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View Full Version : Is (K)Ubuntu your first real experience with Linux?



aleska
April 28th, 2007, 04:47 AM
I'm trying to get a better understanding of the types of users Ubuntu and Kubuntu are attracting. Ideally, I'd like to ask a few layers of questions, in order to cross-tab results. However, the poll functionality here is pretty much set up for single question polls. That said, I plan to start another poll or two to find out what linux distros most of us came from before (K)Ubuntu. However, in this poll I'm curious to find out two things:
1) whether you use Ubuntu or Kubuntu, and 2) whether it is your first real experience with Linux.

aleska
April 28th, 2007, 04:52 AM
Realized that some of you may use both Ubuntu and Kubuntu. In that case, pick the desktop environment that you primarily use, or lets just say you prefer. Thanks!

karellen
April 28th, 2007, 07:58 AM
nope, my first experience was with slackware 10 (a week or so until I gave up). then the real experience was with suse 9.2 professional for 5 or 6 month exclusively (man, I really liked that os...:D), then came fedora core (for a couple of month)...after it was sled 10....at finally ubuntu :) (with a ton of live cd's tried between these landmarks)

SlayerMan
April 28th, 2007, 08:05 AM
I started with Red Hat 4.2 a long long time ago...

LookTJ
April 28th, 2007, 08:08 AM
Yes it is. Ubuntu was my first before trying other distros...7.04 is the best since dapper.

Soarer
April 28th, 2007, 08:14 AM
Ubuntu is my first Linux distro, but I used to be a Unix System III admin (hundreds of years ago). I guess that doesn't count :)

aleska
April 28th, 2007, 02:25 PM
Interesting!
So, now we've got a sample size of 30, supposedly that is the magic number for results being statistically significant. Unfortunately, it probably isn't as it relates to insights on the question specific to each desktop-flavor (Ubuntu vs Kubuntu).

Anyway, so as of this morning, Saturday April 28th, 2007

83% have answered that they are using Ubuntu (17% Kubuntu)
2/3rds are brand new to Linux (i.e. (K)Ubuntu is your first real experience with Linux)


I'd like to be able to state whether Ubuntu users have a higher, lower, or equivalent proportion of new to veteran Linux users, but we'll need to wait to see if we get a bigger sample size to do so. At the risk of potentially biasing results, I'll tell you that my suspicion is that Ubuntu will have a higher proportion of brand new to Linux users. My reasoning is that experienced Linux users will have had greater opportunity to flush out the whole question of whether they like gnome vs kde better. Also, it could be as simple as the distro they came from prior to (K)Ubuntu happened to be KDE based. For users who are net new to Linux, I'd argue that Ubuntu is chosen over Kubuntu, simply because Ubuntu is the moniker that receives the most attention and press, and frankly it is the main branch (if that is the right term). I suspect this because this is how I made my initial decisions when coming over from windows. I chose Ubuntu over Kubuntu because I had no reason to suspect I would prefer one over the other, and I perceived that Kubuntu was an off-shoot project. While there are links rights there on the ubuntu.com website for Kubuntu, Edubuntu, etc., my thought was, why the heck would I want to experiment with an off-shoot project that is possibly less stable and/or isn't supported as well as the main"flavor" Ubuntu, which is the one I've been hearing all the press about. That was my personal experience anyway. I eventually became curious enough to try Kubuntu, and wound up finding that I liked it much more than the gnome environment.
NOTE: I am in no way shape or form suggesting KDE / Kubuntu is better than Gnome / Ubuntu. I liken the preference to one's preference for coffee over tea. You know you like one better than the other, but no amount of logic will convince someone that one is better than the other. Taste is taste.
BUT, I think it is important to that we collectively make brand-spanking new users to Ubuntu aware that Kubuntu is, for many, a great alternative that is extremely well supported, isn't a fly by night off-shoot, and may very well be just their taste, and therefore is at least worth, er, tasting. :) :KS

unnes
April 28th, 2007, 04:05 PM
Started using Ubuntu on my desktop about a year ago as my first distro, installed Kubuntu when Feisty was released and have been quite happy with it. Got a bit adventurous and installed Debian Etch on an old computer to toy around with it -- liking that quite a bit as well.

That said, a Vista laptop is still my primary computer since I regularly have to run proprietary software :oops:

Dainn
April 28th, 2007, 04:08 PM
Ubuntu is my first experience with linux. I didn't choose ubuntu over kubuntu, I honestly didn't know there were other "flavors". I think when I finally upgrade I'm going to switch to xubuntu.

slipperhead
April 28th, 2007, 04:48 PM
ubuntu was the first distro i ever downloaded, then kubuntu so i could see if there was a difference. i found about about ubuntu while on aol help forums.

i made such a mess of trying to use them that i gave up for a while, but curiousity got the better of me and i found DSL, put it on an old toshiba and got a feel for it over a few weeks.
tried xubuntu, then finally back to ubuntu which i have used ever since.

AusIV4
April 28th, 2007, 04:51 PM
Some years ago I wanted to compile a linux version of a half-life mod I was working on. This was before Live CDs were available, so I installed some version of Mandrake. It was difficult to use and turned me off from Linux for quite a while. It wasn't until just after Breezy came out that I started looking at Linux again, and now it's all I use.

0vv1
April 28th, 2007, 04:57 PM
Man, I feel old. My first linux was slackware from floppies in abut 1995. I'm encouraged by the number of new Linux users.

gila_monster
April 28th, 2007, 05:26 PM
My first Linux distro was SuSE 9.x. (I'm including only distros I've actually installed. There was a day-long exercise with Knoppix before that.) I had it installed dual-boot with XP on my wife's machine. I've also used Red Hat at work, which is the only Linux they care to install.

My laptop is running Kubuntu. I had Ubuntu on it first, but after nine months decided that I was more comfortable with KDE than Gnome. I didn't mind the latter, I just prefer KDE more.

I had experience with Unix (HP and Sun Solaris) before I tried Linux, though, so I wasn't entirely lost when I installed. Also spent a lot of time with RSTS and DCL/VMS on DEC machines, which is entirely unlike Linux, but got me used to dealing with command lines as well as GUIs.

gm

ginnie6
April 28th, 2007, 06:02 PM
ubuntu is my first experience with linux. I'm really pleased with it too. I'm not a techie or anything like that either. When we got our first computer 10 years ago I barely knew how to turn it on! The most I had ever done with one was some data entry at work. Now I maintain the computers and network at my dh's shop.

Tharkun
April 28th, 2007, 06:51 PM
Ubuntu isn't my first experience with Linux, it would be Slackware 7.1? ~2000 A.D. (I was given the distro via CD). I had NO idea what it was so I looked around on the CD and was confused so I threw it away after awhile.

svjenni
April 28th, 2007, 08:26 PM
Ubuntu is my first experience with linux and i'm v impressed. I work in it support but am not overly technical,

I have a PC running ubuntu and a laptop on xubuntu. I did look at kubuntu but was given advise to stick with ubuntu as it was "easier to get on with" I also had ubuntu on my laptop but it ground to a halt after a few weeks so i switched to xubuntu instead

Kunstar
April 28th, 2007, 08:35 PM
my first experience was with Ubuntu Edgy and then I upgraded tot Feisty. I chose ubuntu over kubuntu purely becuse kubuntu seemed like an off-shot project. Haveing used ubuntu for a few months, I'm quite eager to learn about Kubuntu but as a newbie i stick to the "if it ain't broke don't fix it approach." I bet there are a lot of similar people out there. It would be great if there was a webpage or something that said something like, "hello ubuntu users, are u interested in using kubuntu, this is how to [easily] try it out."

Avarweth
April 28th, 2007, 08:35 PM
I think I first installed Redhat... four, maybe? I didn't know what I was doing. I partitioned my parents' hard drive. I never could get that partition removed after I gave up.

Feisty is the first distro I've been 100% happy with. I'm not ready to give up my windows partition yet, but I have fewer and fewer reasons to boot into it... and that makes this foray into Linux a success thus far.

roachk71
April 28th, 2007, 09:31 PM
My little Linux timeline:

2000-2002: Mandrake 7.1, 7.2, 9.0 (I hated this distro with a passion; dependency hell, and sluggish)
2002-2004: Knoppix, Damn Small Linux (the latter I still use on an old PPro box; not gonna change anytime soon)
2004-present: Ubuntu / Kubuntu/ Xubuntu on my notebook (now using Kubuntu 7.04.)

I'd first heard about Linux late in the 1990s, and had some 486 boxen I wanted to convert, but couldn't find CDs anywhere (the only internet access we had then was WebTV, at 33.6kbps, Yuck!)

EDIT: Uh-Oh...No Worky on Pentium Pro!!! I downloaded the 7.04 Alternate CD to install on the Pentium Pro box, but the system simply reboots when the installer on the disc starts running. So, the operating system on that machine probably won't change anytime soon. [-(

jclmusic
April 28th, 2007, 10:58 PM
i started off with slax back in '04, then tried debian, fedora, and a whole load others before settling with ubuntu dapper. edy was, well... edgy! it nearly put me off ubuntu, so i stayed with dapper and looked for another distro, but now feisty is much better, so i'm now running feisty.

jclmusic
April 28th, 2007, 11:02 PM
my first experience was with Ubuntu Edgy and then I upgraded tot Feisty. I chose ubuntu over kubuntu purely becuse kubuntu seemed like an off-shot project. Haveing used ubuntu for a few months, I'm quite eager to learn about Kubuntu but as a newbie i stick to the "if it ain't broke don't fix it approach." I bet there are a lot of similar people out there. It would be great if there was a webpage or something that said something like, "hello ubuntu users, are u interested in using kubuntu, this is how to [easily] try it out."

why not give the live cd a spin? that wouldn't mess anything up unless u clicked the install thingy.

xpod
April 28th, 2007, 11:11 PM
Sure is..
I was the ultimate noob when i discovered Ubuntu and had only just switched a pc on 4 months earlier.
KInda just stumbled across it one day when looking up "operating systems" to see what others used.

I use it and my kids use it on the 2 pc`s they have at the moment and we`re all extremely satisfied with the way things turned out:)

%hMa@?b<C
April 28th, 2007, 11:41 PM
my first distro was slackware it was at least four or five years ago, I was eleven or twelve. Boy, was I cool!

Tomosaur
April 28th, 2007, 11:54 PM
I use Ubuntu, and it is the first Linux distribution I installed on my own machine, but I had used Linux before that - Fedora Core was the first Linux distro I ever used, if I remember correctly. I can't remember which version it was.

beercz
April 29th, 2007, 12:06 AM
Started with Debian 2.2 (potato) in 2002 (I think - may even be 2001)

Also tried Red Hat/Fedora, Suse and Mandrake

Still use Debian 4 (etch) on my servers, ubuntu (feisty) on my laptops

aleska
April 29th, 2007, 12:56 AM
Ok, so I think this is a pretty neat stat.
With a 114 responses as of this post, almost exactly 50% say (K)Ubuntu is/was their first taste of Linux. The other 50% are coming from other distros.
Now I don't know if visitors of the ubuntuforums Community Cafe are really a representative sampling of all (U)buntu users. But I think this is cool.
We've all heard that Ubuntu is the fastest growing Linux distro. (K)Ubuntu is fairly young as a distro. So, it is neat to know that its growth as a distro hasn't just been cannibalization of Linux users from other distros; rather is has driven real net new Linux growth. I for one think that is terrific! Kudos Mr. Shuttleworth; and Amen Mrs. Butterworth (for making my pancakes so delectable this fine morning).

It is also neat to know that half of us are what you might call experienced Linux users. You've tried the other distros, and you've compared, and you truly like (K)Ubuntu for what it is, and you are staying with it.

I guess the question remains, does the media and general distro focus on Ubuntu make it inherently more of a newb ground than Kubuntu. Unfortunately we need more Kubuntu users to weigh in for the results to be meaningful. But at this point, about 52% of Ubuntu users are net new to Linux, while only 37% of Kubuntu users are new. As a couple of us have noted, that is partially because we had heard more about Ubuntu, didn't know our guh-nome from our guh-nelbow, saw Kubuntu as an offshoot, and therefore we inferred (rightly, wrongly, or other) that it might not be as well supported or stable. Heck, at that point, we thought we were taking a major leap of faith just to try this Linux thing out at all. Anyway, we need more kubuntu users to weigh in before the Kubuntu stats are really meaningful.

Quillz
May 1st, 2007, 07:22 PM
Although SuSE Professional 9.3 was technically the first distro I every tried, I never got Wi-Fi working with it. So, yes, Ubuntu was the first distro that was actually usable for me. Since then, though, I've gone back to openSUSE 10.2 and tried out a few other distros.

juxtaposed
May 2nd, 2007, 04:01 PM
I had tried damn small linux and slax awhile ago, though ubuntu is the only one ive installed and used for awhile.

raymac46
May 2nd, 2007, 04:42 PM
A few months ago I was looking for a Windows Me alternative for an old Dell Dimension desktop. A local computer shop gave me a CD with Breezy Badger on it. At the time I had never downloaded or tried any Linux ISO burning.
I was able to get WPA working with Breezy after some initial pain and research. At first I just hooked up using a wired router connection. I upgraded to Edgy and then did a clean install with Feisty.
I have used Automatix2 to install the nonfree codecs and that has worked well.
However in retrospect I wonder whether a newbie would find Mepis or PCLOS a better initial experience. Both of those distros had the codecs installed and they were easier to configure with WPA.
I don't use Network Manager with Ubuntu since it's on a desktop, but in reading the forum I notice it isn't all that easy to work with, given the Gnome Keyring Manager "feature."
However, I got hooked on the Gnome desktop and I really appreciate the excellent support and howtos in the Ubuntu forums, so I'm in for the long term.

jkblacker
May 2nd, 2007, 04:48 PM
Being a student I'm a bit of a cheapskate, so I even scrounged a blank cd to put the livecd of ubuntu on the other day. I shouldn't have done it so soon - got exams very shortly! - but really wanted to get into Ubuntu as it just seemed right for me. Plus, here in my uni hall of residence, we have a 20Mbps connection, so why not download every .iso under the sun?!

I've now installed ubuntu in a dual-boot config on my laptop, but shouldn't need xp for much apart from a few games - though, again, with exams looming I shouldn't be playing those either! I can apparently download a citrix client to access my uni's computers on linux (was doing it for some apps from xp anyway, so i'm no stranger to that) and there's a supported vpn client as well, so I don't see myself booting up xp very often :)

agrabah
May 2nd, 2007, 04:49 PM
Using Kubuntu. My first experience was way back with Mandrake... that must have been back before '00. I was impressed, but still felt that linux as a whole was not a functional replacement for windows. So I went back to windows for a few years...

Tine

jrusso2
May 2nd, 2007, 05:37 PM
Started with Slackware in 96, We didn't have anything like Ubuntu back then. The first easy to use Linux was Mandrake back in 98 I think. Had the KDE installed on redhat so you didn't have to install it yourself.

crazyclown
May 2nd, 2007, 07:22 PM
Started with Red Hat in 99, while in the Marines, then used a Sun sparc 10 for Cisco works.
Installed Mandrake 10.0 on a home PC in 2002, still have the machine today.
Finally decided to try again and installed Ubuntu for my home PC and Prof. allowed me to install KUbuntu for a lab PC.
Have since loaded Kubuntu 7.04 on my home machine.

waxapple
May 2nd, 2007, 07:28 PM
I'm a current Debian user, and an ex-Suse and Red Hat user.

I much prefer Gnome to KDE, though I started off my linux experiences with KDE.

ian.leckey
May 2nd, 2007, 07:36 PM
My first experience was Knoppix way back. Then Mandrake, then RedHat, then Slackware, then Debian, then SuSE, then Kubuntu.

JerseyShoreComputer
May 2nd, 2007, 07:38 PM
Ubuntu was the first (and only) Linux distro for me, starting with dapper drake. We had reviewed several choices, such as Suse, Red hat, and Mandriva, but decided to go with Ubuntu. I've been pleased with it to the point that I have not tried another Linux distro, no need to at this point. I think that no matter which one you choose, there are good and bad points. In my estimation, for Ubuntu, the good outweigh the bad.

dmizer
May 8th, 2007, 02:48 PM
my first experience was red hat 6 or so ... so many eons ago. i believe that was kde back then, and if not ... i used kde insead of gnome anyway. a couple years ago, i started playing with linux again via knoppix live cd and loved it ... also kde. had brief stints (weeks) with several other distros ... only a few of which used gnome.

but when i installed ubuntu for the first time, it was ubuntu and not kubuntu despite the fact that i knew the difference between kde and gnome. also despite the fact that i was more familiar with kde. primarily because i was more impressed with the gnome interface than i was with the kde ... which i had always felt was clunky and overblown.

and really ... i've never even used or looked at kubuntu. so as a result of this poll, i'm about to install it on an extra machine and see if i can't come up with a less biased opinion.

petersjm
May 8th, 2007, 03:33 PM
Kubuntu AND my first real experience.

I say it's my first REAL experience. I dabbled in Red Hat once but it didn't like my system so I trashed it. Then I tried Debian 6 or 7 years back, but that wasn't a winner, either. Got myself a LiveCD of Dapper last year, tried it, everything worked perfectly, and I deleted my Windows partition about a month later...

prince_alfie
May 8th, 2007, 03:48 PM
I tried Knoppix Linux first and I really enjoyed it quite a bit, especially considering that it's like having a computer on a disc.

However, you couldn't install it so I was rather disappointed in that facet. I decided that it would be better to install Ubuntu instead :D

ageilers
May 13th, 2007, 09:15 AM
Unix user in 92, but that doesn't count. My first was Suse 6.3, I think, but I couldn't get my modem working. Was so disappointed. Loved the KDE desktop. Debian scared me at that point (~2000). Tried different distros over the years, nothing stuck. Just recently tried Ubuntu and loved it. Live CD, Awesome! Talk about try before you buy. So I tied all the current flavors. Edubuntu will be great for my son, and on Live CD, it is harder to hose the computer. Then I tried Kubuntu. Worked even better than Ubuntu. Graphics are smoother, wireless worked with no driver blacklisting (all on Feisty). Have to add more packages (What??? No Firefox??? Heresy!!!), but I like the overall experience better with KDE. Just wish I had those earthy tones. KDE so cold... so cold.

solcore
June 14th, 2007, 06:05 PM
I installed Kubuntu as my first experience with Linux because according to some KDE was more intuitive than Gnome.
My impression, however, is that ubuntu forums concentrate very much on the Gnome side, and not enough on kubuntu. Being a very green noob, I'm having a lot of trouble using commands that I read on these forums because often the KDE equivalent isn't posted.
I guess I'll get used to it tho... Always a better feeling to figure something out by yourself!

bootdoc
July 5th, 2007, 04:40 AM
I started with redhat 6.2 and upgraded to 8.0 before switching to Libranet which was on its way to being a great distro. After the death of the main developer I switched to kubuntu dapper drake and been here ever since. Now running feisty.

Kujen
July 5th, 2007, 05:09 AM
Nope. My first distro was Mandrake. (9.0 or 9.1. I can't remember.) Definitely my best experience with linux though. (Configuring everything in Slackware is fun, but with how often I reinstall, it's a bitch.)

Atomic Dog
July 5th, 2007, 05:21 AM
My first linux experience was with DSL linux. It worked, and it was thin. I used it for break room computers (booted off a cd and they had internet access).

Fedora was the first distro I installed and it worked OK, but didn't impress me. I then tried Debian, but it I had a nightmarish time installing it on a workstation at work and won't use it ever again.

Ubuntu turned out to be the first distro that I actually used on a daily basis, learned some command line stuff, and generally became comfortable with it. I won't use anything else. It's just too damn familiar!

Dimitriid
July 5th, 2007, 06:03 AM
I tried Redhad 6.0 and Mandrake 8.0 in the past. I never continued using them mainly because at first I couldn't use my winmodem ( alhough I realized it was not the OS fault I was a broke kid unable to afford an actual modem ) and on my "second" go I was barely able to support my ISDN modem ( not surprising since I was barely able to get it working on windows anyway, it was that bad ) I was ready to give Mandrake 8.0 a real go but I was unable to get any internet connection ( absolutely necessary for a complete newbie to get help and figure out stuff ) So I had to go back to windows each and every time I needed a new step or thing done.

It became so tiresome I decided to remove Linux until I had better internet support, then Lilo trashed my windows MBR, and a bad disk trashed my floppy drive so I was out of a PC for a few weeks ( I was unable to get a dos prompt to fix the mbr files ).

The third go with Ubuntu I finally catched up with current technology: broadband internet recognized right away, Live CD to troubleshoot out of anything I might do wrong ( already used it once when a bad x configuration locked me out to prompt, I know have elinks browser to troubleshoot without reboot ) and everything "just works" this time around.

But again I blame initial bad experiences on my old, terrible, low quality hardware with names like Cirix, winmodems, Greek-Made ISDN modems with no driver support, etc.

Nythain
July 5th, 2007, 07:11 AM
i dont use ubuntu or kubuntu per say... i use a command line system install (so i guess ubuntu qualifies) with xorg and fluxbox installed.

its not my first linux experience, up untill now i have played with a few distro's every 4 years or so, but it would only last for a few weeks to a month before i would go back to windows... untill discovering ubuntu... three days later i was nuking windows... so its my first long term stable linux experience... since then i have played with the major players and found myself returning to ubuntu...

scragar
July 5th, 2007, 07:20 AM
always wanted to try linux, but never really considered it until I saw it in action(I always hated IE, and Windows just seamed totaly illogical, why have internet settings as the settings for IE when my default browser is firefox? why when ever I logged on did it say I have new emails when thunderbird showed my inbox as empty?

nowI use ubuntu and I don't think I shall go back to windows, especial since I've seen vista in action(it's ugly, a resource hog and broken).

c0de_m0nkey
March 15th, 2008, 08:35 AM
I started out on Unix way back when and I've been running RedHat on servers for quite a while. I have Debian on my Desktop at work and at home on the same computer I loaded (K)Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn on. The home box now has the ability to triple boot. I never do but I could run Debian or xp pro along with (K)Ubuntu. I use the Kubuntu almost exclusively and if I wasn't so busy enjoying the OS I'd take the time to load Wine and delete the xp.
It loads quickly, responds well, and I've only had 2 small issues with it.To be honest both of them were Id10t errors on my part, if you promise not to laugh I'll share them both.
The first one happened when I loaded some files while logged in as "root (please don't ask); I ended up with some strange permission errors when trying to edit them later on. I ran a global chown on them and got back to playing around.
The second one happened earlier tonight when I forced Adept to shut down in the middle of updates. When i tried to restart the install I got an "Already Running another Install" message. I found the fix at the (K)Ubuntu forum and was back up and going in less than 10 minutes.

Chame_Wizard
March 15th, 2008, 04:49 PM
I use Kubuntu as my MAIN OS :guitar:

SunnyRabbiera
March 15th, 2008, 04:57 PM
No, as I have used others before Ubuntu

Kingsley
March 15th, 2008, 05:46 PM
Kubuntu hooked me on Linux, because it's features were more closely related to suit the habits I had on Windows. I now prefer GNOME though.

Joeb454
March 15th, 2008, 05:49 PM
I had heard of Linux, but Ubuntu was the first distro I tried (back at 5.04 / 5.10) then I kinda left it for a while, and came back at 7.04 :)

I've since tried Fedora, and although it's pretty good, I just don't like it, especially YUM ;) So I stuck with Ubuntu :D

raul_
March 15th, 2008, 05:51 PM
Well, it was..no option for that?

alzie
March 15th, 2008, 09:35 PM
Mine was Feisty which I Wubi'd (That still counts doesn't it?)

Now I'm doing things I'd never thought possible. Currently I'm posting from Hardy inside Virtual Box on a Gutsy installation.

My question would be what is the rate of retention for *buntu, not that you could easily measure that.

dyous87
March 15th, 2008, 10:06 PM
My first linux distro was Mandriva which I believe at the time was called Mandrake Linux.

Redrazor39
March 15th, 2008, 11:50 PM
Never used Linux before. Ubuntu is first time I used Linux, first time I dual booted, and first time I really started to learn about software.

Radon
March 16th, 2008, 02:24 PM
I first started using Linux by fixing Windows problems for friends/family with Knoppix :lolflag:
My first install (ie no Windows) was Mandriva back in 2004 but it wasn't the best exprrience, so in 2005 I switched to openSUSE on my desktop and Ubuntu on Laptop :)

fetisha
March 16th, 2008, 05:25 PM
I started with Ubuntu Gutsy and I haven't looked back.

pdxken
March 23rd, 2008, 06:40 AM
I started with fedora, then ubuntu.
I now dual boot ubuntu and kubuntu. I use kubuntu most of the time now because KDE just seems to fit me better.:KS:popcorn:
Ken.

kagashe
March 23rd, 2008, 09:48 AM
I began using Linux a few months before Ubuntu 4.10 arrived and started with Mandrakelinux 9.1 (now Mandriva).

But I was lucky because the Mandrake 9.1 CDs I received were tailor made for the Laptop (HP COMPAQ Presario 2500 series) I bought and it had everything extra (multimedia codecs, modem driver etc) and with KDE, Gnome and some other Desktop as well. Therefore, I could learn Linux without looking for information on forums.

When I tried to upgrade (Mandrake 9.2 and 10 were already there) the difficulties started and I was looking for another distribution and read all praises about Ubuntu.

I am Ubuntu user since version 5.04 and shift from Mandriva was very easy for me. I was using Mandriva and Ubuntu in dual boot for almost 2 years.

kagashe

drascus
March 23rd, 2008, 03:54 PM
Wow amazing to see not only how many people had their first linux experience with ubuntu.

Jay Jay
March 23rd, 2008, 04:39 PM
I started out in the Linux world with Kubuntu 5.10 and loved it. :) I went through the successive versions up to 7.10. The only reason why I'm no longer using it is because Kubuntu placed too much of a strain on my laptop's "modest" resources.

I've tried other distro's such as DSL, Fedora and Knoppix but the Ubuntu family feels the most intuitive and user friendly, in my humble opinion.

WastingBody
March 23rd, 2008, 05:49 PM
Ubuntu 7.04 was my first real experience with Linux. I had been wanting to trying Linux, and I had heard from a few people that Ubuntu was one of the best distros at the time. I tried it and loved it. I only booted Windows maybe 7 more times after I installed Ubuntu. Now Windows is completely removed.

Rodander
March 23rd, 2008, 06:34 PM
Yes and no, My son a Unix man had installed a version of Linux ( I'm No sure which one) years ago. It was a dual boot with Win 98 and I didn't use it much.
About two years ago came the time for Me and My wife to upgrade to new computers we made the decision to move to Ubuntu from Windows 98. My son built the computers and I could see no reason to buy software when so much is available free. Their was a small learning curve but probably no more than learning XP. Being a stubborn old man, if it won't run on Ubuntu I don't run it. so far I have been able to do everything I want to.
Being retired I spend a lot of time at the computer esp. in the winter here in Minnesota. I love Ubuntu so much more than Windows 98.
Rod

pape
March 23rd, 2008, 10:59 PM
Very interesting poll, thanks!

Started with Mandrake 8.2 in 2002. Currently Kubuntu and openSUSE are my favourites. KDE has been a sticky habit...

Prefix100
March 24th, 2008, 12:09 AM
I voted that ubuntu was my first real linux os because my only other experience was slax from a livecd while i was waiting for a new hard drive.

saxuntu
March 24th, 2008, 12:46 AM
I voted 1st and only with Ubuntu. I messed around with DSL but soon abandoned once i got my Ubuntu CD. Right now i'm downloading Hardy Beta. I know it's beta but i'm impatient.

bruce89
March 24th, 2008, 01:02 AM
I've been using Ubuntu since Warty. I chose it as I looked at the Comparsion of Linux Distributions page on Wikipedia. Strangely I liked the default being Firefox (I've changed over the years).

I once tried Debian Testing, but got bored. Perhaps Unstable would be better.

drbob07
March 24th, 2008, 01:04 AM
Ubuntu wasn't my first ever Linux distribution, but it's the first one I've used for more than a month. (In other words the two distros I tried before this (FC3 and FC4) were both failures on my old hardware)

So I guess in a way its my first "real" distribution.

danbuter
March 24th, 2008, 02:04 AM
Not sure how to respond to this. I started with Ubuntu. Then tried a bunch of other distros. Now I'm back with Ubuntu.

Foster Grant
March 24th, 2008, 04:20 AM
In the past, I've worked with Fedora, Red Hat, SUSE, Mandrake (before it was called Mandriva), PCLinuxOS-GNOME and ...

(deep breath)

Caldera OpenLinux (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldera_OpenLinux), which had the best manual I've ever seen in a boxed Linux distro. If you think SUSE's printed manual is good ... Caldera a decade ago was better. That was a great distro in the late 1990s, probably the best available at the time — started as Novell's Corsair project, got spun off to Caldera, eventually morphed into United Linux and finally withered away. That was unfortunate — OpenLinux had the advantage of just working without causing problems.

Of course, this was back before Caldera was possessed by the AntiLinus and morphed into the most recent iteration of SCO.

I used to use OS/2, too. Also Windows 3.11-->Vista, Mac OS 6, 7, 8, 9 and X, the Apple ][, DR-DOS, GeoWorks, TRS-80 (models 3, 4 and 100) and the Commodore 64 and VIC-20.

:biggrin:

derekr44
March 24th, 2008, 04:55 PM
Fedora and Mandrake were my first Linux experiences, but I never actually made a full switch until Ubuntu. Now I've already delved into Arch.

devlin7
September 4th, 2008, 12:39 AM
I found Kubuntu an easy transision from Windows than Ubuntu due to the fact that Windows users are more fimilar with KDE's desktop enviroment than Gnomes Mac like desktop.

I have tried Gnome off and on for years and really have a hard time dealing with it when it comes to system settings etc.... I always wind up either going commandline (windows users nightmare) or logging off and starting a KDE session.

Just my personal opinion.......

btw...my wife loves Ubuntu....yep I had to install KDE for when I need to work on it :lolflag:.

snova
September 4th, 2008, 01:05 AM
... NOTE: I am in no way shape or form suggesting KDE / Kubuntu is better than Gnome / Ubuntu. I liken the preference to one's preference for coffee over tea. You know you like one better than the other, but no amount of logic will convince someone that one is better than the other. Taste is taste....

I hate coffee. You can add as much sugar and whatnot as you like, but it's still disgusting. How on earth does anyone drink that mud...

I suppose it could be construed as a mild joke that this forum has a coffee theme, considering the amount of mud some programmers are said to drink.

I started with Ubuntu, though that was an accident. I reinstalled several times in a number of hours until I figured it out. The same went with Debian, which I used prior.