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asifnaz
October 29th, 2010, 11:48 AM
Well I hated Ubuntu it was my first Linux experience . It was about 6 months ago I requested for an Ubuntu CD it arrived I dual booted it with XP and I absolutely hated it thinking it was too difficult
and lacks compatibility .
But I kept experimenting with it and with the help of wonderful community I was able to explore and slowly I began to fall in love
with it .

Linux is not love at first sight by the way

I completely formated Xp and now use Ubuntu as the only OS .Now I wonder why everybody is not using this wonderful OS .
When I ask my friends the question "why don't you use Ubuntu or Linux in general" ..they reply " its command based and very difficult and is for only technical people "

When I show them my Pc running ubuntu and tell them how stable and reliable it is tell them about free and open softwares
they are surprised .Many of my friends are dual booting Ubuntu .
I hope they will be all Ubuntu soon .

I want all Ubuntu users to join computing forums and tell the people that Ubuntu is very user friendly and it is no more for "techies only"

Grenage
October 29th, 2010, 11:56 AM
My first jab at Linux was long before Ubuntu was around, probably 1999. It was a hellish nightmare just trying to get basic things working, but I probably learned a lot during that period.

I dropped it for an easy life after a week or so, picking up opensuse years later.

aeiah
October 29th, 2010, 12:00 PM
i just remember thinking how similar it was to windows. i mean, what do you mostly use a pc for nowadays? file browser and web browser. the interface is really the same. but i guess everyone's different.. my mother still double-clicks web links because she doesn't see the diference between desktop icons and web links in a browser.

i thought ubuntu was pretty ugly when i first used it, but themes were so much easier than in windows. i started using ubuntu with 5.04 or 5.10, so it did look pretty ugly compared to now.

obviously i had command line nightmares with wireless etc, but that wasn't my fiiirrrst impressions

asifnaz
October 29th, 2010, 12:04 PM
i just remember thinking how similar it was to windows. i mean, what do you mostly use a pc for nowadays? file browser and web browser. the interface is really the same. but i guess everyone's different.. my mother still double-clicks web links because she doesn't see the diference between desktop icons and web links in a browser.

i thought ubuntu was pretty ugly when i first used it, but themes were so much easier than in windows. i started using ubuntu with 5.04 or 5.10, so it did look pretty ugly compared to now.

obviously i had command line nightmares with wireless etc, but that wasn't my fiiirrrst impressions

Ya I thought even Ubuntu 10.04 was ugly . But little twiks made it so good looking that even windows 7 looks crap now

Spice Weasel
October 29th, 2010, 12:29 PM
I used DOS and Windows 98, once you have had that experience you will love any OS.

Also, it's Ubuntu Linux or Ubuntu GNU/Linux. Linux/Ubuntu just gets everyone confused. Linux isn't Ubuntu.

First Linux-based OS was Red Hat. I can't remember when, but it was great. I didn't really start using it again until I found SUSE on a laptop that I was using at my Grandad's house. He said he got a free disk with a PC mag.

robsoles
October 29th, 2010, 12:37 PM
I loved the short time I had with it in a course about 15 years ago and when a job I had a few years ago made me use Red Hat and then CentOS I was quite pleased to catch up with it. I loved Ubuntu so much on first contact that it soon replaced CentOS (server) and Windows XP (Desktop(s)) at home.

I changed the server at work over from Windows 2003 Server running Domain Controller and some business management software into Ubuntu Server running DC and a VM (VirtualBox) of 2003 Server running that business management software - logins for both are much more robust than before.

My Boss led his own conversion from Windows to Ubuntu by bitching about Windows in front of me and lapping it up when I told him Ubuntu could give him a more continuous experience of using his computer to do business. He keeps a VM of XP to access that business software on the VM on the server.

My family got together and bought me a little laptop for my fortieth, it came with some or other version of Windows 7 - I spent all of 20 minutes checking it out before I started making a bootable USB to install 9.10 on it - live updated to 10.04 on that laptop, with it's encrypted home directory, no hiccups - no problem with any hardware I noticed in that upgrade.

My Boss had me do the same to his most recent laptop - bit of mucking around with the internal webcam but otherwise no problems. He takes glee in updating and seeing whether or not he needs to call me to his work station to make all his stuff accessible again.

limestone
October 29th, 2010, 12:50 PM
When I noticed Linux I fell in love.
No more frustrating hours of crashes and lags.
Thank you God (Linus) for this :D I also thank everyone on the GNU team and other program writers for Linux.

coffeecat
October 29th, 2010, 01:29 PM
I first tried Linux (mostly Fedora and a couple of other distros) in mid-2005. I was impressed but endured 3 months of teeth-grinding frustration trying to get internet working properly. I, or rather my router firmware, had fallen foul of the IPv6 problem and I knew next to nothing about networking then. But I persisted, and learnt about networking, and eventually solved the internet problem. Which is why I have difficulty feeling sympathetic when a newbie comes on these boards demanding that a trivial problem be fixed NOW.

And I well remember an epiphany moment later that year when I found myself using Suse 9.3 for most of my computing needs. I felt the iron grip of Microsoft loosen from around my throat. Aaaah! Relief! I tried Ubuntu 5.04 and 5.10, but the release of Dapper Drake (6.06) got me using Ubuntu regularly ever since. You will see posts complaining about each new release of Ubuntu, but for me every release (with the exception of the Edgy 6.10) has been a great improvement.

So....


Did you hate Linux/Ubuntu when you first time used it

No. :)

nerdtron
October 29th, 2010, 01:36 PM
I first tried Linux about three years ago. Haven't heard ubuntu then. I tried a customized version of Knoppix which is included in a book of Marcel Gagne found in our university Library. It's really frustrating because it's very different from what I'm used to.
I hated it because the GUI sucks! Other than that, my journey is quite well. It takes a lot of time getting used to.

qamelian
October 29th, 2010, 01:37 PM
I started using Linux with SuSE 5.3 way back in 1998. I loved it then even though I had a lot to learn and setup was more involved. I found the whole experience very rewarding actually, and within three month of my first install was using Linux for 90% of my needs. Now, I don't even have a Windows partition on my laptop anymore and use Linux for everything.

Khakilang
October 29th, 2010, 01:39 PM
I don't hate Linux or Ubuntu because what can be worst than the virus infected proprietary OS. Its work the first time I install. The only gripe I got is that it depend a little too much on internet to get the software you want and if you are not careful it may end with broken dependencies.

mikewhatever
October 29th, 2010, 01:59 PM
I didn't hate it. First, hating an operating system is silly. Second, why would one use something one hates?

Bölvağur
October 29th, 2010, 02:14 PM
Used knoppix in 2005 for 2 days as part of homework for a course. I didn't dislike it at all.... and I liked the games :rolleyes:.

Paddy Landau
October 29th, 2010, 02:22 PM
I loved it from the start. The teething problems I had, while frustrating, were child's play compared to the problems I had on Windows (3.1, 95, 98, 98SE, XP, and finally with Vista I couldn't take it any more).

I stopped Windows not because of the cost (new computers come with Windows anyway) but because of the immense waste of time!

Yeah, it was uglier than Windows, but so what? I didn't buy it to hang on my wall. If MS spent less money "prettying" Windows and more on getting it to be robust and to work, MS wouldn't have so many dissatisfied customers.

However, Lucid 10.04 isn't ugly IMO.

macem29
October 29th, 2010, 02:25 PM
first experience with feisty fawn, very impressed, everything worked except wireless which was
an easy fix with ndiswrapper...updated to gutsy gibbon and the CPU fan was stuck at 100%,
never did find a fix for it and went back to windows on that box as it's use took another direction (HTPC)

this was around 4 years ago I think....came back around to ubuntu a few months ago when the
XP install on my netbook became bloated and unstable, totally my fault as I'd been doing far more
with it than it's intended for, the Acer supplied restore disk was useless and i was unable to clean the
OS up enough my self, so killed it and put in 10.04, awesome 100% functional out of the box and boots to a usable state in 15 seconds, more space left on the tiny 8GB SSD and the machine is all around more responsive, no netflix is the only downfall

edit: the dependency on the repositories for apps took a little getting used to, but the way things install and remove without grief or left over BS is a plus, and no need for virus/spyware crap that often is itself spyware

LowSky
October 29th, 2010, 02:27 PM
I tried out knoppix sometime between 2000 or 2002. I thought it was way too basic for my needs, and only used it to see if a PC would boot.

I tried Ubuntu in 2005 because I didn't have a Windows XP CD for a rebuid. I hated it but it got me a working PC for a little bit while waiting for a new CD. I wasn't until 6.10 and 7.04 that I was actually living Ubuntu. Acutally I love 7.04 and hated most of the changes through 8.10. 9.04 is when things stated getting better for me, and now on 10.10 I like it but I still feel I'm outgrowing Ubuntu as I want something more user customizable. Arch has been a good friend lately, and it might become my disto of choice.

Mmmbopdowedop
October 29th, 2010, 02:31 PM
...

Also, it's Ubuntu Linux or Ubuntu GNU/Linux. Linux/Ubuntu just gets everyone confused. Linux isn't Ubuntu.

...

He never said Linux was Ubuntu, the '/' is usually used to replace the word 'or' which would make complete sense as many people on these forums won't have picked Ubuntu as their first Linux Distro to try. Being picky's pretty dumb.

When I tried it, a few years ago, I thought it looked very plain and simplistic, but that was when I didn't understand anything about Linux or what it really was. I wouldn't of thought I could be as productive as I am now on it. :) I think the first I tried was Mepis and with it's KDE 3.x it looked really childish, even the different themes looked pre-school, but like mentioned already, after playing around, it was awesome to get it looking sexy. :-)

Frogs Hair
October 29th, 2010, 03:29 PM
No , my first Linux experience was with Karmic Koala and I loved having something new and different and that hasn't changed yet.

andymorton
October 29th, 2010, 03:35 PM
I certainly didn't hate Ubuntu when I first tried it (8.04, I think) but my first impression of it wasn't great. On a superficial level I thought it looked ugly. I had no idea back then that it was so customisable. On slightly more technical level I found it difficult to install/remove software, to get videos working, to get the sound working properly and wireless connectivity was, to say the least, temperamental.

All these problems had quite simple solutions. It was merely a case of getting out of the Windows-user mindset and overcoming the learning curve. I stuck with it and now I wouldn't want to use anything else. Although I'm always curious about other distros. I made a promise to myself that I'd never use Windows again and I can't imagine that I ever will.

andy
:)

asifnaz
October 29th, 2010, 04:31 PM
He never said Linux was Ubuntu, the '/' is usually used to replace the word 'or' which would make complete sense as many people on these forums won't have picked Ubuntu as their first Linux Distro to try. Being picky's pretty dumb.

)

Thank you sir for explaining on my behalf .

malspa
October 29th, 2010, 04:38 PM
Linux is not love at first sight by the way

It was for me.

DirtyPC
October 29th, 2010, 04:42 PM
I thought it was pretty amazing, until I heard about terminals... but i'm getting there :P The gaming kinda sucks.. I want a 3D FPS that isnt just a deathmatch copy of Quake/Unreal

Verbeck
October 29th, 2010, 04:53 PM
i hated 8.10 at first sight. the white panel looked ugly, couldn't open task manager by alt+ctrl+delete, couldn't run any windows software, couldn't find 'my computer' and control panel, pressing the windows key didnt open the main menu. so by instinct, i removed it within 10 minutes

EDIT:
before 8.10, i tried linpus linux that can pre-installed with my pc (2007)it booted into a command line and i had no idea how to get a gui.so installed XP

asifnaz
October 29th, 2010, 05:29 PM
I thought it was pretty amazing, until I heard about terminals... but i'm getting there :P The gaming kinda sucks.. I want a 3D FPS that isnt just a deathmatch copy of Quake/Unreal

I was scared of terminal as well .But now I use terminal more than software center

DoeNietWil
October 29th, 2010, 05:36 PM
first warty, it was a hell i got knoppix as well (worked better at the time) but i didn't feel like using linux at the time

then around lucid i met windows movie maker, and now it's "Window? Never again!"

cariboo
October 29th, 2010, 06:32 PM
The first time I installed Linux was back in 1998, I paid $35.00CDN for a boxed copy of RedHat 5.2. I was on dial-up at the time, so it was worth paying the money. It came with a floppy and book that walked you through the install process. At that time everything had to be setup by hand.

After several re-installs I got every thing to work and have been using a Linux variant ever since.

theraje
October 29th, 2010, 06:36 PM
I loathed it for a long time. I started using it back around 2000 or 2001, and tried a few distros (Red Hat, Caldera, Debian, etc.) and none of them would work that well on my machines. In fact, they often would hard-crash after being up for a few minutes. Having to cold-boot at least every ten minutes does not make for a good user experience.

But nowadays things seem to be better. Ubuntu and I are getting along well together. No more crashing! :D

But yeah, it took me several years to warm up to Linux.

DirtyPC
October 29th, 2010, 06:55 PM
I was scared of terminal as well .But now I use terminal more than software center
Me too actually.

NightwishFan
October 29th, 2010, 06:57 PM
I was one of the first mainstream (not tech aware or oem) people to have a copy of Windows Vista, and despite it being slow I was impressed by it. (It was a lot fancier than Windows ME). Eventually I was tired of it being slow and non-free so I gave Ubuntu a shot.

At first sight I was impressed by the speed and layout. If it was not I might be using Windows 7 right now. What really sold me was the desktop being called "Gnome" which just felt right. So I did a dual boot for around a month and replaced Vista entirely. I started using KDE at the Hardy release, but I gave that up by Intrepid and have been a Gnome user since.

Ctrl-Alt-F1
October 29th, 2010, 07:03 PM
Ran Ubuntu in a virtual machine on my school's server that I would connect to over ssh. I thought it was pretty cool so I installed it on my pc about 1.5 years ago. Loved it. It's been my primary OS most of the time since then.

Old *ix Geek
October 29th, 2010, 07:08 PM
When I ask my friends the question "why don't you use Ubuntu or Linux in general" ..they reply " its command based and very difficult and is for only technical people "

When I show them my Pc running ubuntu and tell them how stable and reliable it is tell them about free and open softwares
they are surprised .Many of my friends are dual booting Ubuntu .
I hope they will be all Ubuntu soon .

I want all Ubuntu users to join computing forums and tell the people that Ubuntu is very user friendly and it is no more for "techies only"Send people to this post I wrote (http://tinyurl.com/25t4mn9) that's illustrated with a few of the amazing things we, as Linux users, get to see and do. When they say, "It's command based..." show them the post and go, "OH REALLY?!" :D

Contraste
October 29th, 2010, 07:12 PM
My first time with Linux was about 3 years ago. I had recently bought an Asus laptop with Windows Vista pre-installed. I had nonetheless heard from the existence of the Linux Operating System before, but I was a bit afraid that if I installed it, I could break my computer. I ended up downloading a live CD of Ubuntu 7.10 (I didn't even know what Ubuntu was). The installation went fine, it was very fast. The desktop environment looked brilliant. However, I was unable to connect to the Internet via wireless. That is what made me go back to Windows for a while. I downloaded the next Ubuntu release (Hardy Heron), but I was as well unable to use my wireless network. 6 months after that, I got a copy of Ubuntu 8.10, and everything worked. Since then, Ubuntu is my operating system by default, my favourite. I've never stopped loving Linux (not only Ubuntu, but also Debian, Fedora, Suse, etc...).

slooksterpsv
October 29th, 2010, 07:13 PM
Here's my quick story:
Tried a Linux CD that came with a PC Magazine, I installed it, but had no GUI. I tried to learn how to start it with the command line, but it wouldn't work. That was back in 1998, 1999 something like that.

Tried Ubuntu in 2004 when Warty Warhog came out, fell in love, but didn't make it my primary/only OS till this year.

samalex
October 29th, 2010, 08:17 PM
I got into Linux for the same reason may did in the 90's, to have Unix, or at least a Unix-style OS running at home. I was in college and was tired of having to dial into the school computers to do work in my Unix class, so I bought Red Hat Linux at Best Buy (against the suggestion of our Linux instructor who HATED Linux) and installed it on a 486-DX 50Mhz system.

This system had been running Windows 3.11 and I upgraded it to Windows 95 -- but that got blown away for Linux. Honestly at first I was lost, but having a few months of Unix under my belt and instantly finding a great Linux community online I never felt under water. Within no time I had my Linux box dialing into our school, and though the GUI was very basic back then it was MUCH nicer than Win 3.11. Netscape Navigator worked great, and using our school's SLIP connection I was online.

So for me I didn't hate Linux by any means, instead I fell in love with it. And luckily I got into it before so much FUD was raised around Linux by competitors because back then it was mainly a hobby OS unlike today.

Sam

ubunterooster
October 29th, 2010, 08:18 PM
At first I thought it was just a skin application; when I knew what I did by installing, I was panicked. That is why I keep backups

aG93IGRvIGkgdWJ1bnR1Pw==
October 29th, 2010, 10:19 PM
Oh yes. Before KDE, the desktop Linux experience was a mess without standards, you basically had to hunt down a hundred graphics libraries if you wanted a usable suite of basic desktop apps, and even then it looked like a dozen different desktop environments fighting for domination over your desktop. It was not a suitable replacement for windows 95, at all.

misfitpierce
October 29th, 2010, 10:22 PM
I loved linux but when I first used Ubuntu like lil over 5 years ago I think I was not thrilled that I couldnt get wireless to work because wireless support wasnt great back then, It worked on Mandriva with windows driver but I liked Ubuntu itself so I stuck with it using ethernet until a wireless driver worked on the next release via windows driver and all was good. I just liked the feel of Ubuntu a bit better since I first picked it up.

Quadunit404
October 29th, 2010, 10:36 PM
My first experience with Linux was with OpenSuSE. I didn't exactly hate it, but it was confusing at first. Now I have Ubuntu on my laptop as the sole OS.

celticbhoy
October 29th, 2010, 11:04 PM
I first tried Linux of a magazine cover disk, it came with 4 distro's Ubnuntu, Gentoo, Knoppix, and another I cant remeber. Gentoo just wouldn't run for me, and being new I didn't realise that Knoppix would install as it was listed as a live disk only.

At the time my really old PC was struggling along on XP, and when Ubuntu first loaded it just blew me away. Everything worked apart from the wireless, and that was only a two minute fix. That day I checked the internet and setup a dual boot (the wife wouldn't let me setup for Ubuntu only). I can honestly say I have never looked back. All four of my kids (now 9 - 21) use Ubuntu on their netbooks/laptops, as does my father in-law, and sister in-law, and I have never had a complaint from any of them.

Hardware can sometimes be an issue due to lack of support from vendors, but the community if that strong, that it almost always overcomes.

Trying that coverdisk really was the best computing decision I have made.

Austin25
October 29th, 2010, 11:09 PM
Yes as a matter of fact I did. I bought a computer not knowing it came with Ubuntu. I only knew how to use Windows XP, so I switched. Then I learned more about computers, and I bought a laptop. It came with Vista. Enough said.

Red_Steve
October 29th, 2010, 11:43 PM
The first time I came in contact with Linux was a year ago. My teacher at university insisted we had to install it so I made room on my notebooks HD to install linux. I was adviced to try out ubuntu so I slapped it on the spare room but never dug into it, just leaving it there in obscurety for the occasional boot to update it.
Why? I was quite frightened how alien it seemed because of all those unknown options and possibilities which came with it.

Then a week ago I got seriously drunk. And as usual when this happens I tend to do something stupid. This time I threw off my Windows 7 installation and threw on a fresh copy of Ubuntu 10.10 (I wonder how I managed to do that now). The day after I wondered why my notebook was booting so fast and was shocked once I realized what happend. But then I found myself fiddling around with Ubuntu and it got better and better by the mouseclick. Now I'm hooked on it and won't ever go back :D

Old_Grey_Wolf
October 29th, 2010, 11:44 PM
No!

When I started playing with personal computers, they where "Home-brew", self built, self programmed setups. Apple and Microsoft didn't exist. Apple and Microsoft emerged from this "Home-brew" computer environment. Before Apple and Microsoft, we didn't copyright, patent, or license programs. We never thought about doing so. There was no Internet at the time; however, we found ways to share our programs.

I hated the way that the computer industry was evolving. When Linux and FOSS came along it was a return to the beginnings of the personal computer as I remember it.

I must admit that I am starting to think that history is about to repeat itself again. :(

cloyd
October 29th, 2010, 11:48 PM
I've been using Ubuntu for almost a year now. I started with UNR, but didn't like the interface, even on a netbook. I got rid of the netbook interface, and used the normal Gnome desktop. Then upgraded to 9.10, then 10.04. My other notebook has 10.10. Even with the UNR netbook interface, Ubuntu and Linux put Windows to shame. No more crashes. No more anti-virus to pay for, all the free software (that really works). I've heard people tell me the downside of Linux was the lack of applications. For the average person, there are all the applications one could want. Ubuntu could be lacking in specialized, professional applications . . . but for everyday use I don't think it can be beat. I love it, and I loved it from the first (even if I didn't like the UNR "Fisher-Price" interface).

EDIT: Also, you cannot neglect the value of the community support. Answers are easy to find. And no one is telling me to "just reinstall the software." They really have an answer.

corrytonapple
October 30th, 2010, 03:22 AM
It has been almost four months since I started using Ubuntu. I was just sitting around bored when I thought of that miracle CD that rescued my moms old HP A300Y. It had all of her videos, pictures, and documents on it. She went five years without AV or a noticeable slowness in speed or a virus. Then it would not boot. They backed up her files, using Kubuntu, but her videos of my younger family were all corrupt. Windows still refuses to play them, saying we need a license from a non-existent website. I came to Ubuntu thinking of that because I had heard of it and needed something to mess with. I have two goals with the Ubuntu project. One: What I do is normally I will something good work, break it, then reinstall and unbug a new piece of replacement software that is even better than the "Good" stuff. Two: To come out with something, anything, that can plays those videos. One of the main points that has caught me is the freedom. I still use Windows. But when I am Linux only, it will have its own 2.5 inch 5400RPM 500+GB HDD. :)

Also, the thumb drive that the Computer guy backed it up to was a broken. I just broke the connector part clean out the other day. Luckily, she backed it up to her OS X 10.5 Intel iMac.

73ckn797
October 30th, 2010, 03:48 AM
2.5 years using Ubuntu. Started with Hardy 8.04. Now 10 months without Windows on the laptop. I have booted into Win XP only a few times in 6 months on the desktop. I will keep it for the occasional need for video capture and editing. My first look was with 7.10 and I did not want the learning curve. The second try was curiosity and that became the start of my adventure.

jroa
October 30th, 2010, 03:53 AM
Yes. I started with Fedora and moved to Ubuntu. It was a headache from the start, so I moved back to Fedora and have been happy ever since.

73ckn797
October 30th, 2010, 04:35 AM
Yes. I started with Fedora and moved to Ubuntu. It was a headache from the start, so I moved back to Fedora and have been happy ever since.
But you show Ubuntu Lucid Lynx as your current version.

rewyllys
October 30th, 2010, 06:25 PM
. . . . That day I checked the internet and setup a dual boot (the wife wouldn't let me setup for Ubuntu only). I can honestly say I have never looked back. All four of my kids (now 9 - 21) use Ubuntu on their netbooks/laptops, as does my father in-law, and sister in-law, and I have never had a complaint from any of them. . . .
If you've converted your children, father-in-law, and sister-in-law to Ubuntu, I find myself wondering what your wife currently uses.

celticbhoy
October 30th, 2010, 07:56 PM
If you've converted your children, father-in-law, and sister-in-law to Ubuntu, I find myself wondering what your wife currently uses.

she is also a convert, but more than that she is an advocate. She has lived through the windows lag with me.

Sylslay
October 30th, 2010, 08:07 PM
Yes, "d..."right.

It was Debean 5years ago

no sound on my desktop PC installed alsa and works,
than no read NTFS, withaout installing ntfs3g,

had no internet connection, that time,

and NO AUTO MOUNT,,

so I delet whole OS,

I like more linux today then widnowz !!!

bmeakings
October 31st, 2010, 06:31 PM
I think I'll come out of the shadows and start posting :)

I wouldn't say I hated Linux when I tried it for the first time, more scared off by the learning curve. My first experience was with Red Hat 7 back around 2002. The differences overwhelmed me (where's the Program Files folder?) and I don't think I could connect to the Internet via my USB modem. I thought I had to hunt down drivers like in Windows and had no idea how to install Nvidia's drivers. I went back to Windows 2000 with my tail between my legs. I continued to experiment with other distros and OSes like SuSE, Slackware and Solaris 10 but always went back to Windows.

I tried various Ubuntu versions but didn't think much of them. When Jaunty was released I vowed to stick it out and Google my problems away. I kept Jaunty on my laptop and played around, getting the hang of it and it grew on me. I put it on my desktop and since then it's been upgraded through Karmic, Lucid and is now at Maverick. I still need my Windows partition for games, although my Linux game library is growing.

cpmman
October 31st, 2010, 06:49 PM
I first tried Dapper (6.04) - I didn't hate it but it had too many hardware incompatibility issues on my kit. It was not until Karmic (9.10) - having tried every release in between - that I was satisfied that it provided a robust alternative to Windows. Testing 10.04, 10.10 and now 11.04 has been a wonderful experience which has left me and some friends with a truly competent os which is the most fun I have had since cp/m in the 70s.

Whistling Nixie
October 31st, 2010, 07:22 PM
Did I hate it when I first used it? Not at all. At first, the three GNOME menus seemed strange, but it took less than ten minutes to get used to that (much longer to adjust to the clock being in the top-right corner!). As the first version that I used was Karmic, my first impressions were Very earthy colours, and No-one going to mistake this for Windows! The first time I powered it down, it was literally a shock to see it took only 5-6 seconds.

Timmer1240
November 1st, 2010, 02:32 AM
My first experience was with Knoppix a live cd that got me interested about 6 years ago.I didnt get around to really installing linux until the beginning of this year at first I didnt really like gnome!Now I dont even like booting into windows anymore Ubuntu is so much faster and trouble free.I used to spend hours and hours figuring out problems,malware viruses adware that always seemed to install themselves!I installed Ubuntu fell in love with it and now everything keeps working fast and secure!Thanks Ubuntu developers you have made my life A LOT EASIER!My friends think Im an Oddball for running Linux maybe I am but thier the ones that want me to fix their machines when they get infected with something!My computer seems bulletproof now no viruses browser takovers no problems since dayone!

3Miro
November 1st, 2010, 02:36 AM
My first Linux experience was in 2000 on an old Red Hat. I thought it was very hard since I had to manually mount the floppy. Later I started using it on my desktop and soon it became my primary platform for work. Today, I hate it when I have to do something non-Linux.

RandomJoe
November 1st, 2010, 03:07 AM
I didn't hate Linux at first, but I also didn't have a clue what I was doing! So kept going back. This was back around 93-94? Somewhere in there. Had Win3.1 on my computer, and a 40MB HDD. Also had a stack of about 20 floppies with Slackware! I'd install Slack, piddle around a bit, get bored and reload DOS/Windows. Next time I'd stay in Slack a little longer, rinse... Repeat...

Only thing I "hated" back then was finding out floppy #19 had a bad sector! :-D And trying to figure out modelines for my cheap monitors.

Ubuntu certainly wasn't disliked when I first used it, I purposefully switched. While I still had Slack on all my servers, I was sick and tired of compiling a bajillion packages to get one desktop app on my primary workstation. So, having first tried Red Hat and Knoppix I stayed with Ubuntu and apt-get.

drawkcab
November 1st, 2010, 03:37 AM
I started on a PIII with Warty Warthog! I thought it was great except that I couldn't get the sound to work with my modem/video card thingie.

Old *ix Geek
November 1st, 2010, 04:57 AM
If you've converted your children, father-in-law, and sister-in-law to Ubuntu, I find myself wondering what your wife currently uses.I wonder WHY she didn't want Ubuntu-only. :confused:

jrusso2
November 1st, 2010, 07:02 AM
First time I used Ubuntu was dapper drake and I was disappointed. I was expecting more for the amount of money spent over other distros

I_can_see_the_light
November 1st, 2010, 03:53 PM
My first experience was with Red Hat in 1999, it was part of a course in high school. I didn't exactly hate it but I just wasn't interested (no games). Thought the names of the apps were a bit funny though, gnotepad, etc.

As I got older I lost interest in gaming, and eventually Windows too. At one point I remember thinking "this is enough, why should I have to restart my computer just because I upgraded Adobe Reader". After that moment I started to check out various Linux distros and finally settled for Ubuntu (8.04 was just out). I rarely booted my windows install and one year later i wiped it competely :)

Two months ago I decided to start using KDE instead so I upgraded to Kubuntu 10.04 having used Linux Mint 7 for a year.

XubuRoxMySox
November 1st, 2010, 08:57 PM
I had only known WinXP before trying Linux, and online "distro chooser" picked Ubuntu 8.10 for me.

Gnome was pretty different from what I was used to, and learning the new vocabulary was cool.

Looking back now, I think I would have found Xubuntu easier for transitioning from WinXP. KDE was bewildering and confusing. Xfce seems really intutive, at least to this kid. But then I'm an artsy-craftsy kinda kid anyway, with no inclination to learn abuncha tech stuff.

I didn't like the dirt brown stuff and the Afrocentric flavor of Ubuntu, but changing the theming and wallpapers was as easy as a quick Google search and a few mouse clicks. The first time I tried Xubuntu, though, I knew I was "home."

-Robin

Shakz
November 1st, 2010, 09:33 PM
Yep. Tried Fedora first few times. Could never get my wireless working. Really miffed me. This was back in the mid 90s mind you.

Nickynak
November 1st, 2010, 10:22 PM
I had no choice but to use Linux after my Netbook got a virus which trashed XP, I got Karmic Koala off a magazine, installed it and hoped for the best. Everything worked that I needed and I was so happy after having no computer. As for using the command line, I find copy and paste to be my friend, I have no idea what half of the stuff really means but have learnt a lot and am still learning. 8 months of Linux now and not looked back, byebye Windows!

Lancro
November 1st, 2010, 10:32 PM
Yes, always I tried a linux distro it destroyed my windows partition, but I saw wubi and I thought, why not, and now im using a full install.

wilee-nilee
November 1st, 2010, 10:40 PM
Loved it, I was returning to college as a geezer without any real comprehensive computer experience.

All I needed really was a word processor, browser, and a printer.

This was three years ago I think it was helpful to not have had any pre-experience with MS or Apple, both good OS in there own right but a little different MS especially.

Consequently compared to any windows power user I know I can cli around them like there was no tomorrow, in both open source and MS setups. I love a shiny gui as much as the next person but sometimes you have to get to the terminal; open source has made me not afraid to go there.


First time I used Ubuntu was dapper drake and I was disappointed. I was expecting more for the amount of money spent over other distros

Way overpriced, lol.;)

HoKaze
November 1st, 2010, 10:52 PM
I didn't "properly" (that is to say, actually installed a distro) switch to a Linux distro until OpenSUSE 11 or 11.1 (I forget which) and even though I did so at a time when KDE 4 had just been introduced and a lot of the apps were a mixture of KDE 3 and 4 I was actually pretty happy with Suse. It was hard, KDE was slow, I frequently broke things, struggled to find software at times but dang if I didn't learn during those times.
Sure I'd do some major updates and pretty much know that I'd end up breaking something but there was something about being able to have so much control over my computer, of being able to customise almost anything as I wished, of knowing that I didn't have to boot my (at the time) broken Vista install that wouldn't even let me log in (long story short, a service pack update ended up sending Vista into an overly long step 3 of the install that took many hours to finish only to reset on the next boot...it took a long time to fix this, by which time I'd pretty much given up on Vista)
After a few upgrades to KDE and some...interesting installs to the next SUSE version I eventually switched to Linux Mint, where I remain to this day. I found things hard in the early days, especially as my curiosity led me to breaking things a lot and messing with things I probably shouldn't have done but in the end I learned from it and saw the benefits not only to the freedom Linux distros provide but also the strange beauty of unix-like systems.

It probably says something that even the often hated original release of KDE 4.0 was faster, smoother, more customisable and generally better looking than Vista was and Amarok 1.4 (which SUSE had still included instead of 2.0, if memory serves) showed me what a real music player is supposed to be like. It also says something that my combined printer/fax machine/scanner works far better under every linux distro I've installed so far than it does under Windows.

Long story short: No, I didn't. :P

scouser73
November 1st, 2010, 11:25 PM
I didn't hate Linux/Ubuntu when I tried it, it was something new and exciting and a learning curve. I still enjoy using Linux/Ubuntu and enjoy learning new stuff about it.

Ranko Kohime
November 2nd, 2010, 01:08 AM
My first experience with Linux was, I believe, Red Hat 5.2.

I installed, and upon reboot I'm greeted with a Bash prompt. So I was like "now what?" :confused:

This was in the days before Google, and with the primitive search engines of the day, plus the fact that I only had the one computer in house, finding help was rather much out of the question. I don't think I ever got X started, or if I did, I still wasn't able to do much of anything with it.

There was the additional issue that I was on dialup at the time through those "free" providers that insisted upon a banner ad, and only had Windows software.

I played around with some floppy disk implementation that was rather crude, but did manage to have a web browser. I forget the name.

My first experience with Ubuntu wasn't exactly a good one. A co-worker of mine bought a laptop, without Windows, and thought it'd be a great idea to load Ubuntu, which he bought off of eBay. (I had never heard of it before) He asked me to install it, since he wasn't technically inclined.

The laptop had obvious problems, such as the CD drive flat out not working, and once installed, Ubuntu belched out error after error. I never did get it working for him.

When I got my Netbook, I decided to try Ubuntu again, and I'm glad I did. It's giving me serious thoughts about making my next desktop a PC as opposed to a Mac. (Due mostly to hardware sourcing and pricing, I'm not thrilled that Apple went to Chinese manufacture, and the prices have started to get to me.

Basically, I like having a GUI that just works, then once I'm comfortable, I'll stick my toe into the CLI water. :)

brandenmikal
November 2nd, 2010, 05:02 AM
I remember my first time using Ubuntu or Linux for that matter. I used Ubuntu 8.10

At first I was a bit frustrated due to the lack of wireless support then; but after the new release came out; I quickly upgraded to 9.04 and it worked like magic!

Ubuntu is now the only OS I use; still have Windows on partition just in case I need to use it.

I loved the simplicity, the speed, and the over all FREEDOM that you get with a linux system such as Ubuntu.

The fact that I can edit and customize anything and everything is my favorite. No more paying high taxes and fees for mediocre software.

Today, I have a computer that was truly built; by me.

To me; I'd love to see Ubuntu start a slogan that says "Ubuntu. Freedom built by you."

brandenmikal
November 2nd, 2010, 05:34 AM
It was for me.


Same here.

Sean Moran
November 2nd, 2010, 08:59 AM
On Linux, it was Redhat 6.1 in late 1999 if I remember the dates rightly. Lots of fun on the server side but couldn't get the swarf off the desktop no matter what window manager I tried for a GUI, so I stuck with Win95 on the client side.

On Ubuntu, I will never forget Saturday April 4th, 2009, as the day that my Linux dreams came true.
:popcorn:

Nightstrike2009
November 2nd, 2010, 03:20 PM
I tried several distros and my first experiences were more like nightmares, with fedora, suse and mandriva, It was only when Ubuntu 8.04 was released i realised its potential (even that was a pain in the behind on my PC, but was better than the others).

It was only with Ubuntu 9.04 i liked to use it (Don't even get me started on 9.10 no 3G internet faults), Ubuntu 10.04LTS is the best & closest ive seen to a stable and usable linux OS in my opinion.

yesrno
November 2nd, 2010, 03:28 PM
Can't really remember why but when I first installed Ubuntu I rushed the installation without paying attention and accidently cleaned my whole harddrive LOL, but yea that was more my own fault than Ubuntu's fault. I didn't really hated Ubuntu when I first used it, it was alot of figuring out tho, but enjoyed doing it :)

TheAnachron
November 2nd, 2010, 03:31 PM
Started with Win95, win98, winXP, winVista, win7, OpenSuse and then Ubuntu.
Systems on the right are awesome and become worse to the left.

korn101
November 2nd, 2010, 03:32 PM
Hated it, but now I love it.

krishnandu.sarkar
November 2nd, 2010, 03:39 PM
Ya...It was when I first installed Fedora 7 back in Std. 8, it deleted everything. First time I couldn't make it out how to install it, and I remember my cousin was a RHCE then, I asked him and he suggested me to make two partitions / and swap. And after installing Fedora I again called him and asked "Hey I successfully installed it, now what to do with it." He laughed out loudly. I loved the air baloon logo of Fedora, and after using it for two days I coudn't make it out what to do with it...and even what is it....like what we should do here..!! :P

Then again I installed Win XP.

Then the story continues gradually with Red Hat 9, OpenSUSE, Fedora and so on...and each time I used to loose my some of n00b-ness :P

Nightstrike2009
November 2nd, 2010, 03:57 PM
Fedora 12 & 13 also fail as virtual hard disk installs in Virtualbox which is pathetic come to think about it given Debian and Ubuntu live cds have no issue with this, its 2010 for god's sake Fedora. :-(

Paddy Landau
November 2nd, 2010, 04:47 PM
Ubuntu 10.04LTS is the best & closest ive seen to a stable and usable linux OS in my opinion.
It seems to depend on hardware. Ubuntu has a serious disadvantage in that the hardware is delivered without Linux, so Ubuntu has to supply all the drivers. If manufacturers delivered with Ubuntu the same way they do with Windows and Mac, Ubuntu would have a fantastic reputation. Ironic, isn't it?

xpod
November 2nd, 2010, 06:17 PM
Re: Did you hate Linux/Ubuntu when you first time used it

Not at all. The complete opposite in fact, which, considering my whole attitude towards using computers only a few months earlier was really quite surprising.
Linux/Ubuntu was actually a breath of fresh air after the first few fun filled months i had using computers....and Windows.

Not only did i not "hate" Linux/Ubuntu when i began using it but i actually consider myself to be extremely lucky in having discovered it so soon after first sitting down at a computer.

nubimax
November 2nd, 2010, 08:10 PM
I started with 8.04 easiest OS that I have ever used very few problems and most of them were caused by lighting strikes.
M