).


Make sure if you are going to upgrade to Ubuntu, you have enough RAM


Hi Poofy

How much RAM is enough RAM ?!?!

[kevanf1]

SuSE 9.1 and 9.2 (separate hard drives). They both run lovely and fast on my ancient 350mhz AMD K6. 256mb of RAM and HD's are lowly old 6gb ones. I have full installs of both 9.1 and 9.2 I'm really happy with the speed of them, yes, honestly I'm not joking. Though I have tweaked the BIOS for absolute optimum speed with stability. I'm afraid I still prefer SuSE to Ubuntu. I like using Ubuntu don't get me wrong but I want to actually do things with my PC. I need to produce reports etc and SuSE allows me to do so. Ubuntu is fine for fiddling and learning on but certainly not as a real production machine. Not yet anyway.....

[brk3]

Mandrake. Still really good distro but ubuntu us less restrictive :D

[poofyhairguy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by poofyhairguy

Hey Windows98 guy, I a agree that 98 works well (I like it more than XP).


Make sure if you are going to upgrade to Ubuntu, you have enough RAM


Hi Poofy

How much RAM is enough RAM ?!?!

I really suggest 256mb. I have three computers: one has 128mb, one has 256mb, one has 512mb.

The difference in speed between the 128 and 256 is very large. The difference is speed between the 256 and 512 is very little. This suprised me, because the one with 512 has a MUCH faster hard disk, and a LOT faster processor.

[cliff58]

SuSE 9.2 was the last fully functioning one. After that I tried to install Slackware 10 but never got X working. :roll:

[occy8]

I really suggest 256mb. I have three computers: one has 128mb, one has 256mb, one has 512mb.

thanks I got 256mb so should be fine. Did you ever look at the load of your RAM?
I guess you are only using just over 256 at max.

[picole]

i use debian before.and now ubuntu catch me,yeah,many thanks to Ubuntu Team.

[`Mrk]

Well, I used Mandrake Linux before and decided to go for Ubuntu.

This thing just rocks my world. :cool:

[wmcbrine]

Slackware: 1996-2004
Mandrake: 2000-
Ubuntu: 2005-

(My Slackware and Mandrake systems both ended up decaying into nondistros -- i.e., lots of self-compiled tarballs. Slackware never really was upgradable, at least at the time; and Mandrake stopped supporting old versions with new packages. I have higher hopes for Ubuntu.)

[mseney]

Mandrake -> Redhat -> Slackware -> Debian -> Fedora -> SUSE -> Ubuntu

[poster_nutbag]

Used Suse from 1999-2002, then Mandrake, now Ubuntu. They've got better and better over the years, so I can't wait to see how Ubuntu develops.

[std]

Slackware, for about three years.

[jfdill_2]

My first post here! Woohoo!

Red Hat to Mandrake to Ubuntu

My old job was in a biotech lab, where they needed bleeding-edge software and hardware support, and a little bit less stability was tolerated for that. Linux was running on a lot of workstations, which had usually replaced Silicon Graphics products. The self-service aspect of Mandrake was great, people could set up printers and USB drives and so on on their own pretty much with drakconf.

XFS filesystem support for backups with xfsdump via AMANDA was the real reason that I switched from Red Hat around 7.2 to Mandrake. e2fsdump was messed up at the time, and GNUTAR backups were annoying grad students who worked at 3am, and were taking so long that they spilled over into working hours the next day.

At my new job, reliability and predictable long-term licensing conditions are a bigger concern. Most of the linux boxes I deal with now are servers, there are very few workstations except for my own. I used to be a die-hard dinosaur and edit config files "manually" to configure everything. But Mandrake made me soft, I got used to all the GUI config tools, and now trying to get desktop and hardware working in straight Debian makes me want to cry. But Ubuntu dried up all the tears :D

[The_JinJ]

Was using Mandrake 10.1 but was very flaky on my Latitude C600 - wireless card with the rt2500 chipset refused to work with the Linux drivers (okish with ndiswrapper) - installed Umbuntu and must admit that I've been very impressed so far, once you get used to it everythings sweet :) .... oh and wireless works even with WPA... good stuff

[Kristjan]

I wa using SuSE 9.2 Preofessional but I must admit that ubuntu is so far been better GNU/Linux for me then was suse.

[adh148]

I mostly deferred to SuSE over the years. I then seriously considered Xandros. Went back to SuSE. Over the past 6 months I tried Fedora 2, SuSE 9, Debian, Mepis, Fedora 3, SuSE 9.2 and Ubuntu Warty. I just dist-upgraded to Hoary.

All of this to see if I can eliminate Windows. Ubuntu Hoary looks like it has the best chance of enabling me to make the switch. My Toshiba M200 seems much more civilized than with other distributions.

THANKS for the hard work. 8-)

[TjaBBe]

I came from redhat to gentoo to debian to ubuntu. I find Ubuntu a nicer desktop distro then debian. I still, and will continue to, use debian as my distribution of choice on my servers though.

[lionel]

Well ive been using Suse 9.1 and 9.2.Knopix 3.7 and 3.8 and Debian

[WickedKlown]

i am curntly useing Slackware 9 cuz i havent got my cds yet but i cant waite till i get em it will be my distro then

Mandrake -> Redhat -> Fedora -> Slackware -> SUSE -> Ubuntus when i get my cds

[techmonkey]

I don't like moving around much, so for near two years, I was using Mandrake exclusively, from v9.0, around the time when Mandrake had cool release names (Bamoo/Panther rather than Official/Community etc -- like Ubuntu does with Warty/Hoary). Some time around Christmas '04, I almost converted to SuSE, but didn't buy the pack in the end.

I heard (http://www.lugradio.org) about Ubuntu and thought I should give it a try. I did. Thus I arrived at this conclusion:

Ubuntu Rocks. :D

Oh, It was also Ubuntu which finally moved me off of the KDE pills. I'm now using Gnome 2.10 in Ubuntu Hoary, and I've not had a cleaner, faster, more usable desktop.

Cheers, Ubuntu! :)

[digby]

I was sort of a Linux transient for a while. I went back and forth between the newest versions (at the time) of Fedora Core and Mandrake with a short stint in SuSE land. Ubuntu is my first Debian based distro (other than the obligatory Knoppix LiveCD), and it feels a fair bit faster. I like!

[Heli0s]

I've been using lots of dists over the past years:


Debian
Slackware
Red-Hat
Suse
Mandrake
DSL
Fedora
Gentoo
Gentoo
Knoppix


i've also used FreeBSD and OpenBSD

but, i like ubuntu best :mrgreen:

[jcookeman]

I came from the Gentoo camp. Very nice distro, BTW, but Ubuntu just seems to make more sense. I've only been using for a week, upgraded to Hoary, and finding my way around. Hopefully I can settle in and contribute to the Ubuntu effort.

Congrats to everyone for the nice distro and I hope to converse with you all!

Cheers,

Justin

[james_mad]

I came from Fedora core 2. Love Ubuntu so far, been using it for 2 days now. Only problem was my printer, which now somehow works thankfully.

[primeirocrime]

hey what about what OS were you using before ubuntu? or any other distro?

[rolo]

I have used several distros since corel linux but for the last three years or so I stayed with Libranet an excellent Debian based dist. Now I am running Ubuntu (hoary) and Kanotix in two laptops. I started with warty and reached hoary through many upgrades, never had a major problem. I am sure that I will keep Ubuntu in the future toghether with Libranet that had serve me well for several years.

[localzuk]

First started on Mandrake 6.2, followed by every version of mandrake up. During that time I tried about 20 different distros and always went back to mandrake. Finally have found a decent, fast, stable linux - ubuntu. Even Hoary Preview is more stable than Mdk 10.1

[Brunellus]

suse 9.1 personal. yuk.

[seven]

i was using debian unstable and before this fedora

[CRCampbell]

All it means to me is that people mostly follow the crowd... and if someone has a better marketing strategy, that's where they all go!

We as ubuntu users on the other hand are special... in the way that it takes a special kind of person to realize there is a real choice out there and the more intelligent and right brained people seem to make wiser choices. The rest are left brained and follow either the crowd or their egos.

My dad always said it takes a special kind of person to be of the elite!
The few, the proud, the Elite!

Take care... ;0)


:rolleyes:

Distro wars are counterproductive. As long as they're using nix, who cares?

[wk1989]

:rolleyes:

Distro wars are counterproductive. As long as they're using nix, who cares?
Quite a lot, started using Linux since I was 12, I'm 15 currently :).
Peanut Linux
Redhat Linux
Caldera OpenLinux
Mandrake Linux
Debian Linux
SUSE Linux
DamnSmall Linux
Knoppix
Slackware Linux
GeexBox
Vector Linux
Slax
Hiweed Linux

[CRCampbell]

Quite a lot, started using Linux since I was 12, I'm 15 currently :).
Peanut Linux
Redhat Linux
Caldera OpenLinux
Mandrake Linux
Debian Linux
SUSE Linux
DamnSmall Linux
Knoppix
Slackware Linux
GeexBox
Vector Linux
Slax
Hiweed Linux


That's great. I wish I could turn back the clock and learn this stuff. I'd have over 15 years experience by now if I started at 15. :)

[ratpoison]

:rolleyes:

Distro wars are counterproductive. As long as they're using nix, who cares?
=====================
good point, but as long as it's all within the bounds of good nature competition, I suppose it's harmless. Having many distros provides us with FREEDOM and choice and encourages them all to get better. I've been using linux since March of 1999, starting with RedHat 5.2. I've used mostly RH and Fedora, but have also worked with Debian and Mandrake for lengthy periods of time. Haven't disliked any of them. They're all LINUX at the core (or kernel....). I still run Fedora Core 3 on my home box and one laptop and Ubuntu Hoary (dist-upgraded for the 12th time again on Wednesday March 23) on another laptop. Like both distros immensely with a sentimental edge to Ubuntu.

[artio]

Used Red Hat 9 on a LinuxCertified LC2210 Laptop. Completely switched to Hoary and never looked back. It's solved almost all the problems/issues I previously had.

[rtoghraee]

I used RedHat Enterprise 3 but I didn't really liked it... Ubuntu is so fun eventhough I am thinking of going for Gentoo which is more inovative... :-#

[TechZilla]

debian sarge is my bread and butter

[skoal]

Whoah! Just posting in these forums is like removing the training wheels off my old scooby doo bike. This interface I'm typing in now looks like an Apollo 13 control panel. I'm use to a simple phpBB interface that Arch Linux uses, so I hope I don't press the 'eject' button here...

Anyway, I just got my Maxtor replacement drive today and installed Ubuntu. Sweet...

[bastya_elvtars]

Well, sorry for posting not-too-topic-fitting post, but... tried some distros. Forst, suse 9.1 (very slow and selfish), debian (couldn't even install, linux 2.2 does not support LBA32 :(), slackware (i hate compiling from source, and there are very few packages), and if it can be called a distro, knoppix (very nice live cd with frozebubble lol), then I was recommended to try ubuntu. I was playing with ubuntu live, but i hate Gnome, i could hardly find Kubuntu, which is awesome! Even the LiveCD rocks the world, KDE 3.4 is awesome, and the whole is goddamn fast! I will install the HDD version as soon as I finish my current tasks. Keep up the good work!

[loom001]

Well, sorry for posting not-too-topic-fitting post, but... tried some distros. Forst, suse 9.1 (very slow and selfish), debian (couldn't even install, linux 2.2 does not support LBA32 :(), slackware (i hate compiling from source, and there are very few packages), and if it can be called a distro, knoppix (very nice live cd with frozebubble lol), then I was recommended to try ubuntu. I was playing with ubuntu live, but i hate Gnome, i could hardly find Kubuntu, which is awesome! Even the LiveCD rocks the world, KDE 3.4 is awesome, and the whole is goddamn fast! I will install the HDD version as soon as I finish my current tasks. Keep up the good work!
I came over from Fedora and Suse and I must say that I have never gotten a Linux distro up and running so fast in all the times that I have installed it. I think that Ubuntu has to be the best Distro I have ever had the chance to work with.

This is my new favorite distro. Keep up the good work. Id all Linux's where this easy to install it would be on every desktop!

Loom001

[Hinko]

i tried a _lot_ of distros...

coming from yoper and staying with ubuntu


Technically, that would be true for me as well. Though Yoper lasted only for a few days, and I've been using SuSe for ages before that. However, I was getting slightly annoyed with SuSe lately, and I think Ubuntu (Kubuntu, actually) is here to stay.

[gflores]

My first distribution was (and still is) Mandrake 10.1. (Well, technically Knoppix was first, but that's a live cd). Since it was my first time using Linux, I think I fiddled with it too much, and some things broke. :( After hearing a lot about Ubuntu, I decided to try out the Live CD. I'm not sure what I think of Gnome, yet, but I'm glad there's a second option with Kubuntu. Can't wait until Friday to check it out!

[Michael_Valentine]

I started using Linux (Redhat) in 1998, currently use Linspire fulltime on my stable work Laptop since early 2004, but tinker with just about everything in between on my large selection of test equipment. Looking forward to the next Ubuntu Release, liked what I saw in the last RC. :-P

[vague-]

Gentoo(2004), still have it on my fileserver. Before that Linux From Scratch(2003), before that NetBSD(2003) , before that OpenBSD (2001). Before that, it was Windows and Debian dual-boot. Before that, I think I tried dual-booting with FreeBSD, Redhat, Slackware and Mandrake. Ubuntu is the 2005 candidate. It is also fairly unlikely to go given my experience of it so far. Better than all of the above for my desktop needs, at least.

[mandy2tom]

I have been trying all of the live distros. I like Ubuntu a lot maybe because of lack of the flash of kde. The kde theme dosent bother me so much, I know some, most people like flashy look, I like it simple. but kde seems overpowering almost like microsoft.
I like knoppix, meppis, "online save home and prefrences" in new slax sounds cool, I boot live cd save to flash drive and use a quick install script for addons and my pref. copy.
Ubuntu needs at lot more, like toram from iso, but its a very good base!
keep it simple and clean!

In the end I think all Os's even ms. and mac. will do something like live cd- iso on harddrive md5 check then perstant home and preffs and my software to insure integrity and virus trojan free envirment.!!!

I use unattended intstall about every 3 months for windows xp 20min no hands.
all my pref soft links mail alllll copied to new install. but i have stay on top of updates.

I think "It" should be divided into 3 systems
Layer 1. " Virtual hardware layer that supports all OS's" I'll pay for it, they keep the drivers up to date".

Layer 2. the OS. "MS., LINUX, MAC & more to come I hope" designed to run on virtual hardware layer.

Layer 3. My files, preffrences, and software all in one place "ie. the web" that will sync with all and drag on drop on any system-OS, giving me, "MY PC" werever I go.

You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one!!!
Good job Ubuntu.

mandy2tom@gmail.com

[judyz]

Started using Linux in January. Decided to learn it as a New Years Resolution (straight linux no dual booting). Been through..

Debian
Xandros (still used on other machine, Xandros is to KDE/Debian what Ubuntu is to Gnome/Debian)
Fedora Core 3 &4 prerelease
Novell Suse Desktop
Mandrake/Mandrivia
Mepis
Beatrix
Damn Small
Gentoo
Foresight

Ubuntu seems quite nice. The installer obviously hasn't changed much from Debian. The installer is not quite as user friendly as Xandros was and I had to fuss around to get my video card to work (it worked out of the box with Xandros).

Overall an excellent start for a distro only in it's second release.

[Imrahil]

I came from the land of Gentoo. Actually I still use Gentoo, SUSE, fedora depending on my needs. Gentoo is just too much work to get working and I don't want to bother with all that tweaking on my laptop.

[Magneto]

I just migrated back to Ubuntu after being disgusted by Hoary's constant changes. I still have a good backup of my gentoo installation in case I'm frustrated again. Gentoo for all its bleeding edgyness got too boring.
I still like Gentoo but for now I really dig FC3 and Ubuntu.

[mgor]

redhat -> slackware -> gentoo -> fedora, and now ubuntu :)

[lerrup]

Xandros (still used on other machine, Xandros is to KDE/Debian what Ubuntu is to Gnome/Debian)


I don't want to be picky but isn't Kubuntu to Kde what Ubuntu is to Gnome?

[Lotus]

I came from gentoo when i got tired of waiting 10 hrs for something 2 compile. I was using gentoo bc i figured i could compile everything and it would work the best. I was amazed when it took me 22 mins (not including updates) to install ubuntu and it worked far better than my gentoo system.

Oh yeah, first post here.

Hello everyone.

[computerdude33]

What if Ubuntu was your first? O.o

Anyway, I think I was using Debian.

[MasonM]

I have run a lot of different distros. Slack (my favorite), Gentoo (got tired of compile times for everything), SuSE, Mandrake, Debian, Libranet, SimplyMepis, among others.

I've been using Linux for over 10 years and enjoy trying out new distros. To be honest, I hadn't tried Ubuntu before now because it had a reputation as being a "newbie" distro and frankly had gotten tired of the problems created by these types of distros. They just never seemed worth the bother.

A freind of mine had tried it and told me it wasn't the overly bloated and bothersome type "newbie" distro we had heard and was actually pretty good, so I decided to go ahead and check it out.

So far it seems to be a pretty decent distro worth playing around with putting through it's paces. SInce I just installed it this morning, I'm reserving final judgement until I've had time to play around with it a bit but so far I'm fairly pleased with it.

[Stormy Eyes]

I think we all are wondering where the new Ubuntu users are coming from!

I was using Gentoo before I switched. I had Gentoo on my wife's machine as well, but it proved to be nothing but trouble on her gear, so I got a Warty disk and installed it. She loved it, and I changed her repositories to Hoary before Hoary came out, and she loved that too. After a while I decided that I was wasting too much time meddling with my Gentoo setup, so I nuked it, installed Warty, and upgraded to Hoary. I won't knock Gentoo, but it's not a good distro for men who want to be attentive husbands.

[ZeFroG]

I was using Fedora Core 3 but it was too slow...
Ubuntu is faster at startup [-o<

[thePythonAlchemist]

Of all the distributions I've ever run, I've used Slackware the longest. I think it's a great solid distro, but I could never get it to do some important things, namely use my sound card. Now I'm totally on Ubuntu, and I've been very impressed with it so I think I'll stay.

But in all I've used RedHat 9; Fedora Core [1, 2, 3]; Slackware [9.0, 9.1, 10.0, 10.1]; TinySofa 2.0; Scientific Linux CERN 3; and Knoppix [3.4, 3.6, 3.7].

[didi156]

What about Windows?
I think it would be better to see people switching from Windows to Ubuntu (or better, realize that there exists a Non-Windows-World; switching is not that important!) then from DistroX to Ubuntu (and I know about such people...).
After all I wouldn't overestimate the question about the "best" Distribution. I am, for example, running mostly Gentoo/KDE on my desktop and Ubuntu/Gnome on the notebook. If I had another machine, I maybe would put Fedora on it...
The only important thing is that the development of many different Distros/DMs/... doesn't create incompatibilities and problems to the GNU/Linux-project as a whole, but create a kind of competition where all can benefit of the various efforts being done.

[-TayloR-]

I myself was using, for my last Linux distro, Gentoo. I rather liked it, but as someone else said, the compile times for everything was ridiculous. Also the mirrors, i found, were really slow and not very reliable.

[baza41]

Suse 9.1 Pro

[neshaug]

Straight from Windows. Needed a faster OS on my laptop and installed Ubuntu since I need everything to work on it and it has to be avaliable all the time. Also my brother uses Debian on the server at our folks so ubuntu was like a glove for me.

[Union Jack]

Im a slacker :). Just tryin Ubuntu, and im lovin it so far \\:D/

[justinflavin]

i really dont have a "before Ubuntu" distro , as I have a network of home machines (Mandrake) and manage several remote Debian & RedHat servers .

I've always been a bit of a Mandrake junkie, partly because I just dont have time to be faffing about with low level configuration stuff - i just want to get on with it and ssh into my remote servers , and do some coding locally... right now on my home network i've got Mandrake & Ubuntu.


But I have tried out several distros

Gentoo : did a compile from scratch... nice distro, but i didnt think it was worth waiting 36 hours for KDE to install. My machines have got better things to do with their CPU cycles.

Xandros: No brainer install, but had a few annoyances in its KDE - default browser was Mozilla (rather than Konqueror) for example... plus there were a few other quirks that made KDE less KDE... didnt really like it anyway.

SuSe : Excellent distro... but i still just preferred Mandrake to it.

Knoppix - live CD distro that runs on just about anything. Hardware detection on this distro is unbelievable - plus it comes packed full with every sysadmin and networking program imaginable. Extremely useful for recovering data off dead Windows boxes.

Ubuntu - unbelievable distro - the install process is fantastic, and the latest Gnome on it has made this KDE-centric person start seriously using Gnome full-time.

But , having said that, I think half of the Ubuntu experience is the Ubuntu website and forums - without that, I really dont think Ubuntu would have been half as sucessful as it really is... plus just the whole "slickness" of the site design, ubuntu logo , and even the CD covers... Ubuntu has really taken Linux onto a whole new level...

[thecrimsonking]

I was a dedicated Mandrake user from 8-10.1. I finally got tired of the Mandrake run-around and switched to PClinuxOS. I tried the warty live cd and loved it. When Hoary came out I tried the live cd again. Immediately downloaded the install disk and havent looked back. Ubuntu is now on 2 of my pc's and 1 laptop.

[Stealth]

I was running Knoppix 3.4 (with Windows, on a dual-boot), and when I upgraded to 3.7 I pretty much broke the INternet. SO I installed Hoary and liked it.Although I'm not a huge Gnome fan, I really liked the way it looked and stuff. Then when I got my laptop, I got Kubuntu for it. :)

[tirog]

Before Ubuntu 4.10, I used Mandrake and Aurox. Before Ubuntu 5.04, I also used Slackware :)

[kaiiserni]

I use Fedora and Mandrake downloadedition.
At the moment I am downloading Kubuntu because of KDE...
I'm looking forward to use it on al of my systems including my 64bit notebook...
greets

[dcast]

I was using windozes. This is my first distro.

[Antman]

I have only been experimenting with Ubuntu for about five days.
Before Ubuntu I had two harddrives for my laptop; one was running XP/Linspire 5.0 dual boot, and the other hd had Xandros 3 Deluxe. I have also played with Mandrake 10.1.

I wiped the Xandros 3 hd and loaded Ubuntu 5.04 on it. I must say that it is FAST on my laptop. From turn on to logon screen it takes about 60 seconds. \\:D/

I still have Xandros 3 on my file / print server at home and have never had an issue with it. I may put Ubuntu on that one too and give it a try. I'll run the live CD first and test it.

So far my top distros are:

1. Linspire 5 (the first of only two distros to autodetect my Motorola wifi)
2. Xandros 3 (I love the file manager)
3. Still playing with Mepis (the second linux distro to autodetect my wireless card) and Ubuntu to see which one I like best.

Eventually I 'll narrow my linux selection to just two distros.

Ant

[nautilus]

I have a short history...

Slackware 3 or so (i think 3.4)
Redhat 5.2
Suse 7 or so...
Debian
Ubuntu (since a couple weeks ago)

Mind you, between Suse and Debian, I used BeOS and AtheOS exclusively.

[deadlands]

My History is short.

I started with Mandrake 6.0, then went the FreeBSD for awhile.
Got a job supporting a Windows and Novell network so I rarely touched a *nix except a Mandrake 8.1 system at my desk that I was testing for a possible project. Last year I decided to get back into the Linux game because I had forgotten so much. I installed Suse 9.1 on my Compaq laptop, couldn't get wireless working, and it was always a little dodgy. A knew a little about Ubuntu, but I don't really care for Gnome, but when I saw that Kubuntu was going to be released with Xorg and KDE 3.4, I decided to give it a go.

I'm very impressed with it. It has taken very little work and hair pulling to get stuff working. My wireless card works, USB devices are recognized and just work without crashing the system and this forum has been very helpful.

[alexp]

Well, several (including Slackware, DLD, SuSE, Caldera, Solaris, Debian/GNU, Linux from Scratch, RedHat and FreeBSD). For many years -- since there exists a stable kernel, actually. The last ones were Fedora and Gentoo, but


RPM sucks. And this is no standard two-bit suckiness, but major league. Sucks with a capital s. Big time Hooverism (http://www.hoover.com) -- you get the idea.

(http://www.hoover.com)
I have to maintain yet another Gentoo server and -- with all due respect to the extraordinarily skilled developers -- it just takes too much time to maintain two Gentoo systems, especially when one of them is a desktop machine (recompiling X takes about, well, ages).
What I wanted was a stable, but up-to-date desktop system which is easy to install and easy to maintain. Don't get me wrong -- I don't need all those fancy administration and configuration gadgets. But I like them. After running your daily work on a Linux from Scratch system for about half a year, you'll know what I mean.

This applies to installation as well. Did you ever install Gentoo? A day of work is nothing -- and this does not include compilation time. And since there are bills to pay, I need the time to get work done. That's why I'm happy with Ubuntu -- seamless installation, seamless updates, everything in an hour (including a self-compiled kernel module for my WiFi card).

Works out of the box. Thank you very much.

Regards,
Alexander

[Luinar]

I first started using Linux last year when I had a Windows 98 box that was no longer being used, so I decided to improve it by putting Linux on it. I heard that Mandrake was meant to be a good newbie friendly distro so I downloaded that, it was at 10.0 at the time.

Whoever told me Mandrake was newbie friendly was wrong, I hated it. It never worked properly and was just as unstable as the previous version of Windows that was on there. Then I heard about Ubuntu, so I thought I'd give that a try. Took me a while to get my graphics card working, but finnaly managed it the other day and have been very happy using Ubuntu thus far.

[nautilus]

Well, it'll be as stable as it is ;)

At least you'll get great, free support from the community. By the people (and a company called canonical it seems), and FOR the people (and that company)!

[lake]

KNOPPPIX 3.7....after seeing that, I had to get a linux box. It's due here in a few days with Mandrake and Ubuntu preinstalled by Z-Tech Shop. I also ordered an external modem since my HP Pavilion's 'winmodem' won't work. I have been using Firefox in XP for some time now and am hoping I can make a smooth transition to Linux....it's going to happen!

[akinwale]

Well, I was using Vector Linux which is based on Slackware, so I just decided to vote for Slackware... no big deal.

Ubuntu's brilliant, but the only peeve I have with it is, the installation took too long! Yeah, maybe it's because I'm used to the VecLinux install which just takes about 15 to 20 minutes. I remember Slackware's install (all packages) took a very long time too.

Anyway, Ubuntu's here to stay on my system. I'm using the Warty Warthog 4.10 release.

[panickedthumb]

Welcome akinwale! Glad you like it!

Trust me, if you ever install gentoo, you'll think that Ubuntu's install is incredibly fast :) never used Vector, so I don't know about that, but Ubuntu's install did only take about 20 minutes here.

[akinwale]

Hehe, I know about Gentoo's install. If you want start from stage 1, you have to compile almost all the packages you are going to install. Of course, we all know how long compilation takes...

Or maybe it's just because of my system speed. I chose to copy all the packages from the CD to my computer after installing the base system. Well, I'd estimate it took about 50 to 55 minutes after rebooting before everything got installed and configured.

But then again, it was worth the wait. Ubuntu's pretty much satisfactory!

[panickedthumb]

oh yes :) I kinda realized today that it's the first distribution I've actually been satisfied with. Like REALLY satisfied with.

[Stormy Eyes]

oh yes :) I kinda realized today that it's the first distribution I've actually been satisfied with. Like REALLY satisfied with.

Ubuntu's the first binary distro that I've actually been satisfied with; I stuck with Gentoo as long as I did because it worked, and because I had invested a lot of time into making it work the way I wanted to. But Ubuntu is nice and comfortable now that I've broken it in -- just like my boots.

[ebrowne]

I was using RH/Fedora, Mandrake, Freebsd for a while till I tried Warty I love it and I just installed Hoary :) another well done job.

[gadfly]

Fedora 2 - still using it at present. I've fallen in love with ubuntu (on install it was a love at first sight!!) but I haven't sorted out my modem prob yet (got a post in now - awaiting results) so I had to reinstall Fedora just to get on the internet. As soon as I can figure out a way to make it work I'll be able to become a serious user. \\:D/

So - wish me luck guys.

Hi to all

Gadfly

[poofyhairguy]

Fedora 2 - still using it at present. I've fallen in love with ubuntu (on install it was a love at first sight!!) but I haven't sorted out my modem prob yet (got a post in now - awaiting results) so I had to reinstall Fedora just to get on the internet. As soon as I can figure out a way to make it work I'll be able to become a serious user. \\:D/

So - wish me luck guys.

Hi to all

Gadfly


Good luck.

[locutus24]

FC whos using FC. I dont ever want to be associated with Red Hat in any way those commercializing evil capitalist, along with the capitalist novell people

[graigsmith]

i was using windows :)

[dabang]

I went from SuSE 5.3, 6.3, 7.2, 7.3 to Mandrake 8.2, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 10.0 to Slackware 9.0, 9.1 to Fedora Core 3 to Debian Sarge to Ubuntu Hoary.
I like it very much, because it has all the benefits from Debian (I love apt!), but has more recent software included!

[panickedthumb]

FC whos using FC. I dont ever want to be associated with Red Hat in any way those commercializing evil capitalist, along with the capitalist novell people
And those evil capitalists behind Ubuntu, Canonical! ;)
And those evil capitalists who made money when you bought your computer hardware
And those evil capitalists who make money every time you drive your car, eat food, call your family, etc etc.
You can't get away from people making money-- I'm sure you make some yourself-- and the people who develop quality software should be able to make a living off of it.

[Stormy Eyes]

FC whos using FC. I dont ever want to be associated with Red Hat in any way those commercializing evil capitalist, along with the capitalist novell people

Better not use Evolution for email then, as that's now a Novell product since Novell bought Ximian. Better hand-craft all of your components then, using raw materials you gathered all by yourself, since you hate capitalism so very much. I might turn into a Randroid when I'm drunk, but people like you really annoy me.

Newsflash: money makes the world go round!

[SamH]

I checked Slackware, but actually I was using SUSE 9.2. I had been using Slackware until I broke it. SUSE 9.2 had just become available via FTP, so I set it up. I've also used Caldera (long ago), Red Hat, and Gentoo. Experimented briefly with Mandrake, FreeBSD, Lycoris, and others.

[Nob]

:)
Gentoo Linux... i know it sounds strange, coz everyone who used gentoo never ever changed it :)
but iw as impressed with ubuntu's rating on distrowatch :D
so i installed it :D

and before gentoo, i used first mandrake, than slackware, gentoo, ubuntu.... :D

[Stormy Eyes]

:)
Gentoo Linux... i know it sounds strange, coz everyone who used gentoo never ever changed it :)

I came from Gentoo as well; I didn't want to screw around with it anymore after I got married.

[rpgcyco]

I've tried about 6 distros, but only 2 or 3 for a longer amount of time.

Knoppix 3.2, Knoppix 3.4 (or 3.6, cannot remember), Mandrake 10.0, Fedora Core 2, Fedora Core 3, Ubuntu Warty and now Ubuntu Hoary which I can honestly say is the best I have used yet.

- Rpg Cyco

[Nob]

I came from Gentoo as well; I didn't want to screw around with it anymore after I got married.
gentoo isnt that ahrd for using, only installing...
i was installing gentoo for 8 hours, LOL, but then i havent touched it for 6-7months, only updating it... ;)

[Stormy Eyes]

gentoo isnt that ahrd for using, only installing...
i was installing gentoo for 8 hours, LOL, but then i havent touched it for 6-7months, only updating it... ;)

No, it's not that hard even to install. I can get my cat to do it. It is, however, time-consuming. And it's way too tempting to spend a night messng around with the system, screwing around with all kinds of settings. I didn't mind spending a night screwing around when I was a bachelor, but now that I'm married I think I should pay more attention to my wife than my computer.

Besides, if something breaks bad enough on my wife's machine to require a reinstall, I don't want to tell her, "Darling, you'll have to use my machine for the next three days and you won't have access to your files." I'd rather say, "Let's watch a movie while I reinstall Ubuntu and set everything up for you."

[escuchamezz]

I was using SUSE, until Novell bought it and decided to majorly screw over DVD functionality, :mad:

[Stormy Eyes]

I was using SUSE, until Novell bought it and decided to majorly screw over DVD functionality, :mad:

As a US-based company, Novell is subject to the US's "Digital Millennium Copyright Act", and using DeCSS-derived tools to play DVDs on Linux is technically a violation of the DMCA. Novell got paranoid and screwed over DVD functionality as a result. It's the same reason DVD playback is covered in the Ubuntu "Restricted Formats" FAQ.

Personally, I don't care about the DMCA and don't mind jumping through a couple of hoops in order to use the media I own as I deem fit. Of course, I have zero respect for the US government and the laws it concocts, which eases my conscience a lot.

[~Kobra~]

Was using Fedora. And before that used Red Hat 9 for a while.

Finally happy with Ubuntu!

[Suparious]

Suse 9.2 and suse 8.2 (among others)
then debian-testing and debian-unstable (I am new to debian based linux)

Now, both of my Athlon boxes are running Hoary 5.04!
I loved to see my favourite linux preferences implemented as the default options.

[eXidos]

Lycoris Desktop/LX PUKE!!!!!!!!!!!

it was terrible, the worst distro i have ever used...very unstable.

[Graben]

PCLOS! I would still be using it but cedega wouldn't run Half-Life 2 for me with it.

[JKH]

SuSE 9.2

I won't be going back!

[Rock]

I was running Mandrake for about a month and a half before I switched to Ubuntu.

[rpm]

I used Mandrake and RedHat / Fedora.

ubuntu is much better !!

rpm

[XDevHald]

Mandrake 10.2 beta2, beta3 and beta/RC tried them all and they sucked, "period"

This is my second distro, been running it since March of 05 :)

[ejohney]

i've been using hoary for a few days now and love it so far. sure beats anything i had with gentoo after a couple days.

[quigonjim]

Was using SuSE 9.1+2. I like it but I realized that I didn't want to spend $120US per year for current updates. Tried Vidalinux, neat but I broke everything with Portage when trying to add Nvidia drivers. :) I like Kubuntu (coming from using KDE in SUSE) but it isn't the most stable, like it is somehow unfinished. Now that there is a sound fix in ubuntuguide.org I am very pleased with Ububtu. :) Apt-get rocks!

[N'Jal]

Redhat 8, Mandrake 9, fedora 1, 2, mandrake 10 (for about an hour, i hated it) SuSE Pro 9.1. Vida.

Ubuntu, and im as happy as a pig in muck :D

[dawizard]

redhat 7.2, mandrake 8, suse something, redhat 9, gentoo, ubuntu

Still using Gentoo on my desktop and Ubuntu on my laptop

[eeclark]

Was using FC3...I was simply amazed at how well Ubuntu installed on my Dell Latitude D800. No problems so far...been up and running for about two hours now. Using a Cisco Wireless PCMCIA card...still have to tackle the internal broadcom-based Dell Truemobile 1350 that is in this thing. Probably use NDISWRAPPER. ...but then again maybe I won't even bother.

Thanks for a great product.

[mikeymike]

i was using gentoo

[thinusp]

Suse 9.2 Pro

I find Ubuntu much more stable on the one hand and a little less polished out of the box on the other. But overall, I love ubuntu.

At the same time I also made the move from KDE to Gnome. Although I love KDE, currently it seems a bit unstable at this point in time, but that's just me ;)

Cheers
T

[silentbob]

My Linux usage has been:

Suse 8.2 -> Gentoo -> Debian -> Ubuntu

Each distro seems to have gotten better than the previous, and after using Unbuntu for a couple of days I think I'll stick with it. The install was the easiest and everything was setup without much intervention needed, I've even switched from my prefered KDE desktop to Gnome thanks to the way Ubunutu has set it up. I don't think I could go back to KDE now, Gnome simply looks better IMO.

I still have a server running Debian stable (Woody) and have the latest Suse running on my laptop, but from now on I think Ubuntu is the way forward for desktop usage :-)

[whitecw]

I've gone through many different distros/OSes in my day. I haven't really found one that I feel totally comfortable with.

The evolution goes: Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE, Gentoo, cAos, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, back to Gentoo, and hopefully my Ubuntu CDs will get here this week. I've also used Windows and Mac OS X intermittantly throughout.

[Stiopa]

There is no SuSE in the poll. BTW 9.3 seems to be quite impressive. I'm waiting for free download. :-)

[tommyr]

What, no Suse on the poll list? Started with Suse 8.0 now using 9.1.

I'm REALLY loving Ubuntu! Gnome is actually pretty damn good, I'm normally a KDE guy.
Apt-get rocks!

My ONLY trouble is playing wmv movies so far and I tried to get totem-xine but the server times out.

Tom

[DavidF]

What if we weren't using Linux at all pre-Ubuntu?

[Quest-Master]

My ONLY trouble is playing wmv movies so far and I tried to get totem-xine but the server times out.

Tom

Try MPlayer, VLC, or gxine. :)

[Chayyiel]

Mandrake

[GarySaved]

I was doing a dual boot between M$ and Debian.

I was not able to get Debian to work well enough to get completly rid of M$.
Now that I am using Ubuntu, M$ has been completly removed.

Gary

[OuR_LanD]

You should have included Windows (XP Pro). I'm now dual booting with Win and Ubuntu. I can't wait till i learn Ununtu as it seems to be much better than win.

[pdk001]

im recent using fedora 3 on my machine and sister's machine has installed ubuntu cuz my sisters dont know english and other OS at all -_-;;
i voted for fedora in poll

[WildTangent]

i was using Fedora before i found Ubuntu, and i love Ubuntu so much more. ive also tried Gentoo and after having trouble with Xorg, i switched back to Ubuntu. Ive also given Fedora another try, and again i had trouble with the GUI. I am now going to install Kubuntu on my primary machine

-Wild

[dseed62]

Fedora Core 2

Ubuntu is a very nice distro...got my Orinoco card running during the installation.

[YourSurrogateGod]

Suse. It wasn't bad, but if something went wrong, I had nowhere to turn to, here I got the forums and such. Also, not all of the programs worked as I wanted them to work (this part was quite frustrating.)

[xristos]

Started with Mandrake , then Fedora and now Ubuntu . Probably won't change again. :wink:

[Nob]

blah... Kill me but i'm gonna head back to gentoo :)
dont ask why...
Ubuntu is great distro, but i requires really fast internet connection which i dont have so gentoo is the thing i lovve the most...

respect to al Ubuntu-ers, cheers!

ps - i wont leave forums just to know... :) and be sure i'll try Breezy ;)

[panickedthumb]

blah... Kill me but i'm gonna head back to gentoo :)
dont ask why...
Ubuntu is great distro, but i requires really fast internet connection which i dont have so gentoo is the thing i lovve the most...

respect to al Ubuntu-ers, cheers!

ps - i wont leave forums just to know... :) and be sure i'll try Breezy ;)
Gentoo requires just as much of an internet connection as Ubuntu doesn't it? Call me crazy, but I think the packages in gentoo were a little bigger.

[Nob]

Gentoo requires just as much of an internet connection as Ubuntu doesn't it? Call me crazy, but I think the packages in gentoo were a little bigger.
maybe... but in gentoo i allready have most of what i need... and i can sucessfully compile everything... f*ck binaries! :D

[s0c0]

Debian > Ubuntu. Ofcourse I've tried others like Slack, Red Hat, FC3, live disks, free bsd etc..

But I enjoy debian based systems and I like the ubuntu way over debian, so ubuntu is my distro of choice for now. Though on production boxes I'd perfer Slack or a BSD based O.S.

[Slapdash]

I have recently put SUSE 9.2 on a box ( i have another box with hoary ) and i must admit i am freaking loving it! If one can say "It just works" this is the distro that comes thge closest to it imho.
People said it is RPM = hell ---> maybe true a couple of years ago but yast works awesomely. i just also put Apt4Rpm on and it works great!
i also heard that it wasnt for power users etc. etc. man this distro is just as powerfull as any other Linux distro + it makes things Waayyy easier if you want to quickly do things.

I'll be keeping this one and ubuntu. For Deb and RPM experience ;)
ubuntu is still the best - for the record

[Camo R]

not a linux distro but i guess it could count. Solaris 10 was the last OS on my old laptop. Now that was an experience.
Then livecd after livecd after livecd.....: Knoppix > Austrumi > Beatrix > Slax > mini > Ubuntu > kubuntu > Ubuntu. Left Kubuntu because i could not automount jumpdrives
and such. Now running Ubuntu on kernel 2.6.11.8 (not sure if it still qualifies as Ubuntu though)

[linuxnomad]

I started my linux experience with SuSE 9.0 only stuck with it a week, went to Gentoo loved it and stuck with it for about 6 months till I corrupted my system during an update, went to SuSE 9.1 didn't like it, tried Red Hat 9.0 hated that in my opion worst distro, used Mepis for about 4-5 months really liked it, went back to Gentoo in my opion the best functioning distro just takes to long to install, but not as difficult as everyone makes it out to be, tried Ubuntu 4.10 didn't like it much, back to Mepis, built a new computer and tried Suse 9.3 not functional on my new system, tried KUbuntu still wasn't functional on new computer, tried Mepis not functional on new computer, and finally tried Ubuntu 5.4 worked great I really like the new gnome 2.10 this is the distro I am going to stick with. Not sure why this is the only distro that works with my new computer don't really care it works great

[kvidell]

Well... That's not fair, why not have multiple choice options? :-P
I was using Fedora on desktops and Debian on laptops until now. Now It's ubuntu on both.

I started off with Mandrake, that lasted a few weeks and then I moved to Debian and used that for a year or so, then I tried out Fedora and used that until Hoary came out.... I guess I was using fedora for about 6 months.
- Kev

[Spoofhound]

Started with Mandrake, then tried SuSe 9.2 for a while plus some live cds. Came across Ubuntu while trying out a Gnome 2.10 live cd and haven't looked back. I really like the feel of Ubuntu and have hardly touched Windows (dual boot) for a month. Wonder how long it'll last

[jgarcia]

Used Red Hat 9 on a LinuxCertified LC2210 Laptop. Completely switched to Hoary and never looked back. It's solved almost all the problems/issues I previously had.

Interesting. I just bought a LC2210D from LinuxCertified - pre-installed with Ubuntu :)

[poofyhairguy]

Interesting. I just bought a LC2210D from LinuxCertified - pre-installed with Ubuntu :)


Cool!!!

[tommyr]

Interesting. I just bought a LC2210D from LinuxCertified - pre-installed with Ubuntu :)


Who makes that? How do you like it? The price is good. Got me thinking now....

Tom

[Ubunted]

Wow...

http://www.linuxcertified.com/index.html

I didn't know anyone even made Linux laptops. This is very interesting.

Their top-end model is even certified to work with Ubuntu, among other things. This is pretty cool. Buddy of mine is looking for a laptop sometime soon and it needs to be Linux-compatible.

[rattaro]

I used to use Linspire. It is a great system, and their forums are great as well. The only problems I see are that they use KDE, and I personally prefer Gnome, and their proprietary CNR is sometimes limiting. Ubuntu universe/multiverse has more programs to choose from, and if you use apt-get in Linspire, you break CNR. I don't have anything bad to say about Linspire; it's just that Ubuntu is that much better!

[SwanMocker]

Ubuntu is my first distro, And if it doesn't make my pc explode or anything else equally
bad, I'll be staying.

[NightwishFreak]

Was using Fedora Core 2. Currently finding Ubuntu much better.
I was using Mandrake 10, then Fedora Core 2, then back to Mandrake 10 and now, it's Ubuntu. and i think it will be ubuntu for a lonnnnnnnnng time :D

[kumakun]

I used Red Hat 6.1 and then 7.1. With both there was always some odd tweaking that had to be done. The display never worked quite right, the modem gave me trouble, stuff like that. And trying to get it to work on my lap top..forget it.

So, I set linux aside, but I always felt like I wanted to go with that, rather than anything microsoft based. So After reading all the good stuff about ubuntu, I decided to give it a try. I have high hopes for it.

/Kuma

[poofyhairguy]

I used Red Hat 6.1 and then 7.1. With both there was always some odd tweaking that had to be done. The display never worked quite right, the modem gave me trouble, stuff like that. And trying to get it to work on my lap top..forget it.

So, I set linux aside, but I always felt like I wanted to go with that, rather than anything microsoft based. So After reading all the good stuff about ubuntu, I decided to give it a try. I have high hopes for it.

/Kuma

Awesome avitar....

[kumakun]

Thanks. Straight off Kingdom Hearts, I just reduced it in size. I dig yours, too.

/Kuma

[xmastree]

I was (and still am) using Mandrake 8.0 to run my webcam. (http://www.xmastree.34sp.com/webcam/webcam.html)

As for ubuntu... Well I never heard of it until today, when I received a box containing 30 CDs. :)

I tried the live CD, but it doesn't support my USB mouse. :neutral:

I've used Demolinux, which has the option, but not this one it seems...

Still, early days yet.

[JC4P]

I used Linspire 4.5 for first linux, didnt support Wireless card. I used Linspire Five-O it was great, but it like died on me. and I used Warthog, then moved onto Hoary.

[firas]

Started with Red Hat 6, went through all their releases including Fedora, tried Suse 9.x , moved to Gentoo, then Debian Sarge, back to Gentoo, then Kubuntu, then Mepis 3.3 and back to Kubuntu. So far Kubuntu seems to be the most promising with the best user support community after Gentoo. Just hoping that the KDE bugs get sorted out soon cause I'd really like to stay with Kubuntu.

Thanks for the great distro people !

[mmHg]

Started with Mandrake, but didn't like the membership system [-X so I switched to debian, but found it too outdated. :? Fiddled with Slackware and was turned off by the lack of support and some caustic forum users, :-x so I headed over to Gentoo. Loved Gentoo, and learned more about *nix then I ever thought possible, but it took way too much time to get working just the way I wanted. ](*,) Got married and returned to school, so I needed a distro that was less time consuming and friendly enough that a M$ user (my wife) could learn easily. Distrowatch had been praising Ubuntu for a while, and I was completely converted after reading Ubuntu's philosophy. O:) Not only do I love the OS, but I will stay with Ubuntu on principle because I wholeheartedly agree with its philosophy. Ubuntu is simple and friendly enough for new users, and configurable enough for tweakers like me. Keep up the good work! \\:D/

[Zelut]

I've tried a number of distros but only a couple have lasted more than a few days. I ran RH9 until my girlfriend got tired of not having windows at the house & convinced me to reinstall XP. (Also got a little discouraged when they dropped RH for Fedora)

Others I've tried are slackware (too 'server/hacker' for me) and Mandrake (too bloated)

Now I'm using Ubuntu on my desktop, notebook and convinced my brother to use it in his dorm.

[agds]

Before Ubuntu, I was using Windows XP on my desktop and Mac OS X on my laptop. It's been a relatively painless transition. I still keep XP around for certain gaming purposes—and so I can snicker when it appears in the GRUB menu under "Other operating systems." There you go, Bill. Your OS has been relegated to the status of Other.

[Ubuntu lover]

I have been using RH since forever. I'm still running RH9 on one desktop. I don't have much time to fiddle around with computers, and have been looking for a simpler, user-friendly, and easy maintainable distro since RH9. Ubuntu is just perfect! I appreciate the helpful forums, the philosophy, and I really like that for the first time ever I have a dual-boot laptop that _just works_ :) I wish there were fewer distros all together and better support for the ones that are.

[karia]

this is my first distro... :razz: ... small and quite simple... :mrgreen:

[andlinux21]

I started with Mandrake moved up to SuSE 8.0 - 9.2 and then stuck with Xandros for awhile. My nephew told me about Ubuntu and I have been happy ever since. [-X

[biguns]

My earlier thread seems to fit here nicely.

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=37444 (http://http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=37444)

[Xian]

I started with Mandrake moved up to SuSE 8.0 - 9.2 and then stuck with Xandros for awhile. My nephew told me about Ubuntu and I have been happy ever since. [-X
andlinux21, that type you are using is somewhat more difficult to read than the default.

[Optimal Aurora]

Like I said before on other threads, I was an avid Fedora user and still use it from time to time...

But, I have some problems with fedora in its entirety :| , so I use Ubuntu although I have some problems with it in its prize and joy (Debian package system) ](*,) , but I am alright with those. :-)

[joele]

Redhat -> Mandrake -> Slackware -> Libranet -> Ubuntu

Still have slackware on my MP3 server

[cinematography]

Mandrake. Before Mandrake I used Redhat, and before Redhat I tried Suse.

[lleberg]

I had Win XP on my last computer, and had only used linux on shells for irc and so on before..

But i felt it would take away the spirit of the new computer (my very first own computer) if i ran windows, it's both dumd slow and quite booring.. and it would be illegal since i wouldn't pay for it. :-) :grin: :smile:

And i love it!

[Gsibbery]

Slackware most recently.

[allforcarrie]

Windoze Xpee

I have used redhat and fedora, mandrake 10, solaris live CD,tryed installing slack but it wouldn't work for me.

[gotmonkey]

I have been a distro hopping junkie until I found ubuntu. I have been looking for that perfect distro, one that blends Easy of install, Function, support, and a good forum. Single disc install that is not bloated with a ton of extra stuff. Any distro that requires more than one cd to install, I consider bloatware.

Listed in order of usage since spring of 2004
MDK
Gentoo 2004.2
Fedora 2
Suse 9.2
Slackware 10 and 10.1
Yoper
Vector Linux 5 Soho
Xandros 3 Dlx
Ubuntu 5.04 Hoary

I would have to say, all in all, Ubuntu is my favorite distro.

[jonathanhanna]

Here's my history, with my thought process:

1. Red Hat (What other name did newbies know? I was not impressed.)
2. Corel Linux (It was a CNET reccomendation but Corel went away...)
3. Mandrake (quick and easy, but learned quickly about dependency hell)
4. Debian (no success in making X work)
5. Libranet (Debian made easy, but got tired of waiting for 3.0)
6. Ubuntu (never been happier!)

[zyiro]

ehh i started all the way back with redhat 4.x and have installed just about every distro thats available / worthwhile. but the last few years it has been stricty debian, honestly ive only had ubuntu installed only for a few hours.... long enough for me to get crossover-office installed and running with my needed applications. but already i am completely speechless i cant say enough good things about this distro. py personal opinion to have a computer with Ubuntu + Crossover-Office why would anyone ever want to go back to another distro or back to Windows (as i puke just saying that).




-Garrett

[Sionide]

I used Slackware and KDE on an old box, didn't much like it and it put me off Linux a bit- then along comes Ubuntu and now it's my primary OS!

[aamir]

I used Kanotix & windows xp before switching to Ubuntu, I wrote a little about my switch on my blog (http://exjinn.net/blog/?p=379).

I've been using some form of Debian for a couple of years but wanted something different, I'd heard about Ubuntu on Distrowatch.org and decided to give it a go.

[sonny]

I was using Xandros, but in the office I only use WinXP.

[Sslaxx]

* SUSE - from version 6.1 all the way to 9.2. A favoured distro, and I'd happily recommend this to people. I used this primarily as a dual-boot system with Windows (ratio of about 90% using Linux/10% Windows).
* Debian - using Sarge before it went stable. No problems here, either. This distro is the first time I used my PC as purely a Linux box.
* Ubuntu - Hoary pre-release. Here I stand.

[dkitty]

Mac OS 9
Mac OS X
Suse for PPC
Mac OS X 10.2
Yellow Dog
Ubuntu Warty PPC
Most recently Ubuntu Hoary 5.04 for i386

[Optimal Aurora]

Fedora Core 3 and 4
Windows XP
Mac OSX Panther

[joelito]

I've been using Sarge for a while and I liked it. But when I tried Ubuntu, I loved It!!!

I also have a Dual Boot with Fedora 4 and It's Okay for a free (as in beer) rpm based distro

BTW, I've ordered my Hoary CD months ago and never got it (Had to download the ISO anyway)

[i_m_meen]

Slack 9.1 - with KDE & some desktop apps, but nothing more

Debian Woody - never got to seeing X in action

CRUX 2.0 i think - XFCE & apps from different areas, including development

Debian Sid - everything I ever needed and more; KDE+GNOME+XFCE+...

Ubuntu - wiped out every bit of GNOME i could find.

Works great now with XFCE. :wink:

[manicka]

From beginning to end

Work:
MacOS from 7.0 to 10.4, Win98 to XP, Free BSD

Home:
MacOS7.1 -7.3
Win98
Red Hat 7 (Gnome)
Win2000
Mandrake 8.0 - 9.1 (KDE)
WindowsXP
SuSE 9.0 - 9.1 (KDE)
WindowsXP
SuSE 9.2 - 9.3 (KDE)
trialled Ubuntu Hoary

Finally here with Ubuntu and Gnome - loving it :)

P.S. running minislack on my original pentium300

[rolfotto]

Hi Optimal Aurora, a fellow Tenchi Muyo fan I see! Or maybe just Tokimi^_^

Anyway, I dabbled in linux 4 years ago because I got out of college like 4 years ago but didn't get a Tech job. I wanted to still practice coding to keep from getting rusty, but couldn't afford MS Visual Studio (which they taught us on) because it was like $400 for that one app. Then I heard of GCC and Linux and was intrigued. Needless to say, it's a bit embarassing to be a computer science grad and still not knowing anything about Unix when you graduate! But MS was what we were taught and swallowed.

My first linux distro I dabbled in was LFS - http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ which is a great distro but I was in over my head. It's a good learning experience, like they tell you, but ONLY if you know what the CLI commands are doing. Otherwise you are blankly copy and pasting paragraphs of commands and completely lost if something goes wrong. I got a system up and running, but it was so barebones, and I wanted a working system and no longer a system working.

So I jumped around Mepis->Gentoo->Lots_of_others until I hit Knoppix. That was a great live distro until you actually tried to install it - LOL.

I went to Ubuntu because I heard of Mark Shuttleworth on Slashdot and have great respect for a man like that. And well I like the distro itself despite having some reservations against Gnome (used KDE first).

Now I'm sticking with Ubuntu for the time being. It's providing almost everything I need now out of the box and I hope to learn enough on CLI to go back into dualbooting a LFS system one day (out of pride of having my "own" semi-distro and for the learning experience).

[Vurdak829]

Suse->Mandrake->Suse->Gentoo->Ubuntu.

[clcastro]

Redhat -> Mandrake -> Fedora -> Ubuntu...

Debian-based is the way of the Future! ;-)

[twowheeler]

Red hat -- Gentoo -- now test driving Ubuntu.

Gentoo was fun for a while (2+ years) and educational about all the innards of linux. Now I would rather have something that just works without a lot of fiddling. Ubuntu looks like it might be my new home.

First post! :)

[-TayloR-]

lol exactly the order i went through before reaching ubuntu :), and welcome to the forums :).

[apollo2011]

I started out with SUSE 9.0 and then 9.1 before deciding to try out other distros and trying out Kubuntu and being stunned at how easy it was compared to FC3 (which I also tried) and SUSE, which I was using and now don't use at all.

Don't see SUSE on the list though...am I supposed to vote for Slackware?

[underpope]

I've been using Red Hat since 6.2. When RH changed their licensing and initiated the Fedora Core project, I switched to Fedora. My primary OS on my desktop and my laptop is now FC3 (as well as my home server), and I maintain a FC2 machine and a Gentoo machine at work (not to mention a couple of Solaris boxes). I downloaded and installed Kubuntu on a spare laptop at home with the idea of making it into a music/media server, and I've been so impressed with it that I'm considering replacing all my FC3 installations at home with it. I find that I prefer Ubuntu's security model over FC's (though in one of my earlier attempts I garked my user account so that it was no longer a sudoer, and I had no idea how to fix it so I just reinstalled), and it's overall simpler to use and feels more stable. I also prefer the Ubuntu community model and ideals.

Still got a lot of questions about networking (wireless and wired) and setting up a mail server, though. My transition may take awhile.

[direwolf]

my laptop is my linux box...
first experience was with Knoppix Live CD 3.3 ...then did a poor mans install of it...then did a full install of it (debian/knoppix)...had to reinstall 2kpro for a few weeks... then tried ubuntu...

love ubuntu i switch about half between gnome and xfce ...its all a bit slow on my laptop...but the laptop is old so i guess ill have to deal

i cant wait to get a wireless nic for for the lappy ...cant get the winmodem to work ...i gave up on it ](*,) and use an old external full hardware modem for now (thank goodness for that drawer of old stuff!)

overall ubuntu rocks
great for a newbie such as myself but with plenty of room to grow \\:D/

[andlinux21]

First started with Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE, Fedora, Xandros, Ubuntu mind you i didnt really get familiar with any of these too well I used SuSE the longest ver 9.1

[obx-jdt]

Was using Fedora Core 2. Currently finding Ubuntu much better.
was a loyal Mandrake use....But I think I my have been converted to Ubuntu after my first week of useing it :-)

[wjp.reg]

A complete noob, bin usin SuSE 9.1/9.2/9.3 since begininning of year. Triple-booting hoary with WinXP and SuSE on the side.. :)

I like what I'm seeing and very much appreciate apt-get and Synaptic!

SMB sharing took me a little more time than expected, but SuSE experience helped in the long run.

I also like the speed for loading and exiting (much faster than SuSE) and the gnome desktop - different (KDE).

[ZephyrXero]

Slackware 9.1 (what a horrible place for a newb to start ;P) -> Gentoo -> Ubuntu 4.10 -> Gentoo -> Now

I've been using Linux for a little over a year now. I started out with Slack because they were the only distro to support my SATA harddrive at the time, and that was a horrible experience (installation of new software wise). I next went straight into Gentoo because almost everyone in my LUG was using it, and portage made program installation a breeze (although a bit timely). After alot of frustration setting up cryptic command line tools, I tried out Ubuntu 4.10, but didn't know how to use synaptic or anything and missed Portage, so I went back to Gentoo (using VidaLinux for quick installation this time). Now that the new version of Ubuntu is out, I'm testing it on my work computer, but haven't installed it at home yet. I finally got my damn Gentoo working well and I'm not ready to get rid of all that work just quite yet ;) ...plus I want to play around with Ubuntu more at work first before I commit. So far I'm pretty excited about how well things work out of the box now, so I very well may do a complete switch soon. I still may use Gentoo for a small webserver I'm about to build, but I'll give the server edition of Ubuntu a try first I guess ;)

[Plagued]

I personally really don't care for the Mac... I've used Mac OS 7 all the way up to OSX Panther and I feel that the Mac is one of the MOST UN-user friendly systems on the market today! I would rather use Windoze than Mac. In the Mac enviroment, you are forced to make FIVE clicks in order to do what you could do with TWO clicks in Winblows! The Mac OS frustrated me so... that I look back and cannot for the life of me understand WHY I stayed on that OS for so long!! Dazed and confused I guess... or got caught up in the nature of "I got a Mac and you don't...HA HA!" Immature... Yes, I know... But now I don't need to worry about all that anymore as I absolutely LOVE LINUX and Ubuntu has now taken my breath away!!!

Great Job Ubuntu Guys!!!

P.S. Please just change your new default OS theme! I want to add this OS to all my friends and family's computers and I really don't want the new theme coming up on their desktops. I will be left having to explain why this is! THX AGAIN!!

I will start by saying that I have been using Gentoo for about 3 years I guess (first installed Gentoo 1.1). I first installed kubuntu (personally I can't stand Gnome) on an old ClamShell iMac (G3 333) w/ 96 MB RAM. I was quite impressed with how much faster it booted than the OS 9 that was on there when I acquired the thing.

So from there I installed Kubuntu on my work laptop (dual boot with windows XP). I was somewhat disappointed in the boot speed. That machine used to boot gentoo in about 55 seconds, and it is almost 3x as long with Kubuntu. That being said, what I really like is the way that everything just kind of works, even stuff that I never could quite get working right in Gentoo. I will most likely be moving my home machine to Kubuntu soon.

I also have to put in my $.02 about Ronny's statements about OS X. While I do agree that OS 8 & 9 sucked (I really can't understand how OS 9 didn't singlehandedly put Apple out of business), OS X is completely different, and is rapidly becoming my OS of choice (currently typing this on a PowerBook G3 500 running Tiger). I don't regularly use windows (my laptop only dual boots b/c of a couple of VB6 apps I maintain), so I can't make a personal comparison about producitivty in Windows vs OS X, but I have seen a couple of studies online that would seem to indicate that people are more productive in OS X than in windows and that it takes people less time to learn OS X after using windows than the other way around.

But just my $.02. [Not trying to start a flame war]

[UncleRage]

Started w/ YDL on a Powerbook (Wallstreet, or Lombard... can't recall. It's been 6 or so years ago). Then RH on x86 (natural migration), Gentoo for the past 3 years or so and now Ubuntu on all except my stable workstation (still Gentoo there).

Here at the shop, I've installed (K)Ubuntu on all my reconditioned workstations/laptops (mostly lots of small form GX-150's, Deskpro EN's and Thinkpad X21's). They're getting a very good reception with my clientele, And between $200-$350 a pop, who can blame them?

Starting next week, I'm going to move a percentage of my budget desktops over to (K)ubuntu to cut the OEM (read: Windows) costs. For most people -- this is the perfect "out of the box) distro. And is a real hardware sales point when you start pointing out the benefits. (Not to mention, a dyndns service and a yearly maintenance fee is a good selling point that more than rivals the major competitors.)

Unfortunately, Windows still reigns supreme on the gaming PC's here. I do dual boot for PC literacy classes (depending on the client), but Windows still holds the gamers.

Oh yeah... first post. Great community here, kids. You guys are without a doubt as friendly as the Gentoo crowd.

Cheers.

UncleRage

[SS2]

Hi there,

my first Distro was Suse 9.2 Personal in late 2004. As a total Noob trying to get behind the philosophy of the Linux world ended like a hard crash. The system was totally messed threw YAST because of trying to install new Programms an ending in only problems of dependences.

Trying to escape these kind of problemes I changed to Mandrake 10.1 hoping for better things wich I really had. Second try with a RPM based system. This time it worked much better. With the fine Programm of RPMDrake made it much easier with my software wishes. At this time I found Gnome and also began to love it. But after a time is also fed up with it. With all the messed up structure and old software, I opened my eyes for something new again.

And there it was: Ubuntu, what it means you get it, the fine and simple selection of everything made me a quick desicion to do it again.
So here I am using an almoust a perfekt system.

But I have also one bad point to Ubuntu: the sound support that really never works after a fresh installation. ](*,)

So, I hope there not too many mistakes in my text and wish you a nice day!

[SilentGreg]

I cam from a Gentoo background. Dropped it for a short while as I was having a few problems that I did not have the time to repair.

I will more than likely return some day, but not now.

Greg

[Primos]

I was using Fedora Core 3, I used it about half a year. It was, in fact, first Linux-distro I was using. Few weeks ago I had kernel panic and some Xorg problems and I decided to test some other distro too. So far everything has worked great. I love Ubuntu. :-)

[signbarn]

You should put an option for being completely new to Linux like myself -- I would be interested in how many people choose Ubuntu as their first distro.

[NeoSNightmarE]

Well, the last distro I was using was technically SUSE. But that only lasted for about 3 months because I wasn't all that impressed. I don't really even count that as using a distro because it wasn't my kind of thing. Before that I had Fedora Core 3. And that right there was pretty good. So I voted for that because it was my last real distro. It was good with the RPMs and stuff like that and I got a lot of use out of it. Before I had FC3 I had the original Red Hat. So I was pretty much familiar with FC3. And then before I went to Ubuntu I was on XP for a while because I wanted to give it one last shot...and it failed in the way I was talking about in another topic with the DRM messing the files up and I couldn't use them on another computer or user once I transferred it. And here I am with Ubuntu for the last month or so and it wasn't that bad to adjust to because I was always on my friends Debian Linux box.

[cudaman73]

Gentoo... on and off.

[arnieboy]

Redhat Linux 6.0 --> Fedora Core 3 (a redhat enthusiast throughout).. never tried anything Debian based ever before Ubuntu.

[Tamir]

1. Redhat 9.0
2. Mandrake
3. Fedora
4. Debian
5. Gentoo
6. Ubuntu :-P

[musicman2059]

lol... if Windows was a Linux distro, I'd have to say I was using "OMG Bill Gates ****ed up my computer 98.1.34262362" before Ubuntu. ;)

[t2kburl]

SuSE migrant here

trying FC4 now

taking forever to run up2date ... and this distro has been out for what? 3 weeks?
ridiculous

and I have to babysit it because it stops at the end of each package because none of them have gpg signatures

I highly doubt I'll be leaving Ubuntu for this

[wrtrdood]

Old computer guy here. I go way back in trying different OSes. The Amiga came close to making me feel at home thanks to the configurability. Then I discovered Linux. Ok. So I admit to some association with Windoze (I was an NT Admin, after all), but much of my professional life has been steeped in Unix so it was a natural step.

I've tried many distros, including most of the ones listed on this poll. Seems I always found something lacking in each of them. I heard good things about Ubuntu and since I was sick of spending more time maintaining my system than using it, I decided to give it a try. I must say that I'm very glad I did. I'm running it on a Fuji P1120 and the only thing that doesn't work is the touchscreen and that's only because I've been too lazy to get it to work.

When they say "it just works" they mean it. Thanks to all that made this possible.

[oneybm]

Well I tried, and failed a lot, Red Hat 5 - 9, Suse 7 &9 - 9.2, YellowDog Linux, Corel Linux and finally Ubuntu. Been really happy with both Suse 9.2 and Ubunu just wanted a little less of the legal problems, video playback, and definetly found much better support from a more understanding user community here. I've only been using it for a few days and you all have been nothing more than some exceptional and stand up fellows to the newb questions.

I really hope this distro does well as it seems to more than have to support to do it.

[Wide]

Debian on servers along with Fedora & freebsd on desktops


Very cool poll to see where everyone came from

[drummer]

Debian (Sarge unstable) was the last distro I had installed before Ubuntu I think.. but before that I had Slackware 10.1, Fedora Core 3 (i386), Vector Linux 5soho-rc2, Mandrake 10.1, Fedora Core 3 (x86_64), Mandrake 10... well the order was something like that, most recent to oldest ;-)

[smoon]

Here's in chronological order what I've already used:

Suse 4.something
RedHat
Debian
Gentoo
Debian
Lunar Linux
Sourcemage GNU/Linux (Really great Distribution, check it out ;))
Debian
Ubuntu


I've tried much more distributions, but these are the ones I _used_ for more than a week. I always came back to Debian because of apt, but now that Ubuntu exists it's my distribution of choice for the desktop.

[manicka]

SuSE

not in the list?