When did you discover GNU/Linux?

[Antarctica32]

Please give a short summery of when and how.

For me it was over the summer at a boy scout camp where I took the computers merit badge. Our instructor had us on these old junkyard desktops he found somewhere (we're talkin like P3 here) that he put Lucid on that actually didn't run too bad. Well anyway, he liked me so much he gave me a 3GHz P4 with 2gb RAM. After that I took it home and have been learning Linux off it since.

[3Miro]

When I went to College most of the professors were Linux users and we had a whole Linux Computer Lab. They also thought Linux classes.

[Antarctica32]

wow lucky that sounds awesome.

[IWantFroyo]

I found Linux only last year. I built a new computer, and started looking for an operating system. I had no idea what Linux was, and stumbled over it by a recommendation from a friend. Now I wouldn't use Windows if you paid me for it.

[fballem]

2008 - I was having problems getting used to MS Windows Vista and MS Office 2007. Just couldn't get there - and I used to be a power user.

A friend of mine suggested that I give ubuntu a try. Installed 8.04 as my first distro. It took a little while to get used to the Linux way.

I use Windows XP and Office 2003 at work - soon to be changed to Windows 7 and Office 2010 I think. But I have two clients running Ubuntu (10.10) and my daughter runs Ubuntu (11.04). My son still uses the Windows 7 computer at the house, but when he comes here, he is quite happy using mine (11.04).

I have briefly tried Fedora, but sticking with Ubuntu. I'm using Unity, but I sure hope the next release makes it a lot more easily configured.

Regards,

[roberts3000]

Corel Linux 1999

[NightwishFan]

I was looking into open source when I discovered there were entire open source operating systems. To be honest I would not have tried Linux if it was not for the invention of the live CD. I was urged to try OpenSUSE but Ubuntu seemed like the best option at the time (early 2007).

After a week I deleted Vista and have used only Linux since then. (Mostly OpenSUSE and Ubuntu but I have tried probably the top 20 most popular distributions). Currently I am using Debian 6.

[Spr0k3t]

I guess you could call me one of the few numbers back in the days of the first releases. I was very into the Amiga back in 1992 looking for alternatives when I discovered Linux. Back then I wasn't ready to dive into it... just a tad bit technical and overthetop for what I was looking for. I dabbled with slackware and gentoo back in 1994 but couldn't stick with it enough. I tried again in 1998 when one of my computers died... and again in (sticking with it and haven't looked back) early 2004.

[Antarctica32]

It must have been pretty cool to live through the first years of Linux and before that GNU and free software in general. I wish I could of been there when RMS sent out that message, not knowing what he was starting, not knowing that someday supercomputers would be made with his concepts the same concepts that fixed 80's printers and built emacs. To me it seems like a legend, an era were a computer the size of my house would not be as powerful as the little peace of plastic and metal I hold in my hand this moment. An era were the internet didn't exist, what a strange and outlandish thought. To be honest, I wouldn't have that much trouble believing such a time never existed.

[Lucradia]

95 - 00

I got introduced to Linux via SimplyMEPIS when searching for a Windows 98SE OEM Disk for my old Gateway 2000.

[Exodist]

Around 1994 I believe..




Please give a short summery of when and how.

For me it was over the summer at a boy scout camp where I took the computers merit badge. Our instructor had us on these old junkyard desktops he found somewhere (we're talkin like P3 here) that he put Lucid on that actually didn't run too bad. Well anyway, he liked me so much he gave me a 3GHz P4 with 2gb RAM. After that I took it home and have been learning Linux off it since.

OMG your so young.. :-/

[Antarctica32]

well for me growing up on several P4s the P3 feels like the 8088 or whatever they called those things. I actually collect old CPUs its pretty cool, I have like 4 486s and a lot of Pentiums now. It's crazy to think that they were only like 10MHz. And those old floppy things not the 3.5s but the REALLY big ones. My dad told me there were like 7 sizes.

[ilovelinux33467]

Late 2004. Somebody suggested I should try Linux. Started with Knoppix playing around with the live cd. Then in 2005 installed Ubuntu 5.04. I used Ubuntu until around May last year (used Ubuntu for around 5 years) then went Fedora 13 then openSUSE 11.3 then openSUSE 11.4 and currently Fedora 15

[Jordanbadangayon]

I discovered Ubuntu last year in college because my school library use it. It was installed in these old computers using CRT monitors used for searching the library archives. They have an old 'ugly brown' version of Ubuntu (I'm not sure which version). I was using Windows 7 at that time so I did not consider switching to Ubuntu because it seemed to be 'old' and 'xp-like'. Until I saw some screenshots of Natty Narwhal back in December last year which looks cool (though i read it was still in alpha). I googled ubuntu and started reading a lot of reviews about it. I first installed 10.10 using Wubi in December 2010 but there were a lot of freezes so I uninstalled it after a few days. I decided to try ubuntu again last month but i decided to dual-boot it alongside windows 7 instead of using Wubi. I successfully dual-booted 10.10 on april 4 and been in love with it since. However, I don't much like the 'xp-like' desktop. I delightfully plunged to Natty last week for a new UI and been liking Ubuntu much more. :)

[ElSlunko]

I discovered Ubuntu installed on a Machine in Circuit city. Must've been 2006 or 7. I had been into window customized environments like litestep, but quickly recognized (That's no moon) that it wasn't windows. Began digging around the menus and researched this..u..bun...tu... tried it out and been hooked ever since.

[pbpersson]

I had tried Linux around 2000 and hated it.

Then I remember in 2005 I tried SUSE and Mandrake but the learning curved was too great. Each time I tried Linux I learned a little more.

I was mentioning to some friends that I was thinking of trying Linux again and two people suggested Ubuntu.

In 2007 I discovered Feisty Fawn and I have been hooked ever since.

[ctrlmd]

in 2004 from an ibm employee and the distro was suse
and i had a face expression like this when i first saw it ---->> Oo

[jhonan]

T'was 1854 by all accounts. I'd known the professor for ten years by then. What I didn't know was the dark secret he'd been working on.

It was a breezy Autumn morning, I'd called over to the professor for tea and scones. He was engrossed in a newspaper, and glanced up at me over his half-rim glasses;

"Ah! There you are! Come into my office, I have something to show you"

I followed him, as the heavy door creaked open, revealing a large blue box in the middle of the dimly-lit room.

Moments later, we were huddled in the darkness of the box. As my eyes adjusted, I saw red, then green lights flickering on a panel above our heads.

"Excellent... excellent! Just as I'd intended!" he was almost jumping with glee.

"So my fine chap - What year do you want to travel to?"

I stared at him incredulously, as I blurted out; "December the 28th in the year of our lord 1969. Take us to Helsinki, Finland"

"And why there?" the professor questioned

"Linus... I need to see Linus"... my voice trailed, as the panel blinked into life, and the whole box started to shake.

[XubuRoxMySox]

My first taste of Linux was Ubuntu 8.10, just about a week before 9.04 was released. As for why and how it happened, that's such a fun story I added it as a signature!

-Robin

[lancest]

Long history of Linux use since 1997.

First live cd was Slackware from the Cal State LUG, Fullerton.(1999)

Linux is not just for geeks anymore.

Perfect for low maintenance computing.

[retbak]

~2006 - Remember attempting to run gentoo/slackware as I thought I was good with computers :D After lots of frustration I gave up and found ubuntu a while after. It ran so well on my crappy old laptop that I started using it instead of my main computer! I have always been between windows and linux since then and am currently in Linux mode!

[Random_Dude]

I knew that Linux existed in the early 2000s (and tried it around that time) but I only clicked around, I didn't fully understand what it was. I installed it on my laptop 2 and a half years ago, but I've only been using it more seriously since Karmic Koala.

So I can't really answer the question.

Cheers :cool:

[Antarctica32]

I discovered Ubuntu last year in college because my school library use it. It was installed in these old computers using CRT monitors used for searching the library archives. They have an old 'ugly brown' version of Ubuntu (I'm not sure which version). I was using Windows 7 at that time so I did not consider switching to Ubuntu because it seemed to be 'old' and 'xp-like'. Until I saw some screenshots of Natty Narwhal back in December last year which looks cool (though i read it was still in alpha). I googled ubuntu and started reading a lot of reviews about it. I first installed 10.10 using Wubi in December 2010 but there were a lot of freezes so I uninstalled it after a few days. I decided to try ubuntu again last month but i decided to dual-boot it alongside windows 7 instead of using Wubi. I successfully dual-booted 10.10 on april 4 and been in love with it since. However, I don't much like the 'xp-like' desktop. I delightfully plunged nd tried it around that tito Natty last week for a new UI and been liking Ubuntu much more. :)

The "xp-like" UI you talk about is called Gnome. The Natty default one is Some people like Gcalled Unity. nome better, some people like Unity better. For me, unity is so hard to get used to that I'm stickin with Gnome for now.

[NightwishFan]

Hmm.. Gnome seems to remind me of OS 9 a lot more than Windows classic, and nothing like Luna. Gnome 3 looks like the ipad kind of but they did it well.

[aG93IGRvIGkgdWJ1bnR1Pw==]

I've heard about it around the time I first got an internet connection, which would be 1994. But I've never used it myself until the late 90s.

[Maheriano]

I did a computer science degree and one of the required courses was Computers 1033 - Operating Systems. The guy teaching it was a hardcore Linux user.....I mean hard core to the bone. He wore geeky shirts from thinkgeek.com and bashed Windows in every class. He praised it so much that I had to see what this Linux thing was all about and then next semester they forced us to dual boot our laptops (school supplied) because we needed a C compiler for another class.

[Throne777]

I started messing around with Litestep years ago (an alternative shell for Windows -I was running XP at the time, I can't imagine it works on the newer versions of Windows), then when a friend told me about Linux, I installed Warty Warhog, loved it (except for the horror that was getting ndiswrapper to work) and have stuck with Ubuntu, more or less, ever since.

...............God, I hated trying to get ndiswrapper to work. I still have nightmares :p

[bizz101]

My first encounter with Linux was in 2006/2007 as I needed a VPS hosting solution. So that was with centOS and I'm using it to date.

First desktop was in 2009 when I tried to setup few linux boxes only to rdp to Windows pcs. LOL. That worked fine but: Now all my boxes are happily running Ubuntu 11.04. :)

[Retlol]

Summer 2007

[Jordanbadangayon]

The "xp-like" UI you talk about is called Gnome. The Natty default one is Some people like Gcalled Unity. nome better, some people like Unity better. For me, unity is so hard to get used to that I'm stickin with Gnome for now.
I like Unity better. I like searching for files/programs rather than accessing them by clicking Places/Applications. and I think Unity looks better.. ;)

[ade234uk]

My first experience was with Mandrake 8 and then Mandrake 9
I remember spending nearly all day getting the nvidia driver installed and my ADSL usb modem. I was so thrilled to see the Nvidia logo pop up when Mandrake booted.

When I turned the machine on the next day, nothing worked anymore. Thats the difference between back then and now.

It was so frustrating back then but I could the see the potential.

Back the Linux Mandrake which is now Mandrive was the Ubuntu of Linux distributions.
http://www.itreviews.co.uk/software/s180.htm

[Dustin2128]

I was looking into open source when I discovered there were entire open source operating systems. To be honest I would not have tried Linux if it was not for the invention of the live CD. I was urged to try OpenSUSE but Ubuntu seemed like the best option at the time (early 2007).

After a week I deleted Vista and have used only Linux since then. (Mostly OpenSUSE and Ubuntu but I have tried probably the top 20 most popular distributions). Currently I am using Debian 6.
This, but swap vista with xp and debian 6 with slack 13.1.

[Sam White]

I've known about it for since probably 2008, but I only installed it this year, probably about February -

and I've never looked back :P

[Antarctica32]

Summer 2007

Like the avatar. If the user groups ever come back the first thing I will do is create a group for Doctor Who fans, if there isn't one already. Welcome to the forums:)

[Antarctica32]

Probably the number one reason I created this thread was because the vast majority of us discovered Linux/Ubuntu. Most of us grew up with Windows and Mac and very few of us grew up knowing about Linux. I guess I kinda feel this way because ALL of my generation has grown up with XP, Vista, 7 and all the stupid Mac versions. I have heard a lot of stories of how people found Linux and they were all very interesting so I wanted to hear more. It's also cool to read people stories from the 90's before Ubuntu existed and before I was even alive.

[yetiman64]

I first "discovered" Linux in about 2000 or 2001 while surfing the net. I came across an article about the "Halloween documents". This originally peaked an interest in me about it and probably a few weeks later I came across a magazine with a Red Hat 7 disc included. I bought the magazine just for it.

I set up a dual boot with Win98 but my install of RH7 only lasted a few months, I was too ingrained in the MS way of doing things then and found RH7 difficult to come to terms with.

Gladly I eventually came across Ubuntu in late 2007 (Gutsy Gibbon). I'm now only using Ubuntu (Windows free about 18 months :)).

[krendar]

About 1991-1992. I was studying electronic engineering and I heard people started talking about it. Downloaded Slackware on 50+ floppy disks. All I knew about Linux/Unix was that it was used on expensive servers and that seemed interesting to me :)

[Antarctica32]

About 1991-1992. I was studying electronic engineering and I heard people started talking about it. Downloaded Slackware on 50+ floppy disks. All I knew about Linux/Unix was that it was used on expensive servers and that seemed interesting to me :)

Why is it that Unix and now Linux is used a lot on servers? Whenever there is some kind of super-awesome, ultra-powerful server it always seems to have unix or linux on it. For example, the bank my Dad works for is switching to RH. Remember "the computer, the KGB, and me" the servers in that documentary had unix I believe. I don't hear about a lot of windows servers. why is this? just because we are better? (which we are)

[beetleman64]

I was going to buy a new computer a few years ago (this would be about 2007) and I bought an issue of PC Advisor. They had a comparison of Windows XP, Vista, Mac OS and Linux (specifically Ubuntu). I was curious, but slightly baffled by the selection of distros available.

However, I later bought an issue of Computer Active which introduced me to Ubuntu. I installed it on an old laptop and the rest, as they say, is history (although I didn't fully replace Windows until 2009).

[roachk71]

Discovered GNU/Linux back in the late 1990s, after hearing about a small office server powered by a Linux distro (can't remember what it was called now.)

I hadn't seriously considered migrating from the WinME/2000/XP nightmare until late 2000, when I encountered Linux Mandrake 7.1 at a Walmart in Illinois. It may have been slow going at times, but I managed to make it work on a 32 MB Aptiva (running X and KDE; I was amazed!)

:guitar:

[Onoku]

My first experience with linux was with some systems I used in the army. I wasn't a big fan of using them, but one of my co-workers and our IT contracters were always talking about Linux and how it is really the best system if you know how to use it. I didn't touch it for a couple years after that, then last year, I'm not sure why, I decided to give Ubuntu a try. It was love at first sight.

I'm still a complete noob, but I am gradually getting more saavy and am thinking of changing my degree plan to Internet Security Systems.

[Antarctica32]

My first experience with linux was with some systems I used in the army. I wasn't a big fan of using them, but one of my co-workers and our IT contracters were always talking about Linux and how it is really the best system if you know how to use it. I didn't touch it for a couple years after that, then last year, I'm not sure why, I decided to give Ubuntu a try. It was love at first sight.

I'm still a complete noob, but I am gradually getting more saavy and am thinking of changing my degree plan to Internet Security Systems.

I have always heard that Linux is used a lot in the military. May I ask how long ago this was? Was this like a couple years ago or like 1997? Only reason I want to know is because in school (I'm in middle school) we are learning about the Persian Gulf war and I was wondering if the military used linux back then even though Linus had just invented it.

[Antarctica32]

Dell OptiPlex 170L (yes, old, I know): Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.8 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB HD
Acer Aspire One 532h: Intel Atom N450 @ 1.6 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HD

I feel for ya man. My main desktop is a dell dimension 8300 (just a little newer than the optiplex). With a Pent.4 at 3GHz, upgraded ram to 2.5 gb, and only a 60GB drive.

[dniMretsaM]

I found Linux in mid-March. I finally decided that the computer with Windows XP was too slow and decided to do a reinstall. Somehow, when I was googleing around I cane across the Ubuntu website and thought it looked cool. I decided to try it out instead of sticking with XP and I haven't looked back.

[dniMretsaM]

I have always heard that Linux is used a lot in the military. May I ask how long ago this was? Was this like a couple years ago or like 1997? Only reason I want to know is because in school (I'm in middle school) we are learning about the Persian Gulf war and I was wondering if the military used linux back then even though Linus had just invented it.

I believe the government/military used UNIX (they still might, not sure. if they did they probably wouldn't tell anyone). My 'source' is that the Internet was built on UNIX and the army created the Internet, thus it makes sense that the army used UNIX. They may have used Linux at some point also.

[jerrrys]

i have bill gates to thank. had he not come out with vista i would still be running windows

[linikz]

I have heard of Linux since I was a kid (I'm 19 now) because I know my brother is Linux certified. He has been using Ubuntu for 15 years now and said he would never go back to Windows (except when he misses the games lol).

Then I finally installed Ubuntu 10.10 in my new laptop because I had a Linux class last quarter. We used Fedora tho... :)

[yetiman64]

....He has been using Ubuntu for 15 years now....
Ubuntu was first released on the 20th October 2004 (~7 years ago) I think you mean Linux for 15 years (Linux =! Ubuntu) :P .... :D

[sostentado]

2007

[linikz]

Ubuntu was first released on the 20th October 2004 (~7 years ago) I think you mean Linux for 15 years (Linux =! Ubuntu) :P .... :D

Well yeah I guess it's Linux. He never told me what distro he was using before Ubuntu came out. But thanks for letting me know. I didn't know when Ubuntu came out :D

[PCLinuxGuy]

For me it was 2008. I had XP and was looking to make it appear more modern with theme packs and somehow came across Kubuntu 9.10 Karmic and i tried it as a live cd. Ever since then I've been researching and discovering other and newer distros all the way to installing Ubuntu 10.04 on my laptop at the end of 2010 and use it as my default OS with the dual boot. i hardly touch windows anymore aside from gaming.

[Antarctica32]

i have bill gates to thank. had he not come out with vista i would still be running windows

lawl

[Antarctica32]

For me it was 2008. I had XP and was looking to make it appear more modern with theme packs and somehow came across Kubuntu 9.10 Karmic and i tried it as a live cd. Ever since then I've been researching and discovering other and newer distros all the way to installing Ubuntu 10.04 on my laptop at the end of 2010 and use it as my default OS with the dual boot. i hardly touch windows anymore aside from gaming.
Yeh I think the live CD is responsible for many ubuntu users. If it wasn't for it people would be like: I havn't tried it before and I don't want to install some crap on my HD just because people say it's cool.
Also not a lot of people are computer literate and the idea of installing stuff on your HD is a little out there for them. But when they try the live CD they say: I NEED to get this it's Soooo cool.

[Frogs Hair]

I knew about Linux for a while and then I found a 9.10 Wubi review in 2010 and thought it may worth a try because I suggested Ubuntu 9.10 to a Win 98 user with no other means of getting something more up to date.

I tried 9.10 via Wubi and then tried to upgrade it to an early version of 10.04 . The result was total FUBAR . I removed Wubi and dual booted 9.10 and Win 7 and now I am on my forth Ubuntu release.

[BertN45]

Ubuntu 4.10 got the CD buying a PC magazine and installed it on an old Pentium I. Had a look at Ubuntu from time to time till the end of the beta of Windows 7. At that moment I decided that I would not pay twice for the same OS (Vista and 7) and I switched to Ubuntu 9.04 for both desktop and laptop. I still use XP on my file server, since I paid 90 euro for an OEM version back in 2003/2004. For some programs I still use XP, but it runs in Virtualbox. If I go to Europe, I just copy the virtual hard disk from my desktop to my laptop. A few weeks ago I re-installed Ubuntu 4.10 in Virtualbox just for old times sake.

[Bandit]

I had tried Linux around 2000 and hated it.

Then I remember in 2005 I tried SUSE and Mandrake but the learning curved was too great. Each time I tried Linux I learned a little more.

I was mentioning to some friends that I was thinking of trying Linux again and two people suggested Ubuntu.

In 2007 I discovered Feisty Fawn and I have been hooked ever since.

Yea learning curve was interesting for me also. Even tho I discovered Linux about 1994, I did actually start really messing around with it until 1997. Were by 1998 I had two seperate PCs one for Win98 and other older one running Slackware with Windowmaker as my default GUI. Those were the days, writing your monitors mode lines just to get it to work at high resolution (1024x768 LOL). Having to install ALSA and set it to startup on boot and manually mount and unmount your drives. Not to mention manually add them to your FSTAB.. lol

[wizard10000]

1994. I installed Yggdrasil Linux from a CD in the back of a Linux book I bought :)

Not long after that I built this quad-boot monstrosity with Win 3.1, OS/2 Warp, a Windows 95 beta and Yggdrasil all managed with a boot manager called System Commander.

It wasn't until 2007 that I switched over to Linux full time, but ran a home LAMP server and hosted my domain out of my house for several years before that.

[dniMretsaM]

Yeh I think the live CD is responsible for many ubuntu users. If it wasn't for it people would be like: I havn't tried it before and I don't want to install some crap on my HD just because people say it's cool.
Also not a lot of people are computer literate and the idea of installing stuff on your HD is a little out there for them. But when they try the live CD they say: I NEED to get this it's Soooo cool.

I need to get a 4GB thumb drive and burn one of each of the .iso files (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Zubuntu, and Lubuntu) to it and carry it with me. That way I can be like "You want to try it out? I have it right here in my pocket.) Then they wouldn't be able to use the excuse of not having the time/skills to download/burn it.

[Antarctica32]

I need to get a 4GB thumb drive and burn one of each of the .iso files (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Zubuntu, and Lubuntu) to it and carry it with me. That way I can be like "You want to try it out? I have it right here in my pocket.) Then they wouldn't be able to use the excuse of not having the time/skills to download/burn it.

I would be able to do that if my friend gave my flash drive back:???:
But what I did was I actually copied the iso for lucid (cuz its my favorite) onto my ipod. I copied it before any of the software and music folders so as not to screw anything up. Picture it like this: If u were to browse all the crap on an ipod and first thing when you open it up are like 3 or 4 folders (setup, media, photos, crap like that) I copied the .iso on the same level as those folders. So when i talk to people about ubuntu they ask me if they could try it out and I say sure (if i have my ipod on me) and I plug my ipod into any windows computer and you can actually run the .iso while booting windows. All you need to do is double click it i believe and somehow it runs the whole install/try before install stuff. I actually did do that once when one of my teachers was interested with ubuntu.

[Antarctica32]

I'm a little surprised with how many people heard of ubuntu/linux through magazines. Also several people said they got the CDs from magazines as well. I have heard about magazines doing this but have never seen it myself. Hardly ever do i come across articles about linux in magazines.

[Antarctica32]

Yea learning curve was interesting for me also. Even tho I discovered Linux about 1994, I did actually start really messing around with it until 1997. Were by 1998 I had two seperate PCs one for Win98 and other older one running Slackware with Windowmaker as my default GUI. Those were the days, writing your monitors mode lines just to get it to work at high resolution (1024x768 LOL). Having to install ALSA and set it to startup on boot and manually mount and unmount your drives. Not to mention manually add them to your FSTAB.. lol

So everytime you started up your computer you had to mount your specific drive and boot from it? Why didn't it just boot from the master/slave priority list stuff? Did that not exist back then? And you also had to add them yourself, why didn't the computer just do that for you? Couldn't it just detect them?

[white_rabbit0]

My boss is a fan of ubuntu and one day we were fixing a computer of his and it had ubuntu on it and he told me about linux and open source.

[NormanFLinux]

I heard about Lindows in 2003 and liked it. Went to SUSE and then finally settled on PCLOS in 2007 and to Ubuntu in 2009 - I believe the edition after Hardy Heron when wireless support became available for the first time.

[Timmer1240]

I started messing around with the live cds first Knoppix linspire puppy around 2005 I was a big XP fan but Linux peaked my interest I actually didnt install and start using it until about 14 months ago.I havent looked back since I ran Karmic for a year now Im using Mint Debian.I Love Linux now and use it 100 percent of the time its different from windows and thank God for that!The only time I get on windows machines now is to fix em and clean em up from all the malware that usually takes over Im tech support for friends and family.I tell people I use it and they think Im a geek well maybe a little bit!Im sure glad Linux is Around for those who choose to do their own thing!

[Bandit]

So everytime you started up your computer you had to mount your specific drive and boot from it? Why didn't it just boot from the master/slave priority list stuff? Did that not exist back then? And you also had to add them yourself, why didn't the computer just do that for you? Couldn't it just detect them?
Your hard drive entrys were added to both MTAB and FSTAB in /etc folder during setup. But yes every time you wanted to mount a CDROM you had to either have macros already made or open terminal and type "mount /mnt/cdrom" and also unmount when you was done. You could configure it to just allow you to type "mount /cdrom" to keep it shorter.
But to do that you had to have the folder /cdrom entered in mtab and the filesystem defaults entered in fstab.

So yea,, funny to see so many users complain here about having to install a wireless wrapper.. LMAO...

[ctsellers]

I'm new to Ubuntu but I've messed around with Unix/Linux for some time now. I guess I'll show my gray hair here but I was a dedicated DOS user for many years and hated MS so bad that when I purchased my first computer I got one that came with Digital Research DOS or DR DOS as some people called it. I refused to go to windows when it was released.
I eventually installed Win98 but was never happy with it. In the early 90's I took a Unix class and just loved it, no graphic interface just a wonderful command line.

Because of my work I kind of left Unix behind and went back to Windows when XP came out. I tried Red Hat Linux back in the 90's but was never very happy with it. I stayed with XP (still have a machine that it's installed on) because of some applications and a couple of games.

About a month ago I was given a computer that was infected with a virus that I couldn't clean up so I just wiped the HDD and looked for something to install on it. I ran across Ubuntu while searching the net, downloaded, installed and I've been pretty pleased so far. I installed 10.10 and have since upgraded to 11.04. No problems with either install or upgrade. Much faster that my XP and I like being able to customize the desktop with ease. There's much I don't know about Ubuntu but every day I learn something new and so far so good. I'm sure I'll have questions in the future.

[Antarctica32]

Your hard drive entrys were added to both MTAB and FSTAB in /etc folder during setup. But yes every time you wanted to mount a CDROM you had to either have macros already made or open terminal and type "mount /mnt/cdrom" and also unmount when you was done. You could configure it to just allow you to type "mount /cdrom" to keep it shorter.
But to do that you had to have the folder /cdrom entered in mtab and the filesystem defaults entered in fstab.

So yea,, funny to see so many users complain here about having to install a wireless wrapper.. LMAO...

God, thats insane that you would have to do that! My dad always tells me stories from the 80's about how computers were back then. I remember him once saying something about having to manually mount. It had something to do will a computer that had no HD only RAM. And he had to get a floppy, load it into the ram, boot from it (i have no clue what OS it was) remove the floppy, get a new floppy that would have a program on it, then run it. LOL

[drawkcab]

I knew about linux in the 90s but I didn't give it a shot until the malware surge in the early 00's rocked my win98 install.

Warty Warthog was my first installation back on a PIII. Good times!

[ctsellers]

Things have really changed in both hardware and software since the early 80's. Many take for granted what we have today with no real clue how things have transpired through the years.

[ctsellers]

God, thats insane that you would have to do that! My dad always tells me stories from the 80's about how computers were back then. I remember him once saying something about having to manually mount. It had something to do will a computer that had no HD only RAM. And he had to get a floppy, load it into the ram, boot from it (i have no clue what OS it was) remove the floppy, get a new floppy that would have a program on it, then run it. LOL


All of the early DOS machines were like that. If your machine had two floppy drives you loaded your OS from drive A and then the program from your drive B. Remember the machines back then usually were running an 8088 processor with a 2 to 4 Mhz clock speed and you had at best 2M to 4M of ram. I was in the Marine Corps at this time and our first machine with a hard drive was a Zenith 80286 with 4M of ram, clock speed of 8Mhz and the hard drive was......20M. That's no typo 20M not 20G. The Zenith also came with a nice 15' EGA monitor which was great since before then all we had was monochrome monitors (green or amber). Oh yeah - the Zenith 286 as it was called cost almost three grand.

[rigel4]

I had a bash at it in 2003 and liked it what i saw. I have since become a windows IT Administrator and network engineer. Sorry For blaspheming.
However i have moved to Linux full time at home and will never go back to Windows.

Loving Linux Long-time.:D

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

I used UNIX or the predecessors to UNIX in the 70's and 80's. I learned of the existence of Linux in 1995. I knew there were Debian, SuSE, Red Hat, and Slackware. It wasn't until 1998 that I actually started to use it when Mandrake came out. I thought I was computer literate until I tried to get Mandrake working. I was wrong. I learned a lot from that experience. I continued to use Microsoft Windows until Microsoft pissed me off with the "you are a pirate until proven otherwise" cr*p. That is when I became determined to get Linux working on my computers along with the open source applications.

[Khakilang]

I discover Linux in 1990 but had no idea about GNU/Linux until 2009 when I switch to 8.10 where I explore further.

[christoph411]

The first time I ever tried Linux was in late 2009 on Ubuntu 9.10 :D (yeah, its a lot earlier than most people here, but I'm addicted and have gotten my fair share of experience in only a few years)
I don't remember where I ever heard about it, but I installed on an older acer laptop that had a terrible windows virus that destroyed the whole system (it wasn't even bootable anymore, so I had nothing to lose :) ) Fortunately, everything worked perfectly on it in terms of hardware support and it was beautiful compared to XP, not to mention it flew on that laptop! It wasn't long before it ended up on my main desktop with a dual boot, then about a year later XP was long gone... I've even introduced one of my friends to Ubuntu and all of it's goodness! :popcorn:

[Antarctica32]

... I've even introduced one of my friends to Ubuntu and all of it's goodness! :popcorn:

I think this is key here. I've noticed that not a lot of people (if any) have said they discovered GNU/Linux from a friend. But a lot of us have introduced linux to a friend. We NEED to spread Linux!!!!

[Bandit]

I think this is key here. I've noticed that not a lot of people (if any) have said they discovered GNU/Linux from a friend. But a lot of us have introduced linux to a friend. We NEED to spread Linux!!!!
I normally offer Linux as an option to my friends and family when its appropriate. For example my cousins PC got a nasty email virus the other day and smashed windows to pieces. It trashed windows so bad even with updated AV that couldnt even get to the screen to try to get into safe mode. They went to restore their system with the supplied DVDs and well they only had one DVD.. The other was lost. So after screwing with the computer all day he called and asked if I could take a look. I told him what his options were, from purchasing Win7 and possible hardware upgrades in the RAM area since he only had 1GB of RAM and the PC is 6 years old that there could be hardware they I may not be able to get drivers for. I also gave him the option to try Ubuntu 10.04 out on his system and if it works it would save him hundreds of dollars and since his PCs main function is for email, photos and printing. That linux would IMHO be his best option. Well to make a long story short, I got it setup and it worked great. I got him familiar with the system, everything worked with the exception of the Dell branded lexmark printer. So he did have to get a new printer (HP) for 40bucks from walmart. But thats all the money he was out of and now he no longer has to worry about windows viruses. Best of all, his computer will run the same 5 years from now as it does today. He even mentioned that it hasnt ran as fast as it is now since he got the machine. I expect to help him over the next few months slowly get used to GNOME DE and LinuxOS. But I am since he was still at the stage were he didnt know what he was doing in windows either, that the transition will go smoothly.

[athenroy]

In 1999 I was running Win 98 and heard of Linux so I bought a Linux book that included a Red Hat disc, back when Red Hat was free! Somehow I managed to get it installed with the Win 98 as dual boot. Than I found another Red Hat version and installed that one. Next came a bargain store sealed box of IBM OS/2 Warp, all on floppies! The Linux back than required a lot of study and it was a major project just to install a new package as most of that had to be done from the command line! The book I had was probably 8 X 12 inches or so and about 2 inches thick! I never got that good at it, but it was interesting to play around with! OS/2 Warp was similar to Windows NT, nothing special.

Linux has come a long way since than! :)

[Bandit]

Linux has come a long way since than! :)

Yea, you are not kidding there. :-)

[wolfen69]

95 - 00

I got introduced to Linux via SimplyMEPIS when searching for a Windows 98SE OEM Disk for my old Gateway 2000.

95-00? Mepis was first released in May 03. ;)

[Cope57]

Knoppix 3.1 in 2002

[slooksterpsv]

I first discovered Linux in 2000/2001, a computer magazine came with a Linux CD, but it wouldn't install a GUI so I went back to Windows 98.

Next I bought SuSE 8.1 or 8.2 at CompUSA and then bought Windows XP. Installed XP on my moms computer and SuSE 8.1 on my computer. KDE 3 was awesome, and the playing MP3s by hovering was amazing to me.

A year or two passed.

Next my mom bought me a 14 disk set of FreeBSD 4.2 (still have it too), was able to get the GUI up once, but then went back to XP.

In 2004 I ordered my first Ubuntu ShipIt CD and enjoyed it, the GUI looked old and out-dated compared to XP, so would play with Ubuntu in a VM, and try other distros like DSL and Puppy Linux. Used an iBook G3, and put Linux on it then back to Mac OS X.

In 2005 I got an iBook G4 with OS X Tiger on it and used it until 2007 when I sent it to my parents, and got an old Intel Celeron 2.4GHz me and my brother bought but gave to my mom. I used XP on it and then put Ubuntu on it and ran it as a server.

I'm full Ubuntu now, have been since 2010, but go back to Windows if I need something specific (which I'm finding less and less I need to do, as Netflix in XP Virtual works, same with some basic apps I use, and all that).

[Copper Bezel]

... I've even introduced one of my friends to Ubuntu and all of it's goodness!
I'm up to two now. = ) In addition to the brother I mentioned earlier who I gave an Ubuntu netbook as his first machine, I have a friend whose Windows 7 machine was having some hardware control problems we couldn't solve, and she's dual-booting now. Even getting her used to the command line. = D

Just to be clear, I don't set out to convert people - in this case, CPU scaling and fan control kinda made it an existential thing for the machine - but it's still funny when it happens.