Embarrassingly I only started using Linux in 2008. Computer Science degree at the University of Liverpool, I think they used Red Hat Linux?

I didn't have it on my own computer until 2009 when I installed Ubuntu 9.04 on a partition of my desktop and shortly after started playing with BackTrack on the side to fuel my infosec desires. I upgraded to Ubuntu 10.04 when that was out but decided I was prepared to try Arch mid 2010, it all worked fine but designing the desktop etc wasn't my thing so I decided to revert back to something a little simper - Debian.

I have been using Debian/BackTrack until recently when my Debian partition decided to fail so now I'm basically only using Kali Linux as my main Interest is in security and penetration testing. In before BackTrack/Kali hate too! ;)

(03-09-2013, 09:43 AM)Lux Wrote: Embarrassingly I only started using Linux in 2008. Computer Science degree at the University of Liverpool, I think they used Red Hat Linux?

I didn't have it on my own computer until 2009 when I installed Ubuntu 9.04 on a partition of my desktop and shortly after started playing with BackTrack on the side to fuel my infosec desires. I upgraded to Ubuntu 10.04 when that was out but decided I was prepared to try Arch mid 2010, it all worked fine but designing the desktop etc wasn't my thing so I decided to revert back to something a little simper - Debian.

I have been using Debian/BackTrack until recently when my Debian partition decided to fail so now I'm basically only using Kali Linux as my main Interest is in security and penetration testing. In before BackTrack/Kali hate too! ;)

There's no need for embarrassment regarding when you began using some software...
What matters is that you've embraced *nix systems in place of proprietary systems which may, or may not, have backdoors coded into the system(s.)

(03-09-2013, 11:43 PM)zygotb Wrote: ... *nix systems in place of proprietary systems which may, or may not, have backdoors coded into the system(s.)

That's quite a vague answer you've got there.

1 year after I got my first laptop (If I remember accurately it was 2010).
My first linux just DSL

My first Linux distro was "mandrake Linux"... 2001/2002 i'm not sure. After this i had slackware, now archlinux... It's now 6 years that i'm "Win" free :D

I was started fist by hearing Pardus (which was developed by TUBITAK / the scientific and technological research council of turkey then turned into debian derived shit) 2008.2 version of it. Summer of 2008...
Then returned to Windows because i needed office and such for elementary school homeworks (i wasn't know Openoffice back then)...
Used backtrack 3 & 4 from live usb with persistence in usb drive... When i got nice pc and had nice internet connection i stopped using it... (because of i dont need it)
I really went deep into gaming and such, where i learned programming logic and such by test&error way... I was using wordpad (such a noob thing)
Then i started to die from boredom (same people same guns etc) and I always have been had slax on my usb but never used it actually, generally helping other people about viruses / data loss etc. Also heard a lot of Ubuntu thing (i never liked sound of its name). I started to boot into slax when i'm not playing, messing around and discovering things (as i did in the beginning which boosts your curiosity) And then installed ubuntu (Because slax 7x was not installable and my research gave me nothing)... But ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04 were kind of broken by itself, i was braking something 2 times a day atleast... Then i come up with a idea that copies and pastes whole system... (2013 - may)
I created a bash script to copy whole system on-the-fly and write mbr mark partition as active format it with ext3-4 etc. I installed slax over ubuntu.
That computer is broken since 2013 - oct. I'm using VAIO - VPC-W netbook, installed slax on it, using custom kernel, custom desktop (2bwm and bar and feh are enough) and im happy with it :)
Thats my story guys... :)

In about 2005, I installed Debian on an old PC I had lying around at the behest of one of my friends who assured me that installing GNU/Linux would change my life. Since I was busy with other things, I didn't bother learning how to use my Debian box or anything about Unix-likes until I had to fix a laptop which wouldn't boot, which is when I learnt about live CDs. Naturally, having used a tool to do something useful (rather than just being walked through an installation), I wanted to learn more. Over the years, I discovered more and more about BSD, GNU, Linux and so on.

During my distro-hopping phase a year or two ago, I went from my trusty Debian to Fedora, then to Arch, then Gentoo, then Arch again, then I realised that I had it right the very first time and went back to Debian. I don't know why I still have them around, but I have a few PCs with Slackware on them, but that wasn't because of nostalgia, it was because I wanted to see what all the nostalgia was about. I ended up learning how to use pkgsrc, which was great fun, if a little annoying to set up for the first time on something which isn't NetBSD.

Xubuntu (2018) -> Lubuntu (2018, two or three months later) -> Devuan (2019 or something) -> Void Linux (2019) -> antiX (Debian basically, 2019) -> Wifislax (2020) -> MX Linux (2020) -> Artix Linux (2020) -> Alpine Linux (2021)

Too long ago to remember exactly when, but I remember having to setup modelines in order to get X Windows working with my monitor.

Checking my bookshelves, I see that I have the 4th edition (1996)of Yggdrasil's Linux Bible, which is a massive hardcopy of the HOWTO's. It might have been a year or two old when I bought it, when I was first giving Linux a try, and late 90's sounds about right*.

Again, I don't remember exactly, but I think the first distro I tried was Slackware. SUSE was also an early favorite.

But as I mentioned in my intro here, it wasn't the first Unix-like system on my home desktop. That would be Interactive 386/ix (ca. 1985). I miss those days, using a dialup modem in the middle of the night to fetch software via uucp! The C Users Journal had a regular column back then, reviewing the cool free stuff that was available...

* 386/ix came on a bunch of 5.25-inch floppies, but I don't think I ever installed a Linux that didn't come on a CD. The first CD edition of Slackware was released in 1995, so that's the earliest possible date for me.

My first Linux distro (and UNIX system) was Ubuntu, in 2009, when I was 13.
I migrated to Ubuntu from Windows 7 after some problem with Firefox I cannot remember now.
The first Unix-related community I took part of was vivaolinux.com.br, a Brazilian forum about Linux.
In late 2011, after disliking GNOME 3, I briefly moved to Kubuntu until I settled in Arch Linux with KDE Plasma 4.
In 2014, after not getting used to KDE Plasma 5, I moved to i3 while still in Arch Linux.
In 2020 I leaved the Linux world and moved to OpenBSD, while still with an Arch installation in dual-boot for software that are Linux-only.
In 2021 I replaced Arch with Artix. OpenBSD continued to be my primary system.
In 2022 I replaced Artix with OpenSUSE as my secondary system. OpenBSD is still my primary system.

My first Linux was Red Hat Linux 4.0 running on an 486SX/33 with 8MB of RAM. I was trying to upgrade from OS/2 2.0 since it didn't support my CD-ROM or Sound Card. Red Hat supported both.. but it was sooo slow and since I didn't know the command line I thought it was unusable.

Fast forward to 2000 and I installed Debian on a Pentium 90 with nothing but TWM and it was blazing fast.

Good times!

I first came in contact with UNIX as I installed OpenSolaris at high school in 2009; I've played with it and OpenIndiana on and off for few years (still a heavy Windows user at the time), until I moved to FreeBSD, and later macOS (starting from Mountain Lion), which kind of nailed it.

I started using Linux around 2016, partially due to curiosity, partially due to lacking hardware support on BSD. First I went with Slackware, then Arch, Void Linux, Gentoo, RHEL, up to embracing Slackware again few months ago. In the meantime, I began using pkgsrc (on OS X, Linux and illumos first, then NetBSD as a natural consequence), and NetBSD ended up became my main system, both on server and desktop.

I'm infamously uncomfortable with mainstream dpkg/systemd distros (and honestly Linux in general) and not infrequently would I feel lost when friends ask me for help with Ubuntu.
Somehow I ended up spending much more time on BSD and Solaris than I did with Linux (I'm not involved in IT professionally) and this often puts me in a strange situation whereby I may like as a BSD guru :-P, while I don't even know how snap/flatpak/docker work (or even bash tbh). This tells something about the fact that competence is really just a matter of habit, dedication and time invested, and that nothing is to be taken for granted.

First started using it in high school, in 2014. Tried Korora (it had just re-launched as a Fedora remix). Distro hopped a bit and settled on Qubes. Switched back to Fedora in my senior year and stuck with it since.

1994, Slackware 2.1, kernel 1.1.something I think.

The question was about Linux, but as long as we're reminiscing about first installs I'll add that the first time I installed a BSD was sometime around 2003 or 2004. FreeBSD, which I'd been aware of ever since reading the first announcement of it in Dr. Dobb's Journal but which I'd never installed on one of my own machines until then. I had an iBook G4 with the first edition of OS X and had been enjoying its BSD underpinnings via the commandline, so it was inevitable that I'd put a BSD on my Intel box.

FreeBSD was my preferred OS for several years after that, until I switched to Linux to be able to use some programs which were only available there. So while I'd first installed Linux back in the 1990's, I can't say it ever became my everyday system until much later. Mostly it was one of those things where, as it was for a lot of people it seems, the fun was all in "getting it working" -- but as soon as I'd achieved that, I usually set it aside until the next interesting distro CD came along.

The year was 2008. I recently got a hand-me-down PC from my grandparents. It was going swimmingly though it was a bummer being too weak for Roblox at the time (I was still a kid cut me some slack). And then the WinXP setup it came with shat itself to death and I had papers to do for school.

Looking for alternatives, I encountered this "Ubuntu 8.04" thing. There were a lot of growing pains but holy cow was it a better choice than resigning to Windows again. So many customization options; what better way is there for a terminally-online middle-schooler to express himself? Been using GNU/Linux in some shape or form ever since, never touching Windows voluntarily during that time.

December 2019. Ubuntu 18.04. I guess I am the youngest in here.

My first contact with GNU/Linux was about 17 years ago with Slackware at the college ( where I also worked at computer labs ). At that time there was a company in the city that used to work only with GNU/Linux and Open Source Software ( lucky me ). Because of that I had the flexibility to change between GNU/Linux distros and some UNIXes without major problems.

Alas, the most recent companies that I've worked with used a bunch of proprietary tools that made my NIX* life quite difficult ... :(

- 2006-2008 : Slackware Linux ;
- 2008 ( about 9 months ) : FreeBSD ;
- 2008-2019 : Gentoo Linux ;
- 2019-2021 : OpenBSD ( as personal PoC );
- 2021-2022 : FreeBSD ( as personal PoC using bhyve );

Nowadays I use FreeBSD in my personal X220 and OpenBSD at work.

First time I used Linux was around the time I was 13 or 14, probably 2012ish.

My dad started using Linux Mint on his PC and it looked pretty cool.

I got an old laptop with barely any RAM off of a mate of his, and was using Puppy Linux on that for a bit trying to learn Lua.

A year or two later, I salvaged a slightly better laptop and installed Ubuntu on it. Started learning some HTML and tried out C/C++ (never went anywhere).

Jumped between Windows and some different linux distros for the next 5-6 years.

• Linux Mint
  
• Ubuntu (again)
  
• Fedora
  
• Arch
  
• Debian
  

About a year and a half ago I eventually came to my senses and completely ditched Windows.

Been running Debian on my main PC, and testing out NixOS on my laptop recently.

I first used Raspbian when I was 11 and in 6th grade. I learned about Linux from my friend and at some point got a raspberry pi as a gift. I didn't really end up doing anything with it, but I was fascinated with this strange new operating system. Before then I had never done much with computers besides playing games, although I always enjoyed tinkering.

It's strange how seven years later, despite everything that's changed, I'm still using Linux.

I seem to remember I installed something really weird like lubuntu when i was about fifteen, from there i went to arch after like a week or two before installing gentoo, i don't really know why i got so into linux at the time, i had no practical purpose to be running gentoo, i told myself there was ethical, privacy related, reasons for it, but i think it was much more simple than that - i just enjoyed learning about how computers work. I now run debian on my thinkpad laptop and my flatmate has just got into linux for his blender workflow and i have helped him install arch, dwm... etc.... and its got me thinking about trying something fun again - turning my openbsd thinkpad into a home server, returning to gentoo on this laptop.... But i don't know. I don't have as much time as I used to.
And as gmk said above its also true for me....

.

(28-11-2023, 06:32 PM)gmk Wrote: It's strange how seven years later, despite everything that's changed, I'm still using Linux.

(21-12-2012, 04:00 AM)Lith Wrote: Mine was Redhat Linux 6.2 (Zoot), Release date April 3, 2000
I was 13... totally 'ALIEN' to me

I started with the same, it was published on a Chip magazin CD around that time with a short install guide, i followed that. I was 15 or so. I managed to start x11 and some programs, but otherwise i did not really dived into it. Honestly I have no idea how i restored the windows installation on the computer afterwards.

(21-04-2022, 11:32 PM)seninha Wrote: My first Linux distro (and UNIX system) was
In late 2011, after disliking GNOME 3, I briefly moved to Kubuntu until I settled in Arch Linux with KDE Plasma 4.

I found some old desktop screenshots from 2010~2014:

GNOME 2 + Compiz:

KDE Plasma 4:

Ubuntu 14.04, I was probably about ten years old at the time. My father had installed it on what I believe was a Dell Inspiron 1526. Good times were had with Unity. I vaguely remember downloading Umit (i think that's what it was, it has that pill logo), not knowing what it did, and running it on my father's work's website, leading to our home internet being blocked from connecting to it.

Dang, I miss using Unity.

For me it was 2010, I was at university and my Inatentive ADD would find Linux a great procrastination tool. I was already into "ricing" my windows desktop with .dll and other shell hacks, rainmeter was also in heavy use back then. Although it wasn't called ricing, those were the days of DeviantArt and, my favourite, PixelFuckers (RIP).

The first distro was, of course: Ubuntu.

Feel free to peruse my old DeviantArt Gallery to see my progression from Ubuntu to Arch and my somewhat embarrasing dabbling in BackTrack (Kali, before it was cool).

I had a long hiatus from Linux after I finished uni and got on with my life. But when I got back into Linux around 2018-2019 I started back with Pop!_OS as it was the cool new distro at the time. I steadily moved from Pop onto Void Linux (Glibc) which has been my daily (linux) driver ever since. Partway through the pandemic in 2020 I acquired an x230 ThinkPad with the goal to install NetBSD. I have been using NetBSD alongside Void as my two personal daily OS's ever since.

In the past year I've also acquired an extra SSD for my desktop which now runs 9front. I've also got another scrap bin laptop find which I started using Tribblix on but, while that OS is cool as fuck, it's not built for single user systems on a machine that requires a wifi connection. I now run Alpine on it and I love Alpine so much I'm considering installing it on my Void machine. But then again, it's always good to have options.

My first post here :)

I'm starting use RedHat and Conectiva (Brazilian Distro based RH) but the version 6.2 its was very good, used RHEL in some companies I worked for, but still use Slackware for my desktop and I can Slackware for professional projects.
I used FreeBSD and OpenBSD for firewalls.

I'm getting old rsrs

I have installed Linux on 2000.9 when I was graduated from college,and I started to library

I guess I was 18. First year at university. They gave me a live CD for free, there was a ladybug on the picture.
That was great to do things on my own.
I remember then trying ubuntu and all sort of distros, a big waste of time, except Backtrack, very handy to save an expensive internet subscription. Well, I was young, a student, and I had neigbours with WEP.
Then, there was debian, I still use it sometimes, just easy and working.
Finally, alpine and crux.
The last one brought me to OpenBSD.
Never felt so much at home since what... 6 years? 7?

Mine was Debian, i like it. Solid as a rock!