Did you find it hard to get into Linux when you first started?

[bouta]

not hard as much as people say maybe since they developed it to become user friendly..ive been a new user.i like it much, stability , flexibility .

[gn2]

How much do people want to bet that Windows 7 has a LiveCD of sorts?

If it has it certainly won't be a 699mb CD, chances are it will be a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc and will take 20-30 minutes to boot up!

My own first experience of Linux was PCLinuxOS 0.92.
It was a complete revelation and I was pretty much hooked on Linux immediately.
I found Linux easier to learn about than Windows, primarily due to excellent on-line resources like this forum.

[scragar]

I had always wanted to try out linux, but since I didn't have a CD writer I couldn't get started for a long time, until I sent of for a free dapper CD, I installed it because XP was terrible, and found it worked perfectly(minor sound issue I manged to fix with about 20 seconds of playing around).
Had a few problems over time(such as an upgrade ruining DeVeDe on dapper), but once I could upgrade via a fresh install I upgraded to gutsy(3 days after release), then hardy(I was occasionally beta testing, found no bugs though, everything worked fine for me )

After a while I joined these forums, Since that time I've installed different versions of ubuntu for several people(Xubuntu for my nephew's old computer, Kubuntu for my sister since she's an avid windows fan, my younger brother runs ubuntu, as do I(gnome appears bloated over XFCE or KDE, but I han't had any problems at all in terms of speed or ram)), and occasionaly leave a few LiveCD's around in public computers etc.
This morning I 'accidentaly' left a combo of Xubuntu and Kubuntu CDs in some computers at the local computer store, with any luck the staff will realise that the vista computers are around twice as fast(I love Xubuntu's speed) and decide to keep it, although I find it unlikly.

[grannyw]

The first days were just horrible,i was sitting many hours trying to understand and fix the simpliest thing.A've made about 10 reinstalls since then !!!!

[Frak]

I first used Linux around a decade ago with Debian. I caught it just before the install was semi automated, apt was still premature, and X was even more of a pain in the ***.

[keykero]

My first experience (Slackware) wasn't hard, just different. I enjoyed learning about Linux, as I still do today. But what I found was frustration as I couldn't accomplish nearly as much as I could with Windows (due to shortcomings of available applications).

[Frak]

If it has it certainly won't be a 699mb CD, chances are it will be a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc and will take 20-30 minutes to boot up!

My own first experience of Linux was PCLinuxOS 0.92.
It was a complete revelation and I was pretty much hooked on Linux immediately.
I found Linux easier to learn about than Windows, primarily due to excellent on-line resources like this forum.

Its around 2.5GB and takes around 7 minutes to boot on an AMD Athlon 2x 64 2.8Ghz +5200 with 2GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 8600 (512) in a regular DVD drive. The development builds have a built-in WindowsPE evironment. Windows 7 has built in Nvidia and ATi drivers as does Vista.

[Fenris_rising]

i dabbled abit, about 3-4 times from the mandrake 10 era i think it was, was wired to the net so that was no problem. learning those little bits for terminal and setting up your repository's was a pain and trying to find answers to problems was not good. perhaps its my age but i take a bit more of a considered view as i learn the things i need to for my new OS. didnt really pursue it for more than a week at the most back then. now i seem to have dropped back in at a perfect point. more automated install, easy setup, better Hardware recognition and one hell of a community to ask for help. im here for good i havent touched my XP drive in 2 weeks nor do i see a need to ever do so again.........except to perhaps remind me what ive escaped. long live the linux community.

[ack389]

I have no idea which version it was, but I started out with Mandrake(for some reason I want to say around version 8) about 6 to 7 years ago. I was very confused, while the mandrake site had great installation instructions, It had next to nothing on actual usage. I had absolutely no idea there was such a thing as add/remove packages(rpm). I was so stuck in windows that I thought that I had to download an rpm, then unpack it and install it. I got a new computer eventually, reinstalled windows on the old one and gave it away to my sister's friend. After a few more years of windows, I switched to OS X. About 5 months ago I somehow got interested in linux again and searched arounf for a new distro and decided on ubuntu. I have not looked back since and never had any problems. Even though I dual boot with OS X, I barely use it anymore. Problem is I am now so unuse to windows that typing this on my moms laptop is giving me withdrawel symptoms. It is amazing seeing the difference in just a few short years. God I feel so old, and the sad thing is that I am only 19.

[ShodanjoDM]

My first Linux experience dated back in 2003 after the internet cafe near my dormitory switched to Linux out of fear from BSA's sponsored anti-piracy raids. I didn't remember the distro, but it was using KDE.

Didn't impress me at all back then, infact I felt KDE's interface was too complicated for me. So off I went to look for another internet cafe that's still has XP installed.

But then I began to have a better appreciation of Open Source softwares. And for the next three years I gradually replaced the pirated softwares that I used in my PC one by one, started from GIMP, then Firefox, OpenOffice etc,... In 2005, I read about Ubuntu in one of the web forums that I frequented, but I still don't have enough courage to try it.

Until late 2006, when I read the articles regarding Vista, its prohibitive DRM, its hardware requirements and also its price. Although until that time I've been trying to save some cash to finally buy a legit XP, I knew it's time for me to switch.

I didn't find it hard at all, just different. My earlier decision to gradually switch to F/OSS has really helped me. Even using the CLI seems natural or even nostalgic - reminds me that I grew up with DOS back then.