How were you originally introduced to Linux, and why Ubuntu?

[Tamalin]

It's been so long since I ran Windows on my computer that I don't even remember how I was originally introduced to the idea that I could run something else better. Maybe listening to some other personal stories would spark my memory. Anything to share?

[sydbat]

It's been so long since I ran Windows on my computer that I don't even remember how I was originally introduced to the idea that I could run something else better. Maybe listening to some other personal stories would spark my memory. Anything to share?A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far aw[edited due to blatant plagiarism]...

Seriously, I found out about Linux when I went back to school as an adult student. One of the computer labs had the ability to run Red Hat (cannot remember which version) as a dual boot. However, it never ran properly, if at all. This, among other reasons, is why I have never liked Novell (an interesting leap you say? Not really...it was the server OS and always had major problems).

After all that, I was still curious and found an early Fedora Core (2 or 3) and ran it on a second box at home. Kinda got hooked from there.

When I finally got tired of all the XP BS, I decided one day to dual boot on the main box and looked for one that, to me, was a bit more friendly than Fedora. I chose Hardy and have not looked back. Got rid of the dual boot over a year ago.

[Pete051]

In my case it came off a magazine cover, PC world if my memory serves me well. Suse 5.2 sometime in the late 90's you had to install the commandline first then configure xf86.
First Ubuntu was either warty or hoary not sure which which tried after reading a review in Linux format.

[blur xc]

I was building my first PC from the ground up- and saw the word "Ubuntu" repeatedly while reading a many, many, reviews for various components I was comparing. I asked an IT buddy of mine what it was, and he turned me on to it.

The whole time I was planning and building this pc I felt this weight in my chest about having to put windows on it. I've never liked windows, ever since it's first inception, and the thought of having that performance sucker bog down my precious build didn't sit well. And especially since the only legal copy of windows I had at the time was Vista Home Premium...

So, I never knew there was a viable alternative. I always thought of linux as a geek software, and only computer science majors could use it. Little did I know... I may have a geeky side, but I'm not the only one that has to use it.

So, I've got it runnign 90% of the time on my home computer- and once I get my last app running in Linux (optimistically waiting), I'll ditch windows for good.

BM

[Copernicus1234]

I dont remember, but my first Linux was Red Hat many years ago. Nothing worked out of the box back then so I learned a lot by fixing it. But in the end, too much time was needed to be productive under Linux in those days, so I went back to Windows.

Ubuntu 8.04 was the first version of Linux that really impressed me with its "work out of the box" and so I stuck with it since then and left Windows behind forever.

[subdivision]

A techie on a forum I frequented mentioned it to me back in 2000. Messed around with Slack and Redhat, ignored Linux for a few years and then tried Ubuntu after my father told me he was having fun with it.

Ended up with Arch.

[alexandari]

I only knew Linux was an OS and...it sounded interesting. So I tried Mandrake 10 and then got to other distros...I installed Ubuntu because many people said it`s the best and they`re with ubuntu so I decided I`ll give it a try...and it rocks until today :)

[Bachstelze]

Technology teacher back in Jr. High gave me two Debian Slink CDs. "Just thought you might be interested." I switched to Ubuntu in the Breezy days.

[Chame_Wizard]

Since 2 January 2005, i was reading a lot IT news,about an operating system called Linux for the 1st time,which was news everyday.

A year(February 2006)later,i finally found out what kind of operating system Linux/FLOSS was thanks to a school project I have to do.

:lolflag::lolflag:

[tom66]

Was continuously recommended on an old forum to switch to Ubuntu after I kept having Windows issues. I was quite a HTML geek back then but not so much a computer tech (I knew my way around but that was it).

Ubuntu has taught me a lot about computers and I love it.

[gn2]

It was an article in MicroMart in 2005 that first made me try PCLinuxOS, then I switched to Ubuntu because I liked the cool name and the stylish and very different looking brown theme.
I have stuck with Ubuntu thus far for two reasons:
1: the help I have received in this forum
2: hardware compatibility

[Phrea]

First time is over a decade ago, I tried both Slackware and Red Hat, played with it a bit [learned it via the net], just to try it out, but back then it lacked a LOT of driver support, it was crude and kinda scary.
Later I tried Mandrake [which I liked, but there was still the driver problem].

Now, 10 years later, I tried the Ubu live cd and was blown away.
And, the Ubuntu forums, maybe that's even more important, the support and friendliness is amazing, even for [new] noobies like myself.

[Chronon]

As an undergraduate we had a terminal set up in the department's reading room. You could log on and get a Motif desktop (and later a Gnome desktop). I remember learning to run things like Netscape and Mathematica on the server (from around 1997 or so).

I didn't use it at home until about 3 years ago when my computer wouldn't boot due to HD issues. I burned a Knoppix Live CD and everything, to my amazement, worked without any further fuss. When I solved the HD problem I got rid of Windows and installed Debian Etch on it. I got a pretty good introduction to Linux this way (managed to bork my system once and reinstall without too much trouble). I got a new desktop system given to me for my birthday last summer and installed Ubuntu on it after seeing its popularity and positive reports about the community here.

[WinterMadness]

Well, my XP machine got a smitfraud program on it. I decided that I was done with windows, and that I wanted a Mac because im sick and tired of getting viruses when youre not in the mood to be on top of everything at every second.

I then looked at the cost of Macs and said eff that. I just bought another windows machine with the intention of putting linux on it becuase ive heard of it before.

After I got the machine, I started asking people online about it and they told me about Ubuntu Linux. I didnt know about any other distro's. I actually thought linux was a company and ubuntu was their new os at first.

I dont have a windows box at this time.

[.Maleficus.]

It was a hot day in June of 2006. The sun was beating down on my sweat-drenched face, and the 4 80mm fans of my newly assembled PC build only added to the blistering heat. As I stared into the UV-blue reactive side panel of my cool-at-the-time "gamer case", an odd thought struck me. I never bought Window XP. I used the last fleeting ounce of my Mountain Dew powered energy to make a post on TheBestCaseScenario about the mystical creature that is "Linux". I woke 3 days later from what I presume was a heat-stroke related loss of conscience to my mom's computer with the drive open and a shiny new CD staring me in the face. With eye-boogers still caked to my half open eyes, I sauntered to my computer and put in the disc. And then there was Ubuntu.

The rest is history. I've since used every major Ubuntu release (excluding Jaunty), Fedora 6, Gentoo, Arch, Mandriva One 2007 and a host of other random distros. I'm now a happy Arch and Windows 7 user.

[steveneddy]

I was complaining at a part time job about how I wish Windows were better and how I was constantly reinstalling just to keep ahead of the virus' and one of the other guys mentioned Knoppix, which I used for about 6 months and installed it, upgraded and figured it out.

Someone at my day job heard me talking about Linux and threw me an Ubuntu CD (Warty) at me and I tried it that night.

At first I didn't like the Gnome desktop and put the CD away.

Don't know why, but a couple of months later I tried it again and started liking it.

It was stable and saw all of my hardware. I installed it.

I discovered the UF a few months later and I've been here ever since.

[Lavaeagle]

I just started my job and met an older aquaitence there and started talkign about compters and then he started talking about Ubuntu and I said I had tried it once and didn't get hooked cause I need so many windows apps(-_-).

I got home turned on my computer saw the same old screen, slow, virus or adware infected, installed ubuntu.

Fin for Windows
Just the beginning for Ubuntu

[Viva]

I introduced myself because I like to experiment a lot. Ubuntu was not the first distro I used and my initial experience wasn't the greatest. I stuck up with it and never looked back since then. I'm a proud GNU/Linux 'zealot' now, as some teenagers on this forum say.

[Luca_turicci]

=D When I was a kid, I used to play with computers all time, and i was always searching for new free games, I remember that many of them had this link to the "Linux version", and I didn't know what it was until I was 13, or 14, that's when I started building and fixing computers, but i always thought that "Free software was bad software", until a little while ago, a friend of mine told me about Ubuntu Hardy, and sent me some Screenshots and a liveCD, i tried it for about 1 or 2 hours, then I backed up my media and installed it on my PC. I used it for 2 or 3 weeks since I really needed guitar pro, and tuxguitar had too much problems, I went back to windows, and with the release of Jaunty, I decided to reinstall... and order a LiveCD from Canonical =D. Now i'm a very happy of Jaunty on my desk, and Karmic on my Netbook. =)

[j.bell730]

A long time ago, I played a game called Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest. I joined a clan on that game. Then, I met the eventual founder of http://www.a-g-f.net. After I joined the aforementioned website, and talking to the members of it on IRC, I heard about Linux. I decided to do some more research, and kept seeing Ubuntu. I burned and installed Ubuntu, but instantly hated GNOME, then tried KDE and liked it, but, because I wasn't as accustomed to Linux, I didn't like it, so I switched back to Windows. Then one day, I saw the disk, said "What the heck", reinstalled, and, ironically, I'm back to GNOME and can't use anything else... tried KDE 4.3, but I didn't like it... tried Windows again and thought "Ugh, how could I have ever liked this garbage?". Now, here I am, much happier with Ubuntu (I'm using Ubuntu because of the awesome community!!!).

[Frak]

Started playing with Red Hat back in '96 when I was able to install it on my Sun Sparc workstation that I was given by somebody in my family.

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

I started to program in 1972. It was about 1981 that I got my first home computer. The computer didn't have an operating system as we know them today. It basically had programs to convert FORTRAN, BASIC, or assembly language to machine code.

At that time, you had to write applications yourself or modify something someone else shared. Modifying shared code also included converting the program from BASIC to FORTRAN, etc., yourself and recompiling it. Sharing was quit different from today as there was no Internet (WWW). At the time, applications were free. The software wasn't patented or copyrighted. When software started to be paid for, owned by someone else, it was strange to me, and I really didn't understand that at all.

I was accustomed to free software. So, as software became more and more Pay-for-Using, I looked for Freeware or Shareware alternatives.

That resulted in seeing Linux versions of the Freeware applications. I didn't pay very much attention to Linux at the time. Microsoft and Apple were starting to dominate the home PC market.

In 2004, my employer told me I would be transferred to another Project. By 2004, I was not programming; but rather, managing other engineers. In my spare time, I researched the technology the Project was using. One of them was Redhat Linux 9. That was before the Redhat Enterprise Linux numbering system. I wanted to educate myself before joining the Project team; therefore, I looked for Freeware Linux operating systems.

I downloaded distros to my home computer. I tried to get them working with various success and failure stories. I learned from the experience. I also found it refreshing to see the old FREE software I had experienced when the home computer was in it's infancy.

To sum up, I feel at home with the FOSS community. I just wish I could contribute more.

[Gen2ly]

Being a geek in the old days (must have been around 1997) trolling around in Netscape and stumbled upon Red Hat. From there I heard about a new desktop called gnome. Installed (Debian, I think) - incredible pain in the ***. Took a good day to get a choppy X up, think I installed Gnome (took only a few seconds) and it was literally nothing at the time (just a bar at the bottom). Wasn't until years later that I tried Ubuntu, when I inherited an old notebook that I wanted/needed to resurrect.

[MarcusW]

Me and a friend was talking about how we were "thinking about installing ubuntu" and I ended up doing it on my laptop just to show him who's more hardcore! Now I run only Ubuntu, and he has a dual-boot. :) Let's just say, Ubuntu *WAS NOT* how I imagined "Linux" to be. Not even close. :D

[pissedoffdude]

I was on some halo2 forums and was reading a tech help thread. It was a very bold and convincing post that went something like this: "www.ubuntu.com If your computer can't run it, YOU DON'T DESERVE TO HAVE A COMPUTER!"

I checked it out, and the ubuntu site displayed the 'linux for human beings' phrase. That just got to me.

At that time, I didn't know much about linux and had heard it was very difficult to use. That phrase just made it seem so simple. So I got myself a copy of the livecd (dapper drake), and I was astonished to find out that it was nothing like any linux I could have pictured. What impressed me even more was the fact that some of my hardware that would not work in windows actually worked in linux. (was my scanner. there were no drivers for xp x64 edition, and there probably still aren't)

[cascade9]

I got given a set of debian woody install discs, from someone who bet me $10 I couldnt install it. Well, $10 was nothing but I like a challenge, so I installed it. Would have stuck with it but for my stupid 56K connection and the winmodem I was stuck with, so I played with it off and on for a while, untill I finially got a decentish conenction and then moved over to linux fulltime.

I ended up finding ubuntu, mainly from a friends reccomendation (same guy who couldnt install debian LMAO). Somewhere round the 5.10 IIRC. I stil prefer debian for my own systems, but ubuntu is better choice for a lot of other users I help out here and there. ;)

[TheNessus]

I was interested in Linux because of two things: a friend who was a linux person, and screenshots. the screenshots all look so different, and I thought "damn, why can't Windows be like that? so configurable, so editable.. not one of these screenshots look the same. And why do all of these screenshots have a DOS terminal open??"

So I tried out at first with Wubi on my XP. Then when my comp died and I got a new lappy with Vista on it, I completely switched to Ubuntu. I started with Arch really, installed by my friend, but it was too technical for me.

[stinger30au]

i remember using Microware os-9 for my Tandy Colour Computer with 64kilobytes of ram and 2 floppy drives in about 1985.

It was "similar" to unix but with a few changes and very powerfull stuff indeed.

not bad for a home computer using a motorola 6809 cpu at less then 1 Mhz

then some years later in about 1987 i had a 512k tandy colour computer 3 running a motorola 6809be cpu at 1.6 Mhz and upgraded the cpu a few years later to a hitachi 6309cpu and ran nitroso9 on it

again all very similar to unix with everything done from the shell

moved on to the amiga 500, pc and game colsoles etc and about 2 years ago a friend of mine put me on to ubuntu

i grabbed a copy of it and been using it ever since

ditched windows xp all together months ago

[gradinaruvasile]

About 2 years ago i did a test out of curiosity.
My brother was dual-booting linux/windows on his laptop. I tried the firs variant (i think pc linuxos or something) that i laid my hands on from google. It didnt detect the monitors resolution (1280x1024) correctly. It was a frustrating experience.
Then i asked a friend ho also used linux what distro did he use. He said ubuntu. Installed it (it was gutsy) and i like dthat detected averything out of the box. Installed Nvidia drivers and it was all well. Since then i booted Windows 10-20 times max on my comp. Since then i use Ubuntu both at work and at home.

[RiceMonster]

Used it via ssh in class, and became framiliar with bash and vi. My friend also used Gentoo with Fluxbox and it caught my interest. Ubuntu was not my first distro, but it helped my get fully comofortable with things for a while, then I moved elsewhere.

[johnjust]

Well, I first heard about Linux from a friend back in high school - 10th grade, when I took my intro to C++ class.

I didn't actually touch Linux until my first year in college, when (again) another friend of mine showed me his Gateway laptop (when a laptop with a DVD burner was a big deal), and I asked him how he got his desktop looking like that (I forget what distro it was, but I remember it having KDE as the desktop).

After that, it was another year before I actually took a Linux class for my Web Design degree. I f'in HATED it (we had to use a CLI distro, and I actually chose Slackware). Writing a shell script was our first big project, and I had no idea what I was doing. I passed the class, but only barely.

After that, it was my laptop crapping out months later, and I didn't have a (legit) copy of Windows to reinstall. Being a poor college kid, I decided to use something free - Ubuntu it was. I didn't like GNOME, so I found Kubuntu, but I remember it being unstable as hell, so I eventually went back to Ubuntu - Feisty.

Since then (about 4-5 years time), I've become a lot more comfortable with Ubuntu, and I've made the complete switch - no Windows anywhere for me. I've tried a number of different distros (PCLOS, Suse, Fedora, Mint), but I currently have my old laptop running the newest Mint, Desktop running Hardy, and my new laptop running Jaunty, and I couldn't be happier. My brother always rants about how much he like Vista because of how shiny it is, but I recently shut him up when it took his laptop close to 5 minutes to fully boot up (ridiculuous, if you ask me). My 26 second Jaunty boot really got him fumed.

[Sunn3K7aas]

I was first introduced to linux around 1998. My father got Red Hat 5.2 for his laptop. I got to play with it some. I then went to Red Hat 6.0, 6.1, 7 and 7.1. I remember having to install XF86 4.3 to get our graphics chip to work on our desktop. I also remember having to recompile the kernel with mtrr support so DVDs would work. However, my dad got FreeBSD 4 and I started using that. It worked better on the desktop than Red Hat did at the time, so I stuck with that until I went to college in 2003 and got a laptop that didn't play well with FreeBSD (overheating) so I switched back to Red Hat 9. Stayed with that for a while then in 2006 my friend was looking to replace Windows on her laptop and installed Ubuntu 6.06 and told me how good it was and now I've been using Ubuntu since then. I like how little I have to configure it.

[jollysnowman]

My dad bought Red Hat back around 2000. We used it until about my junior year of high school (2005), and then I started with Ubuntu about a year ago.

Red Hat was a pain...

[Georgia boy]

I was talking to an individual at work about two years ago and he had told me about Linux and the various flavors of it. He then made me a Live CD of Knoppix to try out and told me that it wasn't for installing to the hard drive. Which I read in their forums that you shouldn't also. I tried it but didn't really like the setup of it. Then a few months later someone else was talking about Ubuntu and how much easier for the user. I had someone make me a Live CD and played around with it for a couple of weeks. After talking to people like Paqman and Forrestpiskie in the forums and them giving me the confidence in installing this I went ahead and fixed a dual boot with XP on a Saturday. Been using it for a little over a year now. Been back to Windows side for a total of maybe 5 times since the installation. Once the next LTS comes out I'll do a complete install on the hard drive and wipe out the Windows thus making my OS Ubuntu only. Yes, I still have questions and am always learning but I enjoy it at the same time.

Tom

[youbuntu]

I have a Linux-mad Uncle, who gave me the printed Suse GNU/Linux 8.1 Personal edition CD set (3 CDs) about 6 years ago, and I tried it and kinda loved it. At the time, I had no idea whatsoever about free software, Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds or ANYTHING political regarding software... I just liked it, because it was cool, and different! :D.

The same Uncle recommended I should try Ubuntu, at some point later in time (don't ask me when - suffice to say it was around the 5.x release, if I recall).

I'm about to try Mandriva One 2010, and also GnewSense (Stallman endorsed :) ).

Love it!!.

[Ms_Angel_D]

I learned about linux from browsing different forums, A friend of mine gave me a couple of red hat cd's but I was always scared I would mess my computer up. I decided to do so research and linux and that's when I discovered Ubuntu & Virtuabox. I installed both and have been hooked ever since. Now the Only OS's both me and hubby use are Kubuntu/Ubuntu.

[Zzl1xndd]

If my memory serves correct, I was working at RadioShack (Still in High School) and a lot of our customers came from the Military base near by, the IT guys from Base where always talking about it and being the Geek I was I had to give it a go.

[matthew.ball]

About 6 years ago I installed Slackware and played around with it and fluxbox for a few years, the computer was a piece of crap, and I had no idea what I was doing so it was bound to eventually die, and die it did.

Kinda stopped with GNU/Linux at that point, and got heavily into Windows development, I did a TAFE course on programming after college and they did all their programming from a Live Ubuntu session.

I don't really have the time to break and then fix stuff anymore (unfortunately - those days were fun), but Ubuntu had taken care of most of that back with Gutsy I believe, just jumped in with Ubuntu and haven't looked back.

[xpod]

It was a hot day in June of 2006. .......snip

Hotter than July?;)
That`s when i stumbled across Ubuntu.....6.06 as it was at the time.
That rather fortunate Stumble was only 4 months after i first caved in and began using computers so there was no real "Windows mindset" holding me back.Saying that, just 4 months was probably enough because one of the first things i still wanted to know was "where do i start scanning & with what". I even had ClamAV installed for that first week.

That initial few months with Windows was not entirely wasted of course. Like many of you i seem to have become the "local (windows)PC guy" although i let my lad deal with most of them now as it`s a bit of extra pocket money and i just dont have the same time i did during my first year or so.

gee......how time flies eh.

[matchstich]

had xp pro and developed problems with it. tried to reinstall and MS

would not let me activate it, said i had to buy another copy of xp.

had no money to do that. was and still am very poor. trying living on

disability. only getting half benefits.

asked a friend and he suggested dapper. that was a few years ago.

do not have anything against ms, kinda want to try to try windows 7. and also

would like to have a mac.

[XubuRoxMySox]

Google, actually. I used search terms "Linux for non-geeks" and found Distrowatch (http://distrowatch.com) where I could compare, but it was all gobbldygook to me. But Google also took me to a "distro chooser wizard (http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php)" where you can answer a few questions about your hardware, skill level, etc and it helps you pick a Linux flavor suited to your needs. That quiz brought me here to Ubuntu, in March of this year. "Intrepid" was cool! Jaunty was cooler yet (it came out a week after I installed Intrepid, lol, but it was cool because I did a fresh install and learned alot just by doing it all twice my first week).

-Robin

[SirBismuth]

Years ago, just after I first got internet access at home, I learnt about Unix, but thought of it more as a server OS. Then I heard that there were Unix equivalents that could be used on a PC, and downloaded FreeBSD, on my crappy 56k, possibly even less, connection.

Now THAT was experience, I could never get my modem working in FreeBSD, so any apps or dependencies would have to boot Windows to download them. Discovered that you could have a GUI interface, and coming from Windows decided I wanted this in FreeBSD too. So eventually got X working, and then when I had to choose between KDE and Gnome as a DE, chose KDE, and then got that working. But, still couldn't get the modem working, so basically just tinkered with FreeBSD for a while until I upgraded Windows, think it was to 95, and canned FreeBSD.

A few years later picked up a SUSE CD at a local computer show, and played with that, but still could get the modem (still 56k, but newer model) working properly, so couldn't update or access the internet. So, again, basically left it and eventually forgot the password, so reinstalled windows to reclaim the disk space. Then I got a newer version of Suse, and got the internet working on an ISDN connection, which I was very happy with as I could now use the internet and update the OS. I used this as my primary OS for awhile, but could never abandon Windows entirely, as I could still play my games then.

Then in about 2002 bought a new PC with XP, and used XP only until about the time 8.04 was released. Our ex-IT manager mentioned Ubuntu to me, one time when we were talking shop, and I mentioned my FreeBSD and Suse experience. When 8.04 was released, he gave me a CD, which I installed via WUBI, when 8.10 was released, changed it to dual-boot and then also installed 8.10 in a dual-boot setup at work. Both became my primary OSes. Did the same thing with 9.04, dual-boot at work and home.

With 9.10, it is my primary and sole OS at home, and for now I still dual-boot it at work, but will probably change that to with 10.04, and run XP in VirtualBox, as that is working well for me now.

B

[starcannon]

I can't remember if I found a linux CD in a magazine, or if it was a creepy guy in the park; which ever, its made computing pleasurable.

[t0p]

Some years ago, when I was young and foolish, I flirted with the idea of getting into so-called "hacking" (computer (in)security and the like). I read in a number of textfiles that *nix OSes were better than XP at network stuff. So I started to investigate the *nixes; I got a shell account on a NetBSD machine; then I looked at the various distros.

I chose Ubuntu (4.10, Breezy Badger) because it seemed to have more positive reviews than the other distros. Since then I've used Ubuntu almost exclusively - I dual-booted with XP for a while, but soon quit that; I currently have XP on VirtualBox to use Photoshop, but that's all I do with it - and although I'm still interested in computer security issues, I'm more interested in Linux.

[Reverend G]

Like a lot of recent linux converts it was the rise of the netbook that turned me. After many years of a love/hate relationship with Windows I bought an Asus EEE 701 4G back at the start of '08: a nifty little gadget all packaged up with a simple interface and some useful programs. However, being unable to leave anything alone for long, I dug deeper and found the new world of Xandros and KDE, seemingly doing everything I wanted and more. It lit a fire in me, and I haven't looked back.

Since then I've tried a few distros (Fedora, Mint, Mandriva, PClinuxOS) but I keep returning to Ubuntu and Gnome: I've still got the EEE (now running Jaunty perfectly, although the 4GB SSD is getting pretty full) as well as an Acer Ao751H running Karmic (no unfixable problems thus far). For me it's the responsiveness of both the user community and Canonical that clinches the dominance of Ubuntu; I always felt like I was bashing my head against a big cold corporate wall when trying to get help or advice with Windows, whereas with Ubuntu it's like asking a group of very knowledgable friends.

[RiceMonster]

I knew about it for a while, but had never payed attention to it. My dad would play around with Ubuntu live cds every now and then, and I thought they were sort of neat, but I never was interested. My friend got my interested in college, who used Gentoo. That was when I was really getting interested in operating systems. I had learned how to use bash in class, so I thought I could handle it, and installed Arch as my first distro. I messed it up, then went to Ubuntu for a month of two, then on to other distros.

[Chame_Wizard]

2 January 2005:I was reading articles about Linux for the 1st time,but never understand what it really was.(via daily newsletter of tweakers.net (http://tweakers.net),were i just subscribed)
My 1st FLOSS was Firefox(officially made my web browser the same day after testing it for 5 weeks)


3-25 February 2006:we have a project about Linux,I finally discover what it was and read documents about FLOSS(OO.o became my 2nd FLOSS qnd the GIMP my 3rd)and history of OS.That's how my geek mind changed,cause there were more things than Winblows only.(1st time to use Wikipedia extensively)

In the course of 3 weeks,there was a student who had a pack of Ubuntu CDs(it was 5.10 Breezy Badger).My 1st distro install was a disaster(gave me headache then).


June/July 2006:after comparing Linux distros +read their histories via Wikipedia,I decided that Kubuntu will be my main distro(cause on 5 January 2005,i choose blue as my main color),so i ordered 6.06 Cd's (via ship it of course:P).


20 January 2007:Instead of that Kubuntu is my main distro,I realize I want more than just do small things(namely:I decided to learn Japanese and programming).So Kubuntu became my main OS for everything.(only x86_64 bit is good for me).


18 February 2010: I will start programming/develop 3Dgames/useful apps and become more active by becoming iFOSSF (http://www.ifossf.org/) member,makes me a lot more productive.

http://gathering.tweakers.net/global/smileys/pompom.gif

[BinaryFeast]

After having bought my first laptop, I soon came to realize that what I used it for was mostly not productivity purposes. Rather, I was constantly installing new stuff and tweaking this and that. Vista came to feel restricted after a while, and I became bored. Then I remembered hearing about the existence of some other OS named Linux, so I started doing some research on Google. Most people seemed to recommend Ubuntu, and so it began. Let's just say that the customizability blew me away and I'm hooked to this day.

[rattasongw]

-no internet at home,too boring (2003)
-buy mandrake cd (4cds) at a used cd shop
-install everything + zero knowledge on linux
-cannot play mostly everything
-i use it primarily for KAlarm because my alarm clock is broken.


why ubuntu?
-the repo mirror is located about 10km from my home,i like that idea.

[guriinii]

I was running windows on my laptop, and loads of things didn't work, like the sound card and it was painfully slow. So a friend suggested linux and I've never looked back, now bearing an overwhelming hatred for windows and all things bill gate.

[JDShu]

A classmate gave me Knoppix CD after I asked him about Linux. Later, he gave me Fedora Core 3. Then he told me Gentoo was the best, and so I did that. It was a hassle and I used Windows again. Windows got bogged down by malware but I had to live with it. Finally, I found out that Intrepid "just worked" on my computer and I was happy.

[Perturbed Penguin]

Back in the 90's I occasionally heard references to Linux as my father had several Linux machines at work... I NEVER would have guessed that a decade later I would be addicted to Linux. When at first my bro tried Ubuntu Gutsy and Linux Mint I didn't take him very seriously and wondered where in the world he had come upon the idea of running Linux as a home OS. I became curious though and in my oft building and rebuilding of computers I slowly began trying various Linux distros, mostly in dual-boot situations. It is kind of depressing now as I have access to a couple of 'free'(my tuition pays for them) Win7 keys that I won't hardly even use.(In my opinion Win7 is a rather nice OS - but I much prefer Ubuntu even still) Anyways long story made short I've been running Ubuntu for somewhere around two years now and don't see a change in OS coming anywhere in the near future. ...on a side note... THE KOALA RULES!!

[markbuntu]

It is hard to remember that far back but I do remember there were only 2500 web sites the first time I went on the internet, about 1992 or4 maybe?. I heard about the internet at compuserve so I ditched compuserver and found a dial up internet service. (dial up was the ONLY thing back then)

6 month later there were over 250,000 internet sites, amazing!!. It was somewhere in there that I heard about linux, and Windows3.0 being what it was, crash crash crash, what could be worse. It took about a week to get a good download with my superfast 13.3k modem that would disconnect anytime someone called me, huge anxiety.

I tried to get slackware but ended up with redhat I think, the kernel was version 0.98, I remember that. Had a monitor catch fire trying to get X running but finally did. It was so fast and way more stable than windows, a little slim on applications and I never did get my soundblaster card working but it was quite the education for those years. So, in 1998 I moved to Hawaii for work and gave all my computers to a friends 15 year old son who is now a supergeek. Then it was laptop/windows land for 10 years.

In 2007 I bought a new desktop and the XP experience was less than trilling so I thought hmmm... I wonder how linux is getting along...Unbuntu 8.04 was getting a lot of hype so here I am. This was way better than 10 years ago but still had issues which I was expecting. Luckily I remembered enough linux to get past a balky log in screen and fix pam so I could get to the desktop.

So here I am, there and back again. This Ubuntu is so much easier than doing everything in a terminal, and no viruses and no crash crash crash unless I do something deliberately dangerous.

[Dok]

I first started using FreeBSD around '94 on a couple of servers. I remember subscribing to the CD's and being eager whenever they would show up in the mail. From there I tried Red Hat and still use Red Hat and Centos for various server duties. I have done a lot of distro hopping over the years but Linux on the desktop was relegated to secondary desktops or dual booting until Feisty came out. I ran and liked Ubuntu since Warty but Feisty fianlly ran both wireless and sound on my laptop and Ubuntu has been the only OS on my laptop since.

What is probably more amazing is after years of gleaning info from this forum I finally actually posted :D
Dok

[Chronon]

I heard about it on the internet in the 90s. My first experience with it was a university shell account in 1997.

[Exodist]

I was introduced to Linux by one of my friends in highschool. At that time we were only running 486s and the disc didnt have a GUI. We tinkered with it but didnt go far with it. Jump on down 4 or 5 years later to 1999. I was working for a ISP and going to college. We used Slackware on all the servers. So I didnt want to be behind the power curve, so I was given a copy of Slack7 from a co-worker and got a Linux for Stupid book. By the end of 2000 I was using it as a 2nd desktop running Windowmaker as my DE and configuring XFree86, fstab and every other file by hand. I went off to bootcamp (military), so jump on down another year later I got a laptop and ran RedHat on it full time. I have jumped around from RedHat, SuSE and even a copy of Mandrake at one time. Pretty much stuck with SuSE until Ubuntu 5.04. I stayed with Ubuntu until early this year where I jumped over to pure Debian 5.0 (lenny). And that where I am at not. I enjoy the stability and ease of use.

[lightningfox]

I read an article about Linux in a computer magazine.

I had a bad internet connection at the time so I couldn't download
any Linux distributions.

Then I read on the internet that Ubuntu sends free CDs of its
Linux distribution, and I requested a free Ubuntu CD (Dapper Drake) from Ubuntu's website.

[Perturbed Penguin]

What is probably more amazing is after years of gleaning info from this forum I finally actually posted :D
Dok

LOL, I hear ya on that one! ;)

[Zoot7]

4 years ago I was put on openSUSE for C programming when I started my degree. The fact that it was different and not Windows intrigued me a lot, so I went away downloaded it and installed it on my own laptop.
Up until then for me it was PC = Windows.
Then I found out openSUSE wasn't the only version of Linux, and that there were countless other distros available. I tried out Slackware and Knoppix, never really took to either, kept going back to openSUSE. I then heard about Gentoo, and that it was very much a power users distro, so I thought I'd throw myself in the deep end; good way to do it, learned a lot about the inner workings of Linux as a result.
The next distro I tried out was Debian, quite liked it. I ended up using it on and off for about a year.
Then a friend recommended Ubuntu to me, so I gave it a shot (back in the days of Feitsy) and was pleasently surprised; it was the first distro where all my laptop's hardware worked without a hitch, and I'm using it ever since.
I've been doing a good bit of distro hopping over the last few years, but I've yet to find a distro I like better than Ubuntu, openSUSE being a reasonably distant second.

[ZankerH]

My HDD died, and a classmate at school was kind enough to burn me a Knoppix 3.1 liveCD (which got released just around then), he told me it'd let me at least kind of use my PC until I got a new HDD. Long story short, I spent four months without a hard drive, learning about GNU/Linux and bash while at it. By the end, I was modifying the config files and saving them to a floppy to preserve them during boots. After I finally got another hard drive, I didn't even bother with the stack of windows 98 floppies, I just followed the guide and installed Debian through the Knoppix liveCD.

[abhilashm86]

my friends suraj and shreyas, thanks a lot to them!! now i feel freedom,
oh yes i'm also responsible for many of my friends who use ubuntu!!

[Millemillimeter]

I switched from windows only about one year ago. I was suffering with vista because I didnt know better. A friend of mine mentioned that Linux is actually better than windows. So I went home and installed it and yes it was much better! So I said hasta la vista!

[fancypiper]

In 1998, I bought a computer from some well known but defunct store and was assured it had a soundcard with sampled midi sounds, then got it home and found it actually contained a soundcard placed next to the CPU and no sampled sounds! It also had a "winmodem" with no Linux support at the time, so I had to invest in a soundblaster sound card and a serial port modem to get ready for Linux.

The computer ran Windows 98 Second Edition and I would do a web search for a fix for my Windows troubles and I would keep getting hits for Linux fixes, so I started investigating, downloaded and burnt a Red Hat distro (6.1 if memory serves) CD, defragged Windows, repartitioned and installed.

It took a while to learn the OS, and to configure a few things, but I found that I booted into Windows less and less.

I have built replacement computers, my hardware purchases determined by it's Linux support and since I used Windows so little, I finally dropped it and claimed that drive space for Linux.

I have tried several distros including Debian, Mandrivia, Fedora and Gentoo, and I settled on Ubuntu as being between a good compromise between stability, ease of use, bleedin' edge software and large software database.

I haven't found anything I want to do that I can't do in Ubuntu Linux, so until something that I like better comes along, I will stick with this distro, especially as my Linux converts use Ubuntu.

[Bölvaður]

introduction: my uncle showed me his laptop with fedora for like 2-3 minutes MANY years ago.

why ubuntu: an internet website told me to ;) also it looked cool when I checked it out on youtube.

[halj32]

I started on SuSE 9, things changed & I didnt like where it was going so I tried others out.
personaly I like Sabayon or Mint better than Ubuntu

[br14n]

I got hooked on computing in the early 80's when I got a Sinclair ZX81 with 1 kilobyte of ram, then progressed thro' a Sprectrum, BBC2, DEC, Unix, Dos, Amiga, then came across Red Hat 5.1 in a mag. Have used various flavours of Linux ever since, Red Hat, Suse, Mandrake, Fedora, Gentoo etc. I first used Ubuntu when Canonical offered a free disc & found that I liked it.
br14n

[realzippy]

When I upgraded my windows xp machine from 1GB RAM to 2 GB,the OS
told me that this was such a huge system change that I had to activate my XP license again.I could not believe,called hotline for new activation code,
where I was asked stupid questions.I paid for my XP and was not allowed to add some RAM.
I thougt Bill must be kidding.Fortunately there was an Edgy live CD in my Computer magacine.....and the beryl desktop looked awesome....and no
firewall needed....
So microsoft lost not only me as customer;was "admin" for some friends,guess
which OS they use now... :D

[Ubu2009]

it started 2 years ago when i occidentally bumped into a Linux forum. I didn't know anything about Linux...because of all the buzz coming of that forum i started to try a couple of Linux distros. ended up making Ubuntu my personal OS ever since :D

[desnaike]

I was searching the net for free OS after being totally fed up with win2000 and the cost of upgrading to winXP my search found linux I did my research and tried ubuntu 6.06 main reason they mailed a free disk. I was hooked summer 2006 tried others mandriva,opensuse,puppy,DSL,zenwalk,lmint,mepis now no more dual boots strictly Ubuntu 9.10.

[Kai69]

I had heard of linux but didnt know what it was, Got my 1st pc in 2000 XP brought a new pc in 2006 Vista Then last year my Dad brought me a lappy with should have had Vista on it but I asked for XP
The only thing I didnt have was the recovery disks or even a way to make recovery disks ( ok I know how to now) but in Nov 09 XP got really slow to start up and shut down 15mins at one point so fed up with more windows problems I Googled free os, Linux came up ok, Download Linux ???? How many distros ok, Top 5 distros ubuntu no1 ok download.
Installed ubuntu and havent looked back I did install W7 at xmas what a hassle 8 hours the install took and after 24 hours wiped HDD and reinstalled 9.10 had everything up and running in less than 2 hours thats everything all my settings and files and I love it !!!!:lolflag:

[ratcheer]

I probably can't remember all the Linux distros I have tried. I know there were Slackware, Debian, Suse, and Ubuntu. Ubuntu is the first one I have ever stuck with for more than a month or so.

I have been a professional UNIX user since the early 80's. Most recently, I used Solaris for more than 10 years at my last job. That is my favorite UNIX-type OS. I have also used System V, HP-UX, and AIX, plus several others over the years. So, I kept wanting a UNIX-type system at home, but never found one I really got along with, until Ubuntu.

BTW, my favorite PC OS ever was Be. Man, did they have some great ideas. But, they never reached critical mass to survive in the marketplace.

Tim

[undecim]

I had originally heard about Linux from my programming tutor when I was 11 (8 years ago), started playing around with Live distros when I was 15 or so, and dual booted Ubuntu since fiesty. I switched completely to Linux after Vista had erased itself from my computer during a check-disk. (interestingly, that even seemed to end all BIOS-related problems I had been having with that particular laptop).

Never looked back since.

[SoftwareExplorer]

I got bored of windows and was on the sun website and found out that they were giving away an OS for free. (That was a revolutionary idea to me) . I tried to install it but got some sort of X windows with no programs or window management. (I had heard about Linux in a thread about XP activation cracking, where it was referred to as having to many version, and you having to use a command line to get the full power of it. I heard the command line part and thought it was command line only.) I searched or went to Linux.org and narrowed my choices to liveCDs. Got Knoppix. When it was booting I was impressed by colored text, and then really impressed by a GUI. Tried to install Knoppix to the hard drive, which mentioned it was basically Debian. The Knoppix install had sudo problems, so I tried this Debian. Had lots of problems because I didn't know I had to allow it to download the whole OS while it's installing, so I skipped that part and had dependency hell without apt. Finally was patient and got Debian installed. Heard about Beryl (these were the etch days) and tried to install it through compiling. Didn't work. In my Google searches, found out 'Ubuntu' had it really easy to install compiz. Tried ubuntu (hardy) and got not only compiz but a GUI for everything, which impressed me. The rest is history. :)

[MasterNetra]

My venture started out when I got tired of messing with Windows and started searching the net for free alternative OS's. Intially this was back in 2006 (late into the year), I came cross Debian and Knoppix but wasn't sastified with either and didn't have the patience to continue searching for a while, then I resumed looking for a tad bit in may (I think) 2007. Came across Ubuntu (feisty fawn) but it didn't run on my desktop so I continued looking and didn't find anything that interested me enough to leave windows so I stopped looking. Later that year I enrolled into ITT-Tech and in one of the GE courses (PC technology I think it was) there was a Ubuntu user that re-directed me back to Ubuntu (I had completely forgotten the failure with Feisty Fawn) and I tried Gusty, almost worked but no cigar but I decided to keep a eye on Ubuntu's development and so I waited to Hardy's release and what ya know finally something that worked! Been bouncing back and forth between windows and Ubuntu and occasionally trying differant Distros but now with Win7 being a Laptop battery killer (I got a laptop through the school sometime after Hardy's release) I've decided to stick with the *buntu's and look forward to Lucid's release. Thank you guy who was in that GE class, who's name I've completely forgotten and who I think may of dropped at some point. If it wasn't for his mentioning I may of never returned to Linux.

[litemirrors]

I've been using Windows since the 95 version. Until recently I never really thought of Linux although I'd tried Ubuntu and other distros before. My favorite has always been PCLinuxOS which I feel is exceptional, however I also had problems with it last time so went back to Windows.

I tried Kubuntu awhile ago and it was sluggish, I gave up on it and went back to XP.

I've used XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

XP is the best OS it's extremely easy to configure and hack to make it's look incredibly different. It supports rather unique software with good developers like RocketDock, Irfanview, and more.... but....... Windows 7 destroyed my external HD. Seems there's a copying error in Windows 7 that no one understands, it causes files to be 1/2 way copied then it closes and appears the transfer is complete when infact it's not! It never completes, just produces corrupt files. Here's one article on it http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/itprovistahardware/thread/7c4259b5-c011-4a11-9c02-5e5693a8b7d7

But there are more...... they've no idea what is causing it, not nVidia drivers like they said because I have no nVidia card or any chipsets related to it. So in the end after loosing 200 GB of data I said screw it and went to try Ubuntu.

I first tried Ubuntu Remix Edition since I have an eeebox, but then I said forget this weird remix interface so I again reformatted and put Ubuntu on here.

Nexuiz didn't run on Windows 7 because this B202 only has an Intel 945Gm graphics card. I decided to try it again on Linux and guess what? It runs fine.

Obviously Linux is a different kind of OS, Windows didn't run Nexuiz in a playable way.

Thankfully I'm not an idiot, I had configured Compiz myself before and knew about a few things like Gnome Art Manager and such. Mosty with abit more knowledge than a regular user I got this thing configured my way. Surprisingly almost all sofware I used on Windows is available in some form on Linux, here's a list


RocketDock = Cairo-Dock
Notepad = gedit
Gens = Gens/GS
Snes9x = Snes9x
ZSNES = ZSNES
Microsoft Paint = GIMP
Irfanview = GQView
FileZilla = FileZilla
Google Chrome = Google Chrome
Firefox = Firefox
mIRC = XChat
Pidgin
uTorrent = Transmission
mp3tag = EasyTAG
foobar2000 = gmusicbrowser
gtk-recordMyDesktop
MP3val = MP3val
MusicBrainz = MusicBrainz
Java = Java
VLC = VLC
IZArc = PeaZip

[nos09]

It may be sound funny but when i was using windows i was vary found of eyecandy effects, i sped hours for searching new theams for my xp :)

then i was introduced to linux (fedora i think )form the vedio of youtube.com. in that video they compared fedora compiz effects with vista and i was stunned. and then i adopted the fedora...

and then i found that learning ubuntu is easier then fedora and there is large community behind the ubuntu distro to support newbies.

but by the pass of time i've learned that linux is lot more batter then the " eyecandy effects" :):):):) and then i permanently said good by to windows. and never seen it for almost 2yrs.

and i can tell i m happiest guy with ubuntu.

[NightwishFan]

I ran Windows for years, and actually never heard of anything else. I had only heard of Macs in passing and was not sure of the difference or if they were even still around. When I was in school, I needed to use Xp. I installed it on my machine with 128mb of RAM, and it was so slow that the machine was made to be useless. Microsoft said the experience would be similar to Windows Me at 64mb of RAM. I got the Windows Experience alright.

I bought a new machine with Vista, and began to use open source programs. I had learned the distinction between freeware and open source. I had also heard of the Free Software Foundation's "Badvista" campaign, and read between the lines. I started to feel bad at using a closed source system with all open source software. While browing a StarCraft forum, I saw some odd desktops in the "desktops" thread. A person told me that he was using OpenSUSE Linux. (10.2 or 10.3 at the time). I had no scruples to using a new system but without the invention of the live CD I doubt I would have switched at the time.

I ran a search for "Top Linux Systems" and found the Distrowatch website. After a quick review of the top ones listed I saw that perhaps the one called Ubuntu would be good, and downloaded that. I was impressed (and very amused and happy that the desktop was called Gnome). I installed 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon dualboot, but after about a week deleted Vista entirely. From that point on I tried many distros, mainly OpenSUSE, but I have found Ubuntu and Debian to be the best for my needs. I know the insides of a Debian system very well, and though I have no problem working on others, I just prefer the way Ubuntu is packaged and released. I have to say I am very fond of it and will continue to use it.

I have helped many people in my area and some remotely over the internet to understand what Ubuntu and Free Software is all about and if using it would be right for them. Most of them have found new use in old hardware when they could not afford new ones. The gift of free software is a good one, and you can look back and actually feel good about sharing and using it.

[murderslastcrow]

It's funny, the first time I heard of Linux was from a computer technician at a hospital who works in my community. He said, "yeah, if you like the command line, it's fun." I assumed he meant that Linux was a command line only system, what with the green text on the black monitor. It didn't sound fun to me at all, although I used cmd in Windows XP all the time to fix things up.

Later on, my parents bought a new computer with 1 GB of RAM with XP, right before Vista came out. We had been using a computer with 128 MB of RAM and a Pentium II processor for quite some time, and XP ran like a mucous-covered seasnail under a rock on it.

I went to askJeeves (lol), looking for "faster than Windows XP," but a lot of ads came up. So I decided I'd try Google since it was pretty popular and all I'd been using was Mamma.com and askJeeves, and the first result said something about Ubuntu running faster than Windows. So, naturally, I went to the Ubuntu website, but I didn't have any CDs to burn the iso, so I ordered the OS for free through ShipIt. It came with Kubuntu, Edubuntu, and Ubuntu (maybe Xubuntu), and I tried to install Ubuntu on it without reading the system requirements, or imagining there might be a faster environment to run on it (such as e17 or Xubuntu). Also, I tried to boot the LIVE CD.

So, needless to say, nothing happened and I chucked the CDs in my drawer for a while.

I went to a friend's house saying I tried putting Ubuntu on my older computer, and he said, "you're a Linux geek? I had no clue." I was taken aback- Ubuntu is LINUX??

I was intrigued, but since I'd just got my first computer and had all my Windows-exclusive work software on it, I figured it would be a bad time to try.

Later on, I got a very nice Tablet PC from HP running Vista. I'd always been skeptical, but since the software ran well enough on this computer, I started to like it. Some games weren't as fast as I wanted them to be, but I figured it was just a shortcoming in the software.

After reading a bit about Wine and VirtualBox, and having my first virus breech despite using AV software (I had to buy a special AV just to get rid of it, no joke, only one company had found it already), I was sick of it. This is the way I'd been screwed by Windows so many times, and I've lost money due to it in the past, so I wasn't going to risk that again.

I installed Ubuntu (32 bit on a dual core), and my eyes were opened. It was beautiful, fast, and worked automatically. And it was FUN! Interesting, new, fascinating. Futuristic. Simple.

It made me feel like less of a geek since I didn't have to tweak all the boring stuff, but I could just change the looks and enjoy a fast, care-free system, knowing that I was secure without having to be anal about it.

And it grew on me. Over time I learned more about open source, and I felt kind of offended learning about Microsoft's history. Windows is an okay OS, but not good enough for someone who likes computers and uses them a lot for work.

I became a bit zealotrous, honestly. Then I backed off and realized I didn't have to be. This awesome, beautiful thing was right before me. I shared it with people who were interested, and made sure it could fit their needs and asked a lot of questions before helping them out with it.

And now, I just got a dual core from Dell after selling my mini 10v (which came with Ubuntu) to a friend, and I'm finally running 64-bit Ubuntu.

Livin' the dream, man. And all because I looked for a way to resurrect an old computer (currently runs an e17-based derivative of Ubuntu, by the way).

Needless to say, I'm finally happy to use a computer, rather than annoyed.

[ankit singh]

I bought my 1st desktop-pc in aug08(when t took admissin in engg college) and was happy using xp2 (which came preloaded).4 month later officials from sun microsystems-india conducted series of seminars in our college and there they shared a lot of knowlege about computing, solaris,java,opensource etc. One of the officials said that solaris is the most advanced os on earth and this statement caught my attention.
That day i remember (22th jan09) i downloaded opensolaris 2009.06 and installed it on my computer( i remember how i accidently deleted xp2 partition but never installed any closed source products till date). Opensolaris worked out of the box on my pc but this happiness was short lived when i found out musics,videos.. were not playing(Later on i learnt about codecs copyright from sun's website). The other problem i was facing was getting settled with command line.However all this issues were sorted out them through seminars (they even gave us a fluendo codec cd for free). During that 1 month they made us aware of other community projects that were going around the world. Thus because of sun , i was introduced to linux.Couple of months later i got centos-5.3 and dualbooted it with solaris. Later on i decided to kept solaris as my primary OS( i will keep it forever in love of sun which taught me what is a computer, who knows oracle might abandon opensolaris) and dual booted several linux os before coming to ubuntu 9.10.

I have now kept both solaris2009.06 and ubuntu9.10. (Ubuntu compensates for gates products). I now have installed virtual box and test every other linux os in it.



:) Hats off to Sun Microsystems :)

[Post Monkeh]

i've been using computers since the 80s, starting with the spectrum, onto the atari st, then finally onto the "pc" as we know it today in around 1994 or so with dos and windows 3.1.
after years of using windows, i was happy enough. i knew of the existence of linux, but also of the fact that i couldn't run all my games/windows programs on it.

then my mum got a new phone that came with a free laptop (nothing spectacular, celeron 2ghz processor, 1gb memory) that was running vista. or should i say walking vista. some logins took upwards of 5 minutes, and the whole system was just so so slow.
it came with a trial version of ms office installed, and when that ran out i did a search for "free spreadsheet programs" to do my work timesheets. that led me to openoffice, and as i did a bit of noseying about it i found out about solaris, which led me to searching for other linux distros, which led me to distrowatch, which led me to ubuntu.
that was around november or so 2008 and i installed ubuntu 8.10 and all the slight misconceptions i had were blown out of the water.

the only things i miss are the ability to play any game i want, and programs we have no choice in using like mobile phone control software.
i have set up a virtual box for wunning my nokia pc suite, so really the only thing missing now is games, so i do keep an xp dual boot for when i fancy a game of civ4, but i honestly don't think i'll ever go back to windows as my primary os now.

[Bartender]

In the fall of 2005, my wife and I were day-hiking in Zion National Park. Headed up the Angel's Landing trail. Fell in with a really nice younger couple from New Zealand. Paul (I think that was his name) and I started talking geek talk. I told him I'd bought a few surplus computers from the Washington State Surplus warehouse, but the price of Windows licenses made refurbishing them too expensive. He suggested Ubuntu. I'd heard of RedHat. No, he said, this is something different.

When I got home I ordered some CD's thru Ship-it. It was fun to play with Ubuntu, but we were (still are) on dial-up and that made things really difficult. I pretty much gave up on using Linux day-to-day, but continued experimenting with old PC's in the garage.

Just a few months ago made a renewed dial-up effort. Already had some external USR modems. The biggest hurdle was the size of Ubuntu updates. Solved that via the Package Download Script tool. Finally, after 7 years of poking at Linux occasionally, we're using it almost 100%. Still need Windows for a couple of tasks, such as running our Canon LIDE scanner, updating Sansa Fuze firmware, etc.

[-Phi-]

When I bought my first computer in 2003 I wanted to dual boot with Linux and I picked Mandrake (now Mandriva?). I don't remember why I picked that specific distro. I enjoyed the games (frozen bubble!) and the screensavers (BSOD!) but it ran veeeeerry slowly. In retrospect it was probably a hardware issue, but at the time I just thought Linux was like that. Suffice to say I didn't boot into Linux very often.

About a year and a half later I decided to try Linux again. It seemed like the sort of thing I should like and I was getting fed up with the way Windows did things. I asked a friend who ran Gentoo which distro he would recommend and Ubuntu Hoary 5.04 it was.

Now I only boot into XP to use Adobe CS3 and download library audiobooks.

[samh785]

It was a hot day in June of 2006. The sun was beating down on my sweat-drenched face, and the 4 80mm fans of my newly assembled PC build only added to the blistering heat. As I stared into the UV-blue reactive side panel of my cool-at-the-time "gamer case", an odd thought struck me. I never bought Window XP. I used the last fleeting ounce of my Mountain Dew powered energy to make a post on TheBestCaseScenario about the mystical creature that is "Linux". I woke 3 days later from what I presume was a heat-stroke related loss of conscience to my mom's computer with the drive open and a shiny new CD staring me in the face. With eye-boogers still caked to my half open eyes, I sauntered to my computer and put in the disc. And then there was Ubuntu.

The rest is history. I've since used every major Ubuntu release (excluding Jaunty), Fedora 6, Gentoo, Arch, Mandriva One 2007 and a host of other random distros. I'm now a happy Arch and Windows 7 user.
That's actually very poetic. :)

As for myself, I had gotten a second-hand Gateway Microtower with Windows XP for my birthday. As I was 14 and this was my first real PC I was tremendously excited about it and wanted to make it run as best I could make it. I didn't know anything about hardware so I focused exclusively on removing all the BS spam programs that the previous owner had accumulated, installing a good anti-virus, putting firefox on it, etc. Eventually it got to the point that it ran absolutely perfectly without the random freezes/crashes that had plagued it when I first acquired it. Naturally the perfection that had been achieved was incredibly boring for me after having such a good time fixing it up and everything. I spent some time looking around the internet (on my dial-up connection) for the next project to begin working on. I don't exactly remember where or how, but I discovered ubuntu on some web forum (possibly this one). I thought over the pros and cons of installing an entirely new OS, and eventually decided to order a live cd for free from canonical. Those were some of the longest weeks of waiting in my life. Finally the CD arrived and I installed feisty fawn on my computer. I used it for a few months until my family moved to Vermont and I had to leave my computer behind. After I had settled down in my new home, I bought a Dell XPS 420 from dell with Vista installed on it. Unlike most, I had relatively few problems with it (probably because my computer could easily handle the bloat) and it satisfied me. I spent the next year or so getting into PC gaming and tweaking vista to my personal specifications. For the second time I had made my computer run so well, that I grew bored with never having to fix it. I decided to go back to giving ubuntu a shot, and installed jaunty jackalope. I was blown away by the improvements from 7.04 to 9.04, and really got into customizing it and making it a great computer for my own uses. So far I've never even come close to growing bored with ubuntu because of the massive levels of customization and (sometimes) problems that can arise from using software on the bleeding edge.

[jrusso2]

Back in 96 I was complaining to a friend about Windows 95 lockups and crashes. He said you should try Linux. I said what is that?

He gave me a copy of Slackware 3 and I have been a Linux user ever since although I long ago quit slackware.

[ZarathustraDK]

Windows died on me, and for some reason it wouldn't install afterwards (it went into restart-loop).

Looked around the web and found Ubuntu. Their promises seemed appealing to me.

[JSeymour]

I found out about Linux a long time ago (in computer terms) when a PFY we'd hired into IT told me about it. I'd already heard about Linux, but regarded it as no more than a curiosity. At his urging: Went down to the local CompUSA, bought

http://www.linxnet.com/photos/misc/P2210798-2.JPG

and installed it on a little Dell laptop that nobody was using (because it was too small and underpowered). Worked like a champ. Been using Linux on my laptops ever since. Half the servers at work are now Linux or BSD. My desktop/server at home is Linux.

(Ironically, in preparing this post: When I plugged my camera in to transfer the photo above: The system would not recognize the camera :confused:. Rather annoying :mad: I'll post more about that elsewhere, tho.)

Jim

[quik_lives]

I always had trouble with Windows. Despite loving computers and the possibilities associated with the net and everything, I always got frustrated really easily with Windows and I'm convinced ;) it knew this and was intentionally difficult. I could never even get software CDs to install on the first try, it was terrible.

Despite this, I don't think I ever really understood that I had choices other than Windows. Obviously I'd heard of Macs, but having never played with a newer generation Apple computer than those we used in elementary school, I didn't actually understand that they had a graphical user interface that was similar to Windows, at least in broad terms. Even once I knew this I couldn't afford a Mac, and while I'd heard people mention Linux in the past, based on who those people were, I assumed it must be horribly complicated and for programmers only.

So it was less than a year ago that a friend told me she was running Ubuntu and I started asking questions, and then I bought a netbook in September of last year that was sluggish at best with Windows XP on it, which is what finally inspired me to try Ubuntu - I installed 9.10 when it was brand new (the time I got fed up with XP) and I haven't looked back, though I've hit some road bumps and had to ask for help, it's still 100 times smoother than Windows ever was.

[gnomeuser]

In the 1997-98 timeframe the big LUG covering Copenhagen and southern Sweden SSLUG got a pamphlet printed which came with a Red Hat Linux 5.1 or 5.2 CD I don't really remember. At this point in time these IT pamphlet books about IT subjects were popular.

A friend of mine bought the book and installed Linux with the help from some nice IRC people. He then convinced me to also get it installed on my laptop. This was in the days before GNOME and KDE hit it big time and I remember using something with xeyes as the major visual bling.

I didn't really learn Linux as much as booted into it every once in a while to poke at xeyes. Linux as such didn't become useful for me as a desktop till Mandrake (now Mandriva) came out with their 7.0 release. The first Linux to have a graphical installer and to provide features specifically focused at providing usable desktop.

At this time I was still dual booting my desktop and my laptop was running Windows 98SE since I needed it for school. Then one of my friends got caught with some illegally obtained music, and was fined big time. This scared me some, around this time I had also been spending an increasing amount of time on Linux forums so I switched my laptop to pure Linux. This was rooted mainly in a desire to have an environment to work it that didn't like the school at the time encourage me to violate copyright. The teachers where actively enouraging this behavior, some even organizing who we could copy cds from to get Office, anti-virus tools and the likes. I was rather disgusted with this but used to it since this was the norm at the time and had been in educational environments for all of my life. Occasionally a rumour would run around that the BSA was raiding the school and everyone panicked trying to erase everything. I didn't want that anymore and found Linux a perfectly suitable alternative, one that I could rely on and do actual work on.

This meant that I couldn't access the internet from school because they required Microsoft only proxy software but it meant that my machine was actually in use, instead of surfing during class I used my machine the way it was intended.. to take notes, write reports, work on circuitry designs.. work.

My new internet free existence did bring some funny comments but I continued this way till the end of school. In the process I switched from Mandriva to Debian (actually Progeny Linux if anyone remembers that fine distro) and I brought my desktop machine from dual booting to being 100% debian. This I believe happened on my birthday in 1999 which I recall led to some anger on the part of my then girlfriend - how could I spend my birthday playing with my computer?


I effectively haven't used Windows since then. I have gotten to see a lot of evolution of this little OS.

I came to Ubuntu over several rounds, there were rumours about this big project being worked on. At the time I was using Fedora, I like everyone when Warty was released I ran to test it. It wasn't terribly impressive compared to what Fedora offered at the time. They were understaffed and there wasn't even a forum but there were good ideas such at the 3 row start menu which uptill then was 2 rows only.

I didn't switch right away, I was a Fedora developer and had commitments to keep. But when policy took those away it was the natural place to go. I am not 100% happy here but despite trying to leave Ubuntu consistently remains the least bad place I can find within Linux.

[qalimas]

When I was 12, I did some basic HTML sites. My dad's friend came over with a Mandrake 8.0 CD (it JUST came out), and let my dad try it. Of course, dad hated it; but it had Quanta+ and I tried it and became instantly hooked. XP came out a few months later and I couldn't have cared less.

My journey took my from Mandrake to Red Hat, SuSE, Fedora, Ubuntu, then Arch.

Looking back, the real fun didn't begin until I tried SuSE :)

[iamwhatiseem]

I worked in systems in the late 90's..eventually becoming the Sys Admin in 2000 till 2004 when I left systems to pursue more lucrative interests.

RedHat Halloween...that's right I am that old!
I ran BSD for awhile, back to RH...Suse for a short period, then Fedora...then from 2004 till last November I was a reluctant Windows user.
Our son received an Xbox for Christmas, at the same time our 3 yo HP (I know, I know) was on it's last leg.
Soo instead of spending minimum $900 for a system...I chose $300 and installed Ubuntu.

[Alfred_Jodocus]

In '86 I was first introduced to a computer, at age 13: an Acorn Electron in school (on a network, with an Acorn BBC as server). Of course, one hour of class per week wasn't enough... and as my father kept telling me 'never in my lifetime will a computer set a foot in my house', I borrowed a C64 from an uncle - pure heaven - till my uncle needed it back....

Later that year my father bought us a C-128D for christmas (a 2nd hand one that our neighbour was selling). It could do everything the C64 do, *and* run CP/M! Thus, my first steps in PC land were set. So much so that, when I first started using DOS, my first remark was 'hey, this is just like CP/M!'

The next year I got my first own computer in 1989, at age 16 - a Commodore PC 30-III 286 AT, with 20 MB HDD, 1.2 and 1.44 floppies, amber monitor, HP800LX printer... Was the envy of many a kid in class, as I was the only one who had a PC with harddisk. Or an AT. Learned to program it in C, wrote a simple CAD program and CAM software (though I didn't even know what CAM was till many years later) and lots of other things. Everything under DOS. Then, I heard about Unix and Minix... and wanted to run it on my PC, as Minix was supposed to run on a 286. I never could find a copy of it though.

I kept using DOS on my own PCs till the beginning of 2001, when I switched to WIN2000. Have been using W2000 ever since, till last week, when I installed Ubuntu on my P3/1000/512 laptop, because of having problems keeping W2000 secure and up to date. Also Microsoft is beginning to get much too inquisitive to my PC and its contents to my liking. Plus I had noticed a lot of harddisk and WIFI internet activity (LEDs lighting up when the computer was just sitting idle) that I began to feel uncomfortable.

I had first seen Linux about 5 years ago at a HAM friend, who ran it on his PC. At the time I was impressed with its looks and speed, but didn't pay much attention to it. About two years ago I downloaded my first copy of Ubuntu (7.10) and tried it out - it worked pretty well on the desktop, but not on my laptop. Also, as there was still some CAD software that I could only run under Windows, I stuck with Windows. Till I realized a few weeks ago I hardly use CAD on this laptop, and whenever I did, I could switch back to the full-tower P4 (win-2000) for that. So installed Ubuntu on the laptop - and have been using it ever since, and beginning to like it more and more. The first day I desperately wanted to throw it off again, but forced myself to try it out for one week before I'd allow myself to go back to Win2000. The next day I already didn't want to go back to Windows again. And now, one week later, I'm seriously considering installing it on the full-tower PC too... as a dual-boot system only though, because of the occasional need for legacy windows software (mech.eng. CAD).

ASAP, I will install Ubuntu on my mother's notebook as well - she only uses it for websurfing, and the inherent security of Ubuntu should make the switch very worthwhile (no virusscanners and extra firewalls needed). I think she'll soon get the hang of Ubuntu too (don't laugh - it took her over a week to get moderately skilled in using a mouse - at age 62, she never used a PC before in her life, but is now surfing as if there's no tomorrow....)

For me, a PC is a tool and not a toy - after my initial interest in PCs, in the late '80s - early '90s, I switched to electronics/hardware, as I felt that the developments in PCs & software were going so fast that I'd not be able to keep up. Ever since, for me PCs have become tools, not toys, and switching OS-es is not something I enjoy. Hence I didn't switch from DOS to Windows until 2001... and not from Windows till earlier this week. I have no intention of switching away from Linux soon either.

I seriously think that, the harder Microsoft makes it for others to use 'bootleg' copies of windows, the more people will switch away from their OS entirely. At least, that's how it was for me. Keep asking for more and more ID and verification on your update site, MS....

Oh - btw... the actual breaking point came a few weeks earlier when I needed to update my anti-virus scanner, Avira - it *required* Internet Explorer to be installed - not Firefox or Opera, which I had installed (and only IE6 would work on my PC). That one was the straw that broke the camel's back - I updated to IE6 and got Avira working.... but the decision to look for alternatives was made that day. To have to install IE to keep your computer safe, fer cryin' out loud.... About 2 weeks later, here I am, using Linux.

So there you have it.... somehow I felt an attraction to Minix in '89, but it took over 20 years for me to finally switch to a *nix system.... :-)

Edit: and one nice thing... this PC now boots in 48 seconds... whereas it used to be about 3 minutes in Win2000. Bugger - I no longer even have time to walk into the kitchen and get a cup of coffee!

[samalex]

I found out about Linux a long time ago (in computer terms) when a PFY we'd hired into IT told me about it. I'd already heard about Linux, but regarded it as no more than a curiosity. At his urging: Went down to the local CompUSA, bought

http://www.linxnet.com/photos/misc/P2210798-2.JPG

and installed it on a little Dell laptop that nobody was using (because it was too small and underpowered). Worked like a champ. Been using Linux on my laptops ever since. Half the servers at work are now Linux or BSD. My desktop/server at home is Linux.

(Ironically, in preparing this post: When I plugged my camera in to transfer the photo above: The system would not recognize the camera :confused:. Rather annoying :mad: I'll post more about that elsewhere, tho.)

Jim

I actually just threw out my Red Hat 5 box (identical to yours) last month while packing to move. I picked mine up around 1996 or 97 (can't remember) at a local Best Buy and was a die hard RH fan through 9.

I had always had this intense interest in Unix, probably from my days of poking around systems via Tymnet and Telenet in the BBS days. Then I picked-up Cliff Stoll's Cuckoo's Egg and that just intensified the interest. I was only like 9th grade when I read the book, but when I got to college in 1995 Unix was my focus.

Only having a crap PC at home and wanting to really get into Unix someone at school suggested Linux, and I picked up RH 5 to work with. I do remember that first time I installed it on my little 486 system and was able to boot into Bash... it was amazing! Not too long I wrote all sorts of scripts to get me onto the Internet via my school's SLIP connection and off I went.

I used Linux and Windows through the 90's and switched to Linux exclusively at home around 2000 or 2001. I had a minor detour to OSX from 2005-2009 but I'm back to Linux as my primary OS though I still use Windows at work (I'm a MS SQL DBA by day).

Now I wish I would've kept my RH 5 box though, along with all my other Linux boxes, books, and so forth... but unfortunately if I kept all my computer crap I'd have no room for anything else :)

Take care --

Sam

[maestrobwh1]

Knoppix 3.3. I needed to access my disk/computer that crashed running windows 98. I was amazed that an entire OS could run from a CD rom. I installed it. Debian based... so the next choice was (drum roll) Kubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06. I cheated on Ubuntu for a while running Arch, but it was too quirky and I found myself in the konsole too much. I came back with Jaunty and stayed.

[Docaltmed]

My now-deceased brother was always ranting and raving about Redhat and Linux, and how it was the operating system of the future.

About a year after he died, on an impulse I threw an Ubuntu disk in my misbehaving Vista computer.

And I heard his voice inside my head saying, "See! I told you so!"

[NightwishFan]

My now-deceased brother was always ranting and raving about Redhat and Linux, and how it was the operating system of the future.

About a year after he died, on an impulse I threw an Ubuntu disk in my misbehaving Vista computer.

And I heard his voice inside my head saying, "See! I told you so!"

I am sorry for your loss, but glad to have you here with us in Ubuntuland.

[MooPi]

A high school friend was at Stanford and was raving about this new operating system. At the time my interest in computers was almost nonexistent. My Windows 98 machine was going belly up so I tried and failed with Red Hat then bounced over to Turbo Linux. Uhggg Turbo was horrid to put it mildly. Have tinkered since and here I am still tinkering.

[Megrimn]

Someone else was running ubuntu on their computer. Frankly, I thought it was a macOS hack until he told me different, and I got interested. Two weeks later I installed hardy and started fixing the compatibility issues and all that.

It's been a little over a year now - I joined the forum about a month after I installed.

[Lightstar]

Can't remember when it was, but it was VERY long ago, I had gotten my hands on a copy of redhat 3 from a friend who tried it. He didn't stick with it.

My computer was totally crashing, so before I reinstalled windows, I tried redhat. It was really cool, being different from everyone, I was proud, until they started playing Warcraft 2 together and I was left out, so... I formatted, and put windows back on. I didn't know how to dualboot back then (if it even existed) and internet was not so big. We actually spent alot more time on local BBS than internet. BBS for those who didn't know them, were kind of server programs running on someone's PC, and we'd connect through it by phone line. OOooooh I think I still remember the whole dial up modem music by hand now.

Anyway... that's how I started linux.. and then went back to windows.
And then, 4 years ago I restarted linux, stumbled on ubuntu at some point looking for debian branches because I liked debian. And now I'm here.
Still got windows, but I only use it for the games that wont run 100% on linux / wine. 90% of the time I'm on ubuntu.

[themarker0]

Aha! I remember this day well.

My dad worked at an ISP, and a few of the workers there made a business of also fixing computers, not just the dial up. This was oh... 97-9?

Well our local mall had a computer convention and my dad had gotten my sister and i to be in it. By be in it i mean for me to be tux, and my sister the devil hehehe. It was fun. Then a i remember one of the workers let me play the bomb game on red hat.

I stopped for a while picked it up again in 08, when i was resticted computer time. Dual booted mandrake! (Yes i know it was old) Until one day i picked up a linux pro magazine, and got Mandriva, and was hooked on linux from there. I was given an old laptop, mixed of a compaq dell and hp, and xp wouldn't run on it. Mandriva wasn't doing it either. So i plopped in an Ubuntu CD, and haven't looked back yet.

[mazato]

I had been using Winblows since 95. And I always got frustrated for all the paid insecurities that it offered. In doing a paper for a ENG101 class about all the vulnerabilities that Winblows offered I found about Ubuntu, and decided to get helluva lot less vulnerabilities for free!
:)
just kidding!
"but seriously, I mean it!"
Now I just have to use Winblows for my scanner and Quickbooks. I haven't even updated it.

I plan on getting rid of Winblows once (if) my scanner works in Ubuntu or Intuit decides to release a version for Linux.

[brusegadi]

During college I found some of the videos on youtube (about compiz-fusion) and I thought it looked cool. Then I learned about the security it offered and I became even more interested. I planned on buying a new computer and putting Ubuntu on the old one, but then... I got this rootkit on XP through a hijack attack (firefox) and I did not have the money to buy the new machine yet. An IT guy where I work had a Jaunty live CD and told me I could boot from it to just try it out. So I tried Jaunty, and liked it enough that when I did buy the new machine, it was a system76 Pangolin!!! I am so happy that I did not have to pay for that software and I have learned so much about computers!!! Now I have two machines running Karmic, and one of them runs many virtual OSs. Thanks! B

[Primefalcon]

Honestly I've heard of people talking up Linux ever sicne the late 90's, decided to give it a try in around '98 the version I tried was called Lindows, which failed miserably on my computer, fast forward to around 2007, I had long been a major fan of Open Source software for quite a while. and had long switched over to using firefox and other OSS. and decided to give Linux another try, since I had used it on the server and noticed its superior performance and stability (red hat and debian).

So I asked around what version of Linux should I try, and well people kept telling me Ubuntu (Sorry but I count the different names of Ubuntu such as Kubuntu, Xubuntu and such kinda silly, why not just say Ubuntu W/KDE or whatever), so Installed it (installed windows, figured I'd give it a decent shot and try a try or fail at using it exclusively, and.... I loved it and will never go back).

Since then I've tried numerous other distros such as OpenSuse (not bad, but far prefer Ubuntu), Puppy (very very good and fast, useful for running intensive tasks), Fedora (which I am less than keen on, had a lot of issues).

[skkeeper]

My first Linux experience was Caixa Mágica (a Mandriva-like distribution) in my scholl back at 2005 (probably). I must say I hate it, its performance was laggy and the interface was messed up. The way the teachers taught us to work with it didn't help either, even they didn't know what they were doing most of the time.

So a few years later I tried both OpenSUSE and Fedora. Fedora was the first system I liked. Friendly, up to date and fast. But small hardware compatibility problems always kept me away from using Linux (the fedora documentation wasn't very acessible those days as fair as i remember).

Until the day I tried Ubuntu Hardy Heron, easy to use, fast and hardware compatible, I just loved it. Later I upgraded to Intrepid Ibex and I never got away from Ubuntu ever ever again.

I guess I love Ubuntu, not just because of the "out of the box" functionality, but because it has a wonderful community with a lot of people always wanting to improve a free system, with new and fresh ideas.

Just like Jono Bacon said recently on the "Ubuntu Opportunistic Developers Week":
- "Ubuntu is not just a operative system, it's a philosophy, a way of life" (or something like that)

[Dayofswords]

i first heard of linux a few years ago when i read about a server a game was running, ended right there

then year or so later i got a domain and it had things i could put on it, i could choose windows or linux as a server for the forums, content junks.

linux offered more so i picked it, i wondered what the heck it was, googling for a few days and found out more...

i learned to love linux and the whole open source idea

[nvsbl]

Ever since I began using a computer, my daily use has been complicit with Linux. I first downloaded a Knoppix Livecd when I saw it mentioned on the tech show the Screensavers, and from that I quickly moved on to whatever version of Fedora was current at the time. I've also used Debian, openSuse and slackware. However, until very recently, I've continued to find myself stuck with Windows for one reason or another. Fortunately, I've shed my Windows bonds, and will henceforth operate solely with OSS.

After all these years, I still prefer Ubuntu to any one distro. While the software certainly is top-notch, what keeps me here is beyond that. The Ubuntu mission of "humanity towards others" is, in my view, the single most effective way to develop not just software, but the community that surrounds it. Tools like brainstorm and launchpad are the very essence of a democractic system, enabling every user to equip themselves with the tools necessary to create and share with the ultimate goal of improving the general experience of everyone. Above all, it's the friendly people that use Ubuntu along with me, who inhabit this forum, and the various irc channels, that make the Ubuntu experience for me superior to anything of its kind.

[halovivek]

well it was around 2003. i went to course for networking, there i got introduced to red hat linux. Ubuntu 2008 - Now i am addicted to it.

[canam101]

I used windows from about 1992 and, while I heard about linux over the years, I had some vague idea that it was nothing but command lines and incomprehensible geekspeak.

About 4 years ago, my dissatisfaction with windows was driving my blood pressure up - the worst thing was that every program I downloaded seemed incredibly bloated - even if I wanted to do the simplest thing, the software available was, even to me, a civilian, obviously overkill.

That made me think again about linux, and I finally nerved myself to download a mandrake disk.

Once I saw that it had a desktop and that you could open a browser that looked normal, and that I didn't have to enter commands in a terminal any more than I did in windows, I was hooked.

From Mandrake I went to Mepis, and finally, despite what I thought was a lot of hype for an OS that was no better than Mepis, I went to ubuntu.

I switched to ubuntu because, as I recall, it was a more professional, smoother OS. The hype wasn't hype, it seemed, but accurate reporting.

From there, it was Mint, then, a few days ago, back to ubuntu.

So far, so good. But whatever linux version I use today or tomorrow, I have the pleasure of knowing that I will never have to look at another windows program again.

I don't have good scanner software, or good ocr software, and my webcam doesn't work, but that is trivial compared to the benefits of a lean, rational, dependable OS.

[andymorton]

I was complaining to a friend about how much I hated Vista and she asked me if I had ever considered trying Linux. I'd heard if it but my knowledge was quite limited.
I went away and did some research. I kept reading that Ubuntu was considered to be user-friendly and thought that, because of my complete inexperience of anything other than Windows, it would probably be the most suitable for me.
Ubuntu 8.10 was the first one I tried and I've never looked back.

andy

[ubunterooster]

A computer guy gave my father some CDs that said "Linux" and they got thrown in a shelf. Months later a Mac guy was trying to get me to use Apple, and gave up saying "To be consistent, you should really be using Linux!" So, when I found those CDs while cleaning, I decided "why not"

Today I use Ubuntu merely because it has currently the best chance for me to help others. I am constantly testing many others in VMs, though

[teward]

Introduced to linux by another student in my (don't yell at me) Visual Basic Programming course in 2nd year of high school. He introduced me to arch, but i didn't understand it.

Two years later, I was being trained by CISCO corporation in their then-called IT Essentials course, with the opportunity to get extra points if I could get a machine to dualboot with something. The instructor provided an Ubuntu 8.10 CD.

I said, hey, I like this, and it seems straightforward and easy to use. So then I just installed it at home (then 9.04), and have stayed with it to today. Although, I'm not moving off of LTS builds anymore, because I don't trust everything x]

[mordoc]

In or about '93 I had read something about a little project called Linux and decided to pick up Slackware at a local computer show. I must admit that after installing it having the feeling of "well now what?"

Within 2 weeks I had given up, only to try again a few years later with a boxed edition of Redhat. A little more success but it only lasted a month on the system. Finally around FC 3, I kept it on a machine full time...the rest is history.

As for Ubuntu, when FC7 broke a number of things that I was starting to depend on for work and the response from the devs was another release away, I thought it was time to look around. Tried Debian but found the installer awful and the myriad of options dizzying. Ubuntu seemed stable, coherent, and end-user focussed.

I've given up once or twice to Fedora but I now always come back to Ubuntu...

Thanks to the Ubuntu team, devs, and community for producing such a great distro!

[wilee-nilee]

Decided to go back to college and had never even owned a computer. Somebody told me about this re-cycler and I started with Dapper. This nonprofit was started with the big LT the kernel man, and a group of others.
http://www.freegeek.org/

[Metallion]

Simple. I walked into Opera Software's office for an internship and this is pretty much the first conversation I had.

Opera guy:"We're all working with Linux here. Do you have a preferred distribution?"

me:"No."

Opera guy:"Then let's go with Ubuntu."

[chips24]

when i was 12, i wanted to build a cheap computer for free without spending money on a ridiculously expensive os (aka windows and mac) so i went online and ubuntu was the first thing i found. i didnt use it for a while because i thought if it was free, it must be pretty bad. a year later, i was bored and i installed it on to my computer... i didnt like, so i didnt use it for another year. and than one day, i got pissed off with windows, i started to like ubuntu, so i switched...

my first linux os i used was fiesty.

[abs_kkk]

originally i had a bulk of virus in my PC about 1year b4,i did'nt knew much about linux at that time,i was browsing web to find a wa to clean my pc(it wasbarely usable 0_0" ) then i found the live cd methond with which i could swiftly clennse my PC after that i continued using windows xp again 2 months b4 windows started giving me problems with viruses , and i thought thats it i am gonna format it ........after the format the virus still remained then i was searching for a means to remove the virus then i remembered the linux method,but i realised i wiped it out with windows on m HDD then i downloaded it from my mobile (took 3 WHOLE weeks X_X) and now here i am it became my primary OS.

I used ubuntu because its the most popular among linux distro and i want to try other distros too but on second though(considering the fact i have a stupid mobile dial up connection, i leave the matter) and thats the end of my post :popcorn:

[mamamia88]

My curiosity was peaked when I first heard the ps3 can run Linux. I didn't care for it on the ps3 because it was too slow but put it on my laptop and the rest is history. Every windows computer my family has owned has eventually slowed to a crawl. I thought to myself "something is not right here it's the same exact hardware with the same exact os. hardware doesn't age really so it must be windows" sure enough no slowdown whatsoever on ubuntu

[Jolicoeur]

Well, I like looking for free software and getting away from Microsoft as much as I can and I came across Ubuntu. I have an old desktop with a messed up XP on it and I loaded Ubuntu. I enjoy trying new things out in Ubuntu and I enjoy updates. I really like using code to accomplish various things. I think it runs much better on old machines then does XP. Bad thing, Silverlight. I want netflix on my Ubuntu!!!

[malspa]

Firefox was the first time I'd heard of the term "open source." That led me to trying out other open source software in Windows, like OpenOffice. The term "open source" eventually led me to finding out about Linux.

As to the second question ("why Ubuntu?"), I'd used a few other distros before Ubuntu became a big name in Linux, but I was attracted by the "Ubuntu" concept and by the free CDs.

[perspectoff]

I wanted to automate my house (using X10 and Insteon controllers) and found LinuxMCE, which used Kubuntu. I also wanted to control security cams, for which I discovered Zoneminder.

At the time, KDE was far more powerful than Gnome, and I have stuck with KDE, even though I have parallel installations of Kubuntu and Ubuntu (the latter mostly for testing and evaluation).

[cra1g321]

**A little story for anyone** :lolflag:
Im a ex-windows user. Had XP on my pc for most of the years.
Was tired of reinstalling the OS, dealing with drivers:mad:, installing a antivirus, registry cleaner, defragmenter, firewall, codecs, then of course dealing with malware.
Hated the fact that most malware was detected AFTER it got onto the pc.

But what really made me hate windows so much was when -
One night i was paying for something online (file-hosting premium) using my brothers card (didnt have paypal setup at the time) and everything went fine til the next morning when my brother got a phone call from his bank telling him that sum1 had tried to spend all his money by booking a holiday:!::(
So then of course he gave me a good shouting at and went on about me visiting fake scam websites and about how i almost lost him all his money.
He assumed that the website had logged his details when i was paying, but i didnt think it was the websites fault as it was a legitimate website. So decided to run a malware scan on his laptop and just as i was hoping or expecting it found a keylogger.
This keylogger had hidden on my brothers laptop and had recognised that i was paying for something online then recorded all my keystrokes and then sent the details off to the B*$***D$ that had spreaded it on the internet.

So then i decided that this was the final nail in the coffin for using windows. I searched around and cant remember how but i found something about linux. Then i started to research more, then one day XP on my computer has messed up again (i can probaly do a reinstall with my eyes closed,from having to reinstall windows over the years) but instead of reinstalling XP this time, i inserted Ubuntu 9.04 into the computer and was greeted with the brown/orange of ubuntu (il never forget it)
Coming from windows knowing how to use and find everything on it to using ubuntu was a big difference. I knew how to navigate round the menus and folders barely and i didnt have a clue how the filesystem works (still dont lol)
So i played around for it a bit then realised that it just wasnt really right for me at the time. So i reinstalled XP and battled on.
I kept reading up on the news of linux and ubuntu, then 9.10 was released and i decided to install it because of so many positive feedback and reviews about it. I really liked 9.10 and was getting used to new software being my default programs like rhythmbox, and thankfully VLC and firefox still being the same as they were on windows. I used 9.10 for a few months then started to dual-boot with XP while trying out other distros. I really liked opensuse when i first tried it but found the installer too confusing and installing new software a bit too hard.
So i went back to 9.10 and started to use it for everything except when i needed to use XP for something. Im glad of this because if i hadnt of stuck with it and learnt stuff then i probaly would be on windows 7 now looking up on antivirus reviews now or something sad like that.
Then when Linux Mint 8 came out i tried it and it won me over for a couple of months then installed ubuntu 10.04 when it came out over Mint.
I now distro-hop too frequently between 10.04 and Mint 9 and use them for everything while using Windows 7 for the odd pc game.
I have learnt so much about linux, FOSS, gr8 programs like rhythmbox, GIMP, Blender, openoffice etc.

It annoys me that i used to assume that there was windows or the expensive MAC and that was it. i also hate when i see sum1 saying about how windows 7 is soo much better than vista. I feel like shouting something like 'So you paid for another windows OS because the last one that you paid for was s**t' same for the Office suite its just so stupid.
Anyway Ubuntu has brought me to the open-source world and i grateful that such an OS exists. I can see ubuntu getting more and more popular just like its already been doing.

Just want say thanks to canonical, everyone who has help create ubuntu, and the FOSS world and of course the greate ubuntu community.
I also want to mention Microsoft, thanks for continuing to trick ppl into thinking that if something is popular and new it has to be the best, and for continuing to develop and release s**t OSes everytime:)

What was this thread about ?? i forgot lol

[Vunutus]

I had known about Linux for quite a while but never used it or really understood much about it until 3 years ago or so. I took a Linux Networking class in college and kept thinking "wow, that makes a lot of sense", so I downloaded Ubuntu (because it was the distro I'd heard the most about) and put it on my laptop. I played around with it and liked what I saw so I started dual booting Windows and Linux on my desktop, then after a year I noticed that I never booted into Windows so I finished eliminating Windows from all my machines.

As for why Ubuntu...I actually don't run Ubuntu as my main distro anymore :oops:. I still love Ubuntu and recommend it to everybody, but I switched to Arch for several reasons (the AUR, ABS, and rolling release cycle primarily).

[zealibib slaughter]

My introduction came as microscrew ended support for w2k. I was needing to upgrade but hated the idea of installing xp. Being a fan of open source software already I done a google search for open source operating systems and naturally I found linux. My first distro was freespire and I hated it. I played around with fedora and a few others till someone at yahoo answers sent me to ubuntu. Six months later I had dumped windows for ever and haven't looked back. Why ubuntu? Community support is better hands down. Problems I've had with fedora, suse and others took me days to weeks tracking down an answer where with ubuntu a few minutes here or googling brings me a solution.

[Arsic]

I don't remember how I found out about it, but I played around with it on my systems throughout high school not really knowing what I was doing until I got through college. I really liked messing with the themes that the uxtheme patcher allowed in XP and that was great. It was time to move onto Windows 7, but the theming options didn't seem very good since it's still early for really good themes to come out. Eventually I settled with liking the Gnome look of Ambiance.

I became really familiar with a few distros and how they integrated with Active Directory and networking in general. Still went on and off after my education completed and now I use Ubuntu while I can. Why Ubuntu? I don't know, it's just easier to find solutions for various problems and tweaks than most other distros.

[jbluzb86]

I found out about linux due to virus and spyware problems with windows xp where I need to find a good alternative. I chose ubuntu because of community support and ease of use.

[mainerror]

I was 14 or something like that when I got SuSE Linux 8.2 from a friend thats more than 7 years ago. I've installed it and was quite proud of myself as I managed to install it (I know it is not a big deal with YaST but will ya please not burst my bubble? :D).

Well back then being a kid shortly after installing I began missing my games so I've installed Windows XP again. After two years I got another computer which was dedicated for running Debian Sarge (3.1). Another two years passed when I somehow (I can't remember how) heard of Ubuntu and that it was Debian based. As I was a Debian fan I decided to try it out. It was Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon. I as using Ubuntu as a dualboot system with Windows until six months ago when I decided to break out of that and run only Ubuntu.

I'm quite a bit more mature now as I don't have to constantly play some game. My games are Java, Perl, PHP etc. now. :D

[Nebutron]

My journey to linux was spurred by my frustration with microsoft. I had to replace my motherboard and went through a huge hassle getting a new product key. Really got my blood pressure up. I had heard of this "linux thing", a free operating system, but had never seen it. Started looking on-line for more info. Tried Suse first as they described their goal as being the most widely used linux distro. I was able to install successfully on my machine, but could't figure out the yast thing to install more software. Saw in the Suse forum that some people were very happy with Ubuntu, so I gave it a shot when Gutsy came out three years ago. I was impressed with the easy installation, hardware support and the ease of installing additional software. With a little help from medibuntu, I was happily watching DVD's. Within a couple of months, I was using Ubuntu nearly exclusively. Within a year, I had several family members converted. Luvin it still today! Right now running Gnome-shell (gnome 3.0) on Maverick 10.10

[ThatBum]

A year or so ago, I was getting sick of Windows giving me so much guff all the time, and software I wanted being so damn expensive. I didn't even consider Linux an alternative (I had a strong aversion to Macintosh...still do). I had geek-like tenancies though. A few weeks after I started bemoaning the problems with my Windows box, my friend brought Linux up (a total geek he is, he has an enterprise-class server built into his front room wall). I got curious and put SuSE on an external drive and tried it, but it and my wireless card kept throwing food at each other. I then tried Ubuntu. At the time the latest release was Jaunty. I really hit off with Ubuntu and eventually ended up ripping up the external drive and making it internal. The rest is history, I suppose.

E: I just noticed that a lot of people tried SuSE and didn't like it for some reason, and then got Ubuntu. Hmm...

[bearcubpa]

My local computer repair store, which is run by the most awesome couple, turned me onto Ubuntu because of my constant complaining of my MS OS issues on my PC and on my Windows Mobile Phone. They simply stated, "If you know the secret handshake, we will show you something better" Hence, the hand shake was never needed, and after a ten minute display of what Ubuntu could do, I was hooked.

I am AMAZED at how many people i know who are running Ubuntu and i had no clue.

Now, if i can find a good tablet to run it on, AND a good phone to run it on, I'll be all set.

IMHO, this community is FAR more supportive than any of the MS sites I have joined in the past. Thanks.

[quesadilla]

My dad uses it all the time at work, so when I put together my first computer, what else would I run? It was so much better to me. I would use his fedora desktop instead of the family xp. So I didn't even try windows on my computer

[Gremlinzzz]

Found out about free OS from a site called Freebyte. use to get free software for windows there.from there found distrowatch.first install was Vectorlinux then Susie then Ubuntu.
http://www.freebyte.com/systemutilities/
Year 2005 correcting year had to be 2004 or so.
forgot about Xandros and lindowsOS which changed its name to linspire.any ways tried them to.where did those systems go?

[Timmer1240]

I used to play around with live cds linspire knoppix and a bunch of others then I heard about wubi installed 9.10 into xp loved it so I used gparted and resized xp and made room for ubuntu used karmic for a year.Then I got interested in Mint Debian now I just run that and run Xp in Vbox.And I used to think XP was awesome a few years back now Im sold on Linux!

[aaaantoine]

I first heard of Linux in the late 90s. Probably 1997 or 1998.

My first hands-on with Linux was Red Hat (back when it was free libre AND gratis) in late 2001 or early 2002, in a classroom setting. My first Linux installation was also Red Hat, potentially the same version, in 2002 or 2003; some time while I was still in college. It was a neat experiment, but the computer I installed on was just too slow on account of insufficient RAM. Also, it didn't help I didn't know anything about Linux at the time.

My first Linux installation on my primary system (dual-boot, mind you) was Mandrake in 2005. This second attempt was to get it running on better hardware. However, I couldn't really get sound working out of my primary card. I was using Creative hardware, and I think that's all you need to know about that. Also, it didn't help that I STILL didn't know that much about Linux at the time. So like the Red Hat desktop, I eventually abandoned my Mandrake install.

My interest in Linux never really dropped; I started keeping a Knoppix LiveCD handy for computer recovery operations.

Then in July / August 2007 I tried one more time, on my laptop. And I've been using Linux primarily ever since October 2007.

Why Ubuntu? I tried it because I heard it was user-friendly. I stayed with it because not only is it user-friendly, but also has a great community.

[forrestcupp]

I bought Redhat or something a long time ago before Gnome even existed. It was mostly command line, so I got tired of messing with it.

Then a few years later I decided to try again. I tried Debian and couldn't get it to work. Then I tried Mandrake, and it worked great, but I didn't like that you had to pay to access their repos. So I ended up with Hoary Hedgehog, and I absolutely loved it. It was the only one where everything worked for me easily and it was completely free of charge.

[Lars Noodén]

I started using Debian at work because that's what most everyone else used, if they were not on Solaris. That was my introduction to it. The choice was that or Windows NT, which did not look good to me.

Why Ubuntu (really Kubuntu) ? Because it is Debian-based and is quite polished for the desktop. I like APT.

[Hatsune Miku]

From Gparted live LOL! I saw that it booted "Debian GNU/Linux" , after i saw that i did some research about Linux and went with ubuntu from how people on the net said it was the easiest. So i gave it a try and loved Linux ever sense :) I Love GNU/Linux and GNU/XNU(Darwin/OS X) equally.

[Fedz]

Many yrs ago my Win98 comp crashed & I lost thousands of mp3s not to mention my emails ... etc & 100s of personal pictures & videos - I was mortified & it was Windows that stuffed up updating & it froze!
I waited & waited hoping it'd sort itself but, I had to turn the PC off at power socket & when it re-booted it had an error & corrupt - I was in tears tbh lol

I also used a few open source Windows software so basically downloaded Ubuntu on parents PC & wrote to disk & thought stuff it & formatted the PC > installed Ubuntu & not moved since ... Now I learned to have a 2nd drive to save & backup my stuff on but, Ubuntu has served me well & I appreciate that ...

It didn't help I had a copied Windows & it's worse with XP Pro ... not going any further as I read Vista was a disaster & Windows7 I ain't paying for but, happily donate to Canonical & appreciate developers for OS & software more than you'd ever know, I've learned loads with Ubuntu :)

[jhonan]

About 15 years ago, friend of mine kept going on about Linux and handed me the installation disks for Red Hat.

Then I installed Ubuntu cause I thought it had something to do with Africa.

And also, I use it at work. So it made it easier to use the same basic distro at home.

[leviathan8]

One year ago, one of my "virtual" friends introduced me to Linux... I've met him on some other forums, he was very nice with me at the beginning, but as my skills with Linux evolved gently, he become more and more arrogant and condescending to me... I don't really know why he did this, but he liked bashing me a lot, even about those little things, like why I am using that window manager and not that... So at the end I got really upset on him, and decided to ignore him for a while, but I still appreciate him A LOT for introducing me to Linux...

[jhonan]

but as my skills with Linux evolved gently, he become more and more arrogant and condescending to me...
So what are you doing here then?

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[anthony2010]

I built a computer and went to see how much a copy of windows xp was many years ago. I was horrified and had a look on ebay to see if there were cheaper deals.

Whilst looking I saw a disk for what was then known as Freespire 2.08. I ordered it and loved it. CNR was the mutts nuts and this OS just worked. Then... it got sold and was phased out. So By this time I gathered it was based on ubuntu so I downloaded 8.04 and a derivative called mint. Love mint, hate the green everything. At ubuntu 9.10 I was converted. stuck with it until 10.10 then because of this new ghastly unity interface, Ive switched to Ubuntu Studio which suits me well.

Just wish I could get movies off my old camcorder!

ubuntu and happy.