What was your first distro?

[Espreon]

So what was your 1st distro?

Mine was Puppy Linux.

[GSF1200S]

Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft

[igknighted]

Slackware... and for some reason I didn't give up... not sure to this day why ;)

[faraaz]

PC Linux OS...

[depele]

Gentoo
==> but gave up on it.

Ubuntu 5.10 Edgy Eft

[Espreon]

UHHH Don't you mean 6.10 Edgy Eft?

Cause I think 5.10 = Breezy Badger...

[staticvoid]

Puppy Linux!!! :D

I was like: OH MY GOSH!! ITS WORKING!!! AND ITS LIVE IN THE RAM!!!!!

and then, NO WAY I HAVE INTERNET EVEN!!

lol. yea for puppy

[spai]

Mine was
Mandriva => gave up on it
Kubuntu (7.04 i think) => always crashed,so gave up on it
Fedora core 6 => gave up on it like 1 week back, too slow, always used to hang for no reason.
Now Gutsy(Ubuntu) => May give up on it(Now gdm is not working :( )

[Vince4Amy]

Mandrake 9.1

[eilu]

6.06 dapper drake

[Kosimo]

Mandrake
Suse
Ubuntu

[gvoima]

If I remember right it was Debian woody or potato :)

[lswest]

lol my first distro was 5.10 --> breezy badger (i think, or was it Hoary hedgehog?) kept it for a while, upgrading as i went along. I now use Gutsy
between then i sort of went on a mad "testing spree" and tested quite a bit like Fedora Core 6, OpenSuse, Sidux, Gentoo, DreamLinux, BackTrack 2.0, Debian, Madriva, and many, many others:P gotta say, i like Ubuntu most^^ works best with my hardware xD

[juice_fi]

'twas Mandrake, recommended widely as the first distro. Not really satisfied with it, but then I heard of shipit :) I've also tried suse for a while.

[bonzodog]

oh, god.
It was 1996, first distro I used was SLS, precursor to Slackware. That wasn't my machine though, but a server for an Internet Cafe I helped to run.

The first Distro I insalled on my home Machine, I went totally linux from the get-go; I didn't even consider dual booting. That was in 1999, and the distro was Caldera Linux 1.3.

After that, a certain other (now banned) member of these forums, and a good friend, introduced me to Slackware in 2000. I stayed with Slackware until I got a 64 bit machine in 2004, when I tried Slamd64, which I even contributed to, then I tried Ubuntu Breezy Badger 64 bit. Upgraded to Dapper, but wasn't happy with the way Ubuntu ran, and the repeated amount of badly built/buggy/completely broken packages.
I then went back to the Slackware tree, and Installed Zenwalk linux -- it's derived from Slackware. Running it to this day on my desktop machine, but i have now installed Ubuntu again on the Laptop.

[aninaiian]

If I remember right it was Debian woody or potato :)

Woody was also my first distro (granted I used it under virtualization). My first linux distro I actually installed on the hard disk was Ubuntu 6.06.

[popch]

First one actually used (as opposed to toying around with): SuSe Linux 6.3

[rax_m]

I first used Red Hat 6 (I think...) way back in '97

[JurB]

Hoary :guitar:

[patrickfromspain]

Suse Linux 9.3!

[Joeb454]

First started fiddling around back when 5.04 (Hoary?) was out...though didn't fiddle much.

Permanently been on my hard drive since 7.04 (Fiesty), though was in a VM for 3 weeks lol.

[Incense]

SuSE 8.something. :)

[kagashe]

Mandrake 9.1 (Aug 2004)
Ubuntu 5.04

[khurrum1990]

Novell Suse 9.2

[tcpip4lyfe]

Red hat 6. (Gave up on it after a month)
Slackware 10.2 was my first real distro. Moved to dapper when I broke slackware trying to update it.

[boast]

Suse

[Antman]

I think it was Xandros version 2 or Mandrake (forgot version).

[misfitpierce]

Ubuntu 5.10 and Mandriva on first system

[Hairy_Palms]

Mandrake 8.2, that was a dog of a distro....

[perlluver]

I tryed Freespire 1.0, blah. Moved on to Kubuntu 7.10 while in stage 5, and I am now running Debian Etch.

[isecore]

Slackware, back in 1994, long before I really understood what a "distribution" was. Wasn't too blown away by it since it was very primitive and since I back then lacked a "UNIX-mentality".

After that it was various Red Hats, the first one I think was 3.0.3 or something, then 5.2 and after that a long succession of hats until around 2000 when I went back to Winblows on the desktop.

in '04 I started running Debian on the server, and about a year ago I was completely fed up with Windows and installed 6.10 on a whim. Haven't looked back since.

[Kernel Sanders]

Ubuntu 5.10 :guitar:

[skwishybug]

First distro used was Peanut Linux. Tried Knoppix on a LiveCD but never installed.

Ubuntu 6.06 was the first I started using on a regular basis and it became my primary OS.

[schmildo]

Knoppix LiveCD

[Solicitous]

First Linux distro...Redhat 5.2. That lasted about a week before going back to FreeBSD.

[Cariboo1938]

Back in 2002 first approach to the Linux world with an unsuccessful try to install Debian 3.
Then Knoppix LiveCD and then Ubuntu 6.10 and then got stuck with Ubuntu!:KS

[XVII]

Slax and openSUSE.

[Tharkun]

Slackware

[DimitrisC]

Red Hat 9. Absolutely loved it.

I had also unsuccesfully tried to install Red Hat 7.2 but my video card was not supported so I kept trying until Red Hat 9 supported it out of the box.

[LookTJ]

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS

[FuturePilot]

FreeSpire.
Ubuntu Dapper came shortly after. I fell in love with it and have used Ubuntu ever since.

[kavoura]

My first was Red Hat Linux back in the days when it was free. I think it was around 1999.

[pmgr33r]

Slackware, gave up when i couldn't get it out of text based

[Tipo]

Started with Ubuntu Breezy
Went to SUSE, then Fedora, and back to Ubuntu again.
Tried FreeBSD, and then Gentoo for a while, and went back to Ubuntu.
Thinking I may give Slackware a go... maybe. :P

[Linuxratty]

Linspire 5.0.. I paid $19.95 for the distro.
It's just a fading memory now...

[Flyingjester]

Fedora 7

[BDNiner]

opensuse 10.1

[sandysandy]

opensuse 10.1

fedora then ubuntu 7.04

[aaaantoine]

My first was Red Hat 4.x. It was installed on an underpowered PC (a Pentium 1, I think, with 32MB RAM. In 2002/2003) that wasn't connected to the Internet and was basically useless to me (except for the fact that I could compile software on it without additional tools). I eventually junked that PC.

My second was Mandriva 10.1. It was installed on a secondary partition for my current PC at the time (in 2005). My add-on sound card was not supported by the bundled version of ALSA, though allegedly worked on a later version. I tried to .configure, make, make install, but failed. I tried to install proprietary Nvidia drivers and broke X. For jollies, I tried to compile an updated kernel, and broke Linux. After several installs, I gave up. I left the partition on there in case Windows broke. Instead, the hard drive broke.

My third was Ubuntu 7.04 AMD64. It was installed on a secondary partition for my current laptop (2007). I played with it enough that I got the vital stuff to work, and I decided to stick with it. When 7.10 came out, I ran a fresh install on the secondary partition. Then about a week or two later, I broke my partition table, and installed 7.10 as the only OS on the laptop (with XP running in VirtualBox when needed).

[iPower]

Ydl

[el_ricardo]

errr .... damn small linux i think, but the first real distro was ubuntu 5.something, then fedora, then mandriva, and now back to ubuntu again!

[dmb]

My first distro I installed on my home computer was Redhat 5.0. Ah, back in the good all days when sound, printing and my dialup modem did not work. I got the CD out of the back of a book! I was in love with it the first time I installed it.

Then continued on until redhat 7.0, then tried gentoo, stuck with gentoo for a bunch of years, then ubuntu 5.10, then gentoo again until I got sick of it and went to 7.04.

[isecore]

My first distro I installed on my home computer was Redhat 5.0. Ah, back in the good all days when sound, printing and my dialup modem did not work.
Ah yes, the good old days. When men were men and wrote their own drivers.

I remember the masochistic happy feeling when you managed to get your soundcard to play something after having followed obscure instructions that you didn't quite understand.

[upfwnv03]

I tried RedHat 6. Been hooked on Linux ever since.

[Kingsley]

Gentoo. As soon as I booted up the LiveCD, I gave up on Linux for months.

[arsenic23]

The first linux version I ever installed and used was Red Hat 5.

After that I'd install Suse every now and again when I was feeling playfull.

But I didn't start using linux for anything other then linux's sake untill Dapper came out.

[Majorix]

I first used Slackware 10.2 and left it because I couldn't fricking install any packages on it. When I switched to Ubuntu and found out about Synaptic, I was like the happiest man on earth :p

[lfaraone]

Mandrake 6.2

[mmb1]

I remember using Damn Small and thinking it looked terrible.(Of course what were you expecting at under 50 MB?) I stayed off Linux for a few years and then i encountered Feisty Fawn.

[kavoura]

Yes I remember the early Red Hat Linux and nothing working properly, like my Creative soundcard, modem and I think my Epson inkjet worked but not very well, or maybe not at all.
I got a bit fed up with Linux at the time because those things would not work, although I loved the way Red Hat Linux worked and the games and software that came with it were fun to play with.
Some time later I experimented with other Linux distros, Suse I recall, and also BeOS. I was looking for an alternative to Windows as it just kept crashing and going wrong. That was Windows 95. Then I bought a new PC in 2000 and made the mistake of opting for Windows ME. That was the worst OS ever. It promised much but delivered nothing.
So then I bought Windows 2000 Professional, and on the whole, I was very happy with it, except that it did not work too well with games. So I bought a copy of Windows 98SE to use with games. I tried at times to reinstall Windows ME but I could never get networking to work in that. It always worked fine in Windows 98 and 2000. I also bought Xandros 1 and tried that out and liked it, although there were a few bugs that prevented me from staying with it.
Then along came Windows XP Professional. I thought that it would be good, I needed it to do video editing and it plays games well.
But since Service Pack 2 came out I had nothing but problems.
I have since reinstalled Windows XP Pro on 1 PC and just stayed with SP1, not going to get SP2 again.
But on another PC, Windows XP Pro just was failing so much and going so slow, I had to consider again Linux. I downloaded Xandros 3 Open Circulation Edition and installed that on a spare PC and it worked very well, except it could not read NTFS and did not have the full Crossover software to run Windows apps.
So when Xandros 4 came out, I bought that and installed it. The PC with Windows XP Pro that was not working well, seemed to be dying (hardware problems I think) and so I combined that with the spare PC (I bought it cheap on ebay) and made a better PC and decided to run Xandros 3 and Xandros 4 on that.
I also started to subscribe to Linux Format magazine which taught me more about Linux, and as I took more interest I learned about Ubuntu too.
I made Linux my main OS to use, except when doing some video editing on the other Win XP PC.
I have dabbled with Ubuntu quite a bit now and also have installed and used Ubuntu Studio, but that was not so good for video editing as Win XP. But good for music making.
For over 1 year now I have been a big fan and regular user of Linux, and I love to try out new distros.
Ubuntu is now the one I recommend to new PC users, or to people who are disillusioned with Windows. It certainly seems to be the easiest to install and use, for basic things like web surfing, email, office software and things like card games, etc.
If I had not bought Xandros 4, but had instead found Ubuntu, I think I would have stayed with Ubuntu as my main OS.

[de_valentin]

I started with Knoppix and I liked it but I couldn't install it at that moment, and I've tried a lot of different Distro's and the first serious install was PCLinuxOS. But I gave up, after a while and waited for Fiesty.

[Sef]

Lycoris (It was bought out by Mandriva.)

[jken146]

Mandrake, I think, about 5/6 years ago.

[Dirty Ole]

Red Hat 7 - My brother installed it.

Mandrake 10.1 - Reinstalled windows and was lost.

Sticking with Ubuntu sice 6.06 Dapper Drake.

[bfc]

Redhat 3.0.3, back in 1996 I think.... Linux sure has come a long way

[a12ctic]

Debian, a while ago. Around 2002. Haven't stoped using it sense.

[Derspankster]

Mandrake - got it installed after considerable frustrations. Gave up after about a month.

[xyz]

Mandrake - It worked OK for me.

[icecruncher]

openSuSE 9.x
don't remember
:)

[lintoon]

Mandrake 8.1 --> Mandrake 10 --> Slackware --> Suse 9 --> Mandriva --> Ubuntu 5.10 --> 7.10

Tried Redhat and Fedora. Neither would install so gave up and went back to Mandrake because it was rpm based. Thank god for urpmi. Not as good as apt-get though :)

[SonicSteve]

1 Turbo Linux, (man talk about inappropriately named) I almost gave up on linux with that experience. Ironically I was looking for a version of linux that would run on a P2 400mhz. The cutting edge was p4 2.2ghz at the time.

Then....

2 Ubuntu Breezy, It worked so well I used the alternate install because I was I had no idea about Live CD's. The alternate install wasn't even hard and my eyes were opened. For the first time I had a good linux experience.

[stephenbrazier]

Freespire
(back to windows)
Kubuntu 7.04
(back to Windows)
Ubuntu 7.04
Ubuntu 7.10
Ubuntu 7.04
(back to windows)
Kubuntu 7.10
Kubuntu 7.04
Windows (Present)


These are the only ones that WORKED. If I listed the ones that didnt, ill be here for a while. :lolflag:

Im happy with Windows XP for now until I get a new Laptop that can run openSuse :) Love the cammelion logo :)

[Kadrus]

Ubuntu 6.06..Now I am using Ubuntu 7.04-Gentoo.

[zipperback]

So what was your 1st distro?

Mine was Puppy Linux.

The first one I ever used was RedHat version 2.0

MANY MANY MANY years ago.

- zipperback
:KS:KS:KS:KS:KS

[spaaz9]

Tried to install Red Hat 7.3, but it wouldn't.. so then:
Lycoris Desktop/LX
Libranet
Slackware

Dabbled in every distro that I could find... Mandrake, Fedora, Jamd, etc...

Now running
Ubuntu 7.10
Fedora 8
Slackware 12

[gnomeuser]

Red Hat 5.2 was the first, followed by Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, Arch Linux, Foresight, Fedora, Ubuntu and finally back to Fedora. The last one I now act as a developer for and I greatly enjoy being part of that community.

I've used pretty much every distribution, those are just the ones I used for any significant amount of time.

[bobpress]

I first used Red Hat 7. Kept trying distros from Red Hat/Fedora, KNOPPIX, openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, Lindows (Linspire), Puppy and various others along the way. Fewer problems as Linux distros have evolved. Currently began using Ubuntu/Kubuntu starting with Edgy, then Feisty and now Gutsy 7.10. I also use PCLinuxOS and Puppy on USB drives.

[P5ych0Gigabyte]

I fooled around with Knoppix a few years back but never really got into Linux until a few months ago when I installed Gutsy.

[zach12]

Good Old dapper

Ps i'm updateing my last computer runing dapper

[Lord DarkPat]

Mandriva 06 = Hated, ditched
SuSE 10.2 = Good, but too slow, ditched
Gentoo = Requires a Ph.D in patience, ditched
Kubuntu = Excellent, loving it

About to try Linux Mint or Freespire

[Mad_Dawg]

Kbuntu 7.10 As you all can tell, I am new to this.

[jespdj]

Slackware in October 1994, on my 486DX2 / 66 MHz with 4 MB RAM (yes MB, not GB!). =D>

I still have some old CDs here: a set of 4 CDs from InfoMagic with Slackware 2.2 (Linux kernel 1.2) from March 1995, and a set of 6 CDs from InfoMagic with several distros: Slackware 3.0, Red Hat 3.0.3, Debian 0.93R6 from April 1996, and a box with Red Hat 5.2.

As you can tell, I'm not new to this :D although I didn't run Linux continuously since that time.

[Tmi]

My very first distro I installed on my computer was Redhat 7.x (not really sure which one it was) back in the year 2000 or 2001 just to try it out. It didn't last very long though,

[r4ik]

Ubuntu 5.10 whas my first.
I tried a lot other distro's but i keep coming back :)

[Kzin]

RedHat 4.2, back in 97 or some time around there. My mom actually bought me the official CD pack from their store for my Birthday. Came with a big book with thin paper... Then in 2000 I got experimental and played with FreeBSD, OpenBSD and a few diff. flavours of Linux. Settled on Slackware... Think Slackware 7 was just released and thats what drew my attention to it.

That went on until around December 19th, 2007... Then I switched to Ubuntu.

[buntunub]

Fedora 6. It was a total disaster because Fedora decided to completely wipe XP off my drive when I installed it (even though I told the partitioner to keep it). Talk about a crash course in Linux on a horrible Distro! I then tried Ubuntu 6.10 and hated it, and moved on to Sabayon where I lived and beta tested that Distro for lxnay for the better part of a year. Somehow I ended up with all my systems running Gutsy. Go figure!

[RegT]

I started off in the linux world with Slackware about 12 years ago. Since then i've tried several flavours... red hat, mandrake and good old ubuntu.

[*daniel]

Suse 8, baby. That was my first Linux. Did not like.

[new2*buntu]

Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, about 2 (could be 3) months ago.

[Lostincyberspace]

Don;t know probably red hat it was along time ago and I was only 4-6 years old then.

[tehhaxorr]

I feel old compared to most of you as far as linux is concerned...

My first was Fedora Core 2, back in about 2004 i think.

[citiusaf215]

feisty fawn... not that long ago either.

[theharshone]

1st : Xandors OCE ( didn't like at all.)
2nd: aLinux (amazing but i think dev is taking an extened vacation.so moved to kubuntu)
3rd: Kubuntu (amazing as well but uses alot of disk space)
4th: OpenSUSE: (had issues with, messed up vista)
5th: Mandriva (good but not the same as kubuntu or aLinux)
6th: Kubuntu (current)

[guillelo11]

Knoppix LiveCD

[JurB]

Hoary Hedgehog.

Tried lots of distro's since, but none have managed to replace Ubuntu on my main box.

[oyvindaa]

First Linux distro I tried was Mandrake 9.2.

My first Ubuntu was the Breezy Badger, and I've been running Ubuntu ever since.

[Saint Angeles]

i tried whatever version of red hat that was around in 2001 or so...

it sucked. so i went to XP

then i tried mandrake and the cute little purple icons and gold stars really made me feel gay.

so i went back to XP but after a while... i. i began to feel gay again.

now i use ubuntu and i feel like a real man.

[jeffus_il]

My first real Linux was Rock Linux, spent a lot of time installing and building and spent less time using it.

I had a bout a long time ago with the first Minix, which ran on 16 bit intel and built a 32 bit version with the help of some students from Australia over the internet which was not graphic yet, used ftp ...

:roll:

[isecore]

Slackware in October 1994, on my 486DX2 / 66 MHz with 4 MB RAM (yes MB, not GB!). =D>

I still have some old CDs here: a set of 4 CDs from InfoMagic with Slackware 2.2 (Linux kernel 1.2) from March 1995, and a set of 6 CDs from InfoMagic with several distros: Slackware 3.0, Red Hat 3.0.3, Debian 0.93R6 from April 1996, and a box with Red Hat 5.2.

As you can tell, I'm not new to this :D although I didn't run Linux continuously since that time.

You sound like you're from the same generation as I am. I also first whet my teeth in Linux with Slackware back in '94, on my 486SX33 that was pimped out with a whopping 8 megs of RAM. Yeah, I was badass in that way.

Unfortunately I've lost all my old CD's in various moves since then :(

[Linuxratty]

Linux,variety is the spice of life.

[samwyse]

Red Hat Linux 6 in 2000.

[merlinesq]

College Linux 2.3 - 2003 I think ?

[LinuxIsInnovation]

Red Hat Linux 7.1

[ArtechnikA]

Yggdrasil - now there's a name you probably haven't heard for a while...

[Martin Witte]

i started in '98 with a boxed suse - i think it was version 5.2, but i gave up on it because in those days i couldn't get my modem working (it turned out my pc in those days had a winmodem). i came back to linux with the arrival of ubuntu - early 2005 i was looking for a cheap additional pc, it turned out that running warty on it gave me everything i needed for a cheap machine to surf the net.

[SjRaptor]

Red Hat 7.2, then quickly dumped that to Slackware (whatever version was out at the time). I still prefer configuring and compiling packages from source versus the way Ubuntu does it, but I'd rather not have to be a sysadmin on my personal computer. That's why I stick with Ubuntu on my desktop, and leave Slackware/*BSD/Solaris for servers.

[Master-of-None]

My first was Xubuntu Fiesty back in August, I think... Then I went to Xubuntu Gutsy, now I use Ubuntu Gutsy

[gfg]

My first distro was Gentoo back in 2000. Oh man I remeber I had to print out probably 50 pages of manual to install it. It was quite rewarding though, learned alot, but didn't stick with it for long.

[bigyoy]

It was mandrake, from 3 years back. I was at uni, in the middle of a house party and decided to go upstairs and install it when I was drunk.

Bad idea.


I completely wiped XP off my computer (which I needed for my uni work) and spent another 2 days trying to get everything back together.

Thankfully, Ubuntu is more idiot proof :D

[Ex-windows]

The Very First was one of the Red Hat distros (not sure which 1). Gave up for about a year. Then tried Yopers and Knoppix. Heard about Ubuntu ,OPen Suse, and Puppy linux from the Computer deli. Ubuntu was the easiest to Install and figure out and I have been using it for almost a year now...

BTW I love it

[maybeway36]

Kubuntu 6.06
Kubuntu 6.10
Kubuntu 7.04
Kubuntu 7.10
Linux Mint (for a few weeks)
Debian testing (faster release cycle & I'm geeky enough to handle it)

[kodak]

Mandriva 2005 free on a book cover

[SomeGuyDude]

Red Hat, YEARS and years ago. Came with a "For Dummies" book, but apparently I was still too dumb to follow. Never got it to work well enough to keep.

[Centx]

SuSE linux 9 I think, got a kernel panic that filled the whole HDD, so switched back to XP on main machine while experimenting with Slackware, Debian and FreeBSD on a spare machine.

I think my first ubuntu was at school 2 years ago (hijacked a computer in classroom), 6.06 or 6.10 I think, had some experience with the cli thanks to FBSD and Debian/Slackware, so i survived the X crashes and hdd-names swapping every third bootup when i finally took the step of installing it on my desktop at home =/ rigged some servers at school as torrent seedboxes with fbsd and debian using rtorrent I think =)

[rm_mn]

A few years back my son came home from high school talking about an operating system other than Microsoft. Being curious, I ordered a book with the OS included from a company called Yggdrasil. Still have the book and software. I've tried a few flavors and noticed the improvement but stuck with Windows for the most part as Windows has games to fill the slack time.

I might still be on Windows except for Microsoft. Bought a new Dell with Windows XP. Been fighting with it for a year and a half. Corrupt files, Permission changes, Network problems between it and my wife's computer,

I finally got my hands on a copy of Ubuntu and decided to make that my OS. Networking is much better. I can use any printer on the network. My files don't change themselves. Much better. Got Wine working for some of the games I already have. I think I like this Ubuntu. I doubt that I'll have any interest in Vista.