Last year I decided to try Linux, I was 14~, had a little experience with C#. Timeline:

Fedora 17 -> Ubuntu 12.04 -> Linux Mint Maya -> Arch Linux

First time I ever used Linux was probably back when my laptop's hard drive died. This poor thing had a 1.4Ghz single-core CPU and 512MB of RAM, although one of the slots had recently become faulty and it was limited to 256MB. This was my only computer, and I'm pretty sure it was 2009. Very poor time.

I had heard of a lightweight distro called Puppy Linux, which was supposed to work really well for low-end hardware (and it had persistent booting by default, which was a great plus for someone who had to live off a flash drive). Pretty neat stuff.

Got on another PC, threw it on with unetbootin and off I went. Went quite a long time on that setup before a friend gave me another hard drive. I then installed Crunchbang on the HDD and went from there.

I think I started using Linux 2 years ago because I actually found the time to fiddle around with my computer. I actually started with Ubuntu but quickly left because I further read that there are much more simpler systems like #! and Slackware. That somehow led to me going on HF, where I met Beastie and the others. I finally settled on Arch because it isn't unstable as I thought it was and I've taken a liking to the package manager.

When I was aruond 12 because I had a old laptop that was bearly able to run XP properly...
That was OpenSuSE 10.1

When I was much younger my dad set up our computer to dual-boot Windows 2000 and Linux (later it triple-booted with those and XP). I used Windows but my dad stuck a load of games on Linux (Tux Racer, a 3D Tron game, a golf game and a Bomberman clone) that I used to play on because they were fun. Looking through his old CDs I think it was Fedora Core 1, but I wouldn't really know.

I started using it for myself was about a year ago when I installed a Debian VM on my netbook in preparation for the Raspberry Pi I was getting, and have stuck with it since.

The first time I tried Linux I was around 16. I was in school at a tech school doing a computer repair/ networking class and they only covered the basics of Linux with no hands on training. It really interested me, so I went home and downloaded Slackware. Oh man was that a learning experience. I spend more time reading and learning in my first month on Slackware than I ever have on an OS since.

My progression went something like this:

Ubuntu 10.04 >> Archlinux >> Linux Mint >> Archlinux >> FreeBSD

I started with Ubuntu because I was incredulous that there could be an operating system available for free, and I read about it on Lifehacker (lol). Attempted to move to Arch after that, and messed up the network config so badly that I gave up and switched to Mint. Hated it's lack of customizability on the surface and the bloat (was using Gnome 3 at the time), so went back to Arch and learned how to do everything properly. I've still got Arch on my main laptop, but I'm messing around with FreeBSD and considering replacing my Arch / with BSD. Got CentOS and ubuntu on my servers mainly.

(01-06-2013, 02:32 AM)delucks Wrote: My progression went something like this:

Ubuntu 10.04 >> Archlinux >> Linux Mint >> Archlinux >> FreeBSD

I started with Ubuntu because I was incredulous that there could be an operating system available for free, and I read about it on Lifehacker (lol). Attempted to move to Arch after that, and messed up the network config so badly that I gave up and switched to Mint. Hated it's lack of customizability on the surface and the bloat (was using Gnome 3 at the time), so went back to Arch and learned how to do everything properly. I've still got Arch on my main laptop, but I'm messing around with FreeBSD and considering replacing my Arch / with BSD. Got CentOS and ubuntu on my servers mainly.

Everybody starts with Ubuntu, admit it everyone!

(01-06-2013, 11:06 AM)Ippytraxx Wrote: Everybody starts with Ubuntu, admit it everyone!

My first Ubuntu install was about half a year ago (been (more or less) using Linux for ~15 years), and it lasted for about a week.

I had just fixed up my GF's laptop (new mobo), and had to get it ready to be sold, with a fresh W7 install. With about a week to spare, I decided to boot up Ubuntu and see how bad it really is. Turns out it's **absolutely** horrible.

Hmm no idea what kernel it was, but definitely red hat in 1998 or so, hard to remember since I was very young.

Around the time I was 13 I was introduced with linux mint "Bea".

I immediately began jumping from distro to distro.

The first Linux system I used was Arch Linux. I was in an IRC with a bunch of linux users (I was very young at this time), and one of the users said "Arch was the only good linux system anymore". So, not knowing anything, coming straight from windows, being maybe 9 years old, I installed Arch.

I remember that the first I installed ubuntu 10.10 from a CD I got from PC world or Digit from my school library. At that time I didn't even knew what was linux until and after what me and my friend started some research, but the first time I used it the feeling was far more better than what I got with windows. I just loved it the only thing was the support for certain softwares which are windows specific and gaming too. Overall it was just awesome that was the first time I got inspired towards Linux and hacking.

I was 40-something years old when I completely rid myself of Windoze, and I wish more people would do the same.

...................

in like.. 2003 or 2004, Mandrake, kernel unknown, from WMs i preferred GNOME back then.
In 2007 I installed Slackware and used it [ with KDE].

>I decided to try this South African operating system.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.


RMS uses that computer!

(03-07-2013, 10:34 AM)diyorgasms Wrote: I was so impressed that I showed it to my girlfriend (now my wife), who had an equally ancient laptop. She recognized immediately how much more responsive the operating system was, and wanted me to install it on her computer. She has been using GNU/Linux ever since (now she's on Mint w/ Cinnamon). And now I'm a sysadmin at my university. So I'd say Windows taking a shit is probably one of the more important moments of my life.

Wait, so you married because of Linux? That's sweet.

..................

Xubuntu > Ubuntu > Arch Linux > Manjaro > Raspbian > Xubuntu > Google Chrome OS (Gentoo-based)

I keep hearing that Chrome OS is Gentoo-based but is it really? I mean can you actually run portage on it or was it just built from scratch using Gentoo? How does Google handle system updates? I highly doubt they expect users to compile everything.
Sorry for being a little off-topic.

I suppose I better contribute here. I think my first experience with Linux was trying to install Redhat back when you could still freely download the binary distribution. I was only young back then and missed Windows and my games too much. If I remember correctly it was a little but more difficult to dual-boot back then (maybe because of hard drive sizes?).

I started to seriously use Linux and dump Windows altogether in about 2007 when I discovered Arch Linux. No idea why I chose that particular distro at the time but I did and I learned a lot. Now I'm too lazy to fix things so I prefer "easier" distros like Debian or Ubuntu derivatives.

The first time I used Linux was about 5 or 6 years ago. I installed Ubuntu and liked it so I dualbooted Ubuntu and Windows. I also switches distributions from time to time and learned more about Linux and now I'm using Arch Linux as my main OS.

(07-08-2013, 02:07 AM)Android16 Wrote:

(31-07-2013, 05:26 AM)sticky Wrote:

I keep hearing that Chrome OS is Gentoo-based but is it really? I mean can you actually run portage on it or was it just built from scratch using Gentoo? How does Google handle system updates? I highly doubt they expect users to compile everything.
Sorry for being a little off-topic.

I suppose I better contribute here. I think my first experience with Linux was trying to install Redhat back when you could still freely download the binary distribution. I was only young back then and missed Windows and my games too much. If I remember correctly it was a little but more difficult to dual-boot back then (maybe because of hard drive sizes?).

I started to seriously use Linux and dump Windows altogether in about 2007 when I discovered Arch Linux. No idea why I chose that particular distro at the time but I did and I learned a lot. Now I'm too lazy to fix things so I prefer "easier" distros like Debian or Ubuntu derivatives.

Chrome OS uses Portage for package management and building. Its accessible on the developer end, I'm still learning though.

So how does Google distribute updates?

(08-08-2013, 08:33 PM)Android16 Wrote: So how does Google distribute updates?

Users get a notification saying its ready to update, then it installs all the new packages n shit from Portage (which is in the background), as its a rolling release. If a developer did dev_install in the shell, you could see it instead of the background. Everything is from Portage. I'm sad they got rid of Python though :C

I have went thru ( I never was able to spell that word correctly) many Linux distros. The first time I have ever heard about Linux was in 2008, when our old Pentium 4 with HT decided it had changed its mind about working for someone reason, and stopped working entirely with Windows. So my brother said something along the lines of "Hey, try to install Ubuntu Linux on it". At the time I did not now there was more then two os' in the world ( Windows and Mac). So we checked out their website, and how far the styling has changed since 9.04 is rather amazing because the site looked rather ugly back then. We never did download the operating system. And the computer died a watery death when our basement decided to let the sewage water come in. I always loved the machine.

Continuing...

Eventually tho, I bought myself a big 17" Toshiba Satellite L55, and after the first month of using it the thing got really slow. It rocked a Amd dual core 2.30 GHZ mobile chipset. Mad at the performance I looked for alternative systems on the net and here is the timeline. ( I am so interested in the different distros I wrote them down in order of using them, however I forgot to put down the dates as well)

Ubuntu 10.10 > Fedora Lovelock > Kubuntu 11.04 > Xubuntu 11.04 > Arch > Puppy Linux > Mageia > Funtoo > Ubuntu 10.4 (recived at Borders) > OpenSuse > #! > Ubuntu 12.04 > kubuntu 12.04 > Peppermint 1 > ROSA > Chakra > Sabayon > Puppy > Chrome OS > Slackware > Frugalware > Gentoo > Lunar Mage > Freebsd > DragonflyBSD > Arch #! > Gentoo

Right now I don't use my laptop as for a year after owning it, my brothers Toshiba Satellite died and I let him hold on to the charger. I am typing this on a family Windows 8 pc, and I would love some things like the charm bar Incorporated into Linux somehow. Pretty soon I am going to try and install Sorcerer or DragonflyBSD again. I really want to try BSD but I only use it for around an hour or so and then stop using it. I love ports but I like how Gentoo's ports are set up. One file to rule all make options.

And I love with Linux is tinkering with the kernel, and it seems easier in Linux with menuconfig and what not then to *BSD But I would love to learn to set things up.

(29-08-2013, 12:13 PM)NeoTerra Wrote:

(28-08-2013, 02:02 PM)jobss Wrote: Ubuntu 10.10 > Fedora Lovelock > Kubuntu 11.04 > Xubuntu 11.04 > Arch > Puppy Linux > Mageia > Funtoo > Ubuntu 10.4 (recived at Borders) > OpenSuse > #! > Ubuntu 12.04 > kubuntu 12.04 > Peppermint 1 > ROSA > Chakra > Sabayon > Puppy > Chrome OS > Slackware > Frugalware > Gentoo > Lunar Mage > Freebsd > DragonflyBSD > Arch #! > Gentoo

Wow, you've really distrohopped...

At that time I didn't know the differences from distro to distro so I tried lots of them. It was a pain tho, to keep on cleaning the disk and writing the os on it.

I've heard about Linux from time to time over the last decade but the first real, face-to-face contact was in 2008 with Ubuntu 8.10 (And it's GTK-theme ist still one of my favourites today.), because I reinstalled Windows without backing up or writing down which drivers were needed in order to make everything work properly. I was able to regain everything from various CDs and USB sticks, but one very important driver was missing. And Windows without Internet may be safe, but is not fun at all. Because it came out to me that I want to work in IT some day I decided to take a look at Linux, maybe it does have the driver I need. And it did, it felt good using it and after restoring my Windows to full functionality I set up Ubuntu on my notebook. And so the "on and off"-relationship started ..

Distrowise I would describe it like that: Ubuntu (8.10, then 09.04 and 9.10) - Linux Mint (Ehrm .. "Gloria" was the release name I think. But I could be wrong) - Xubuntu (9.10) - Ubuntu (10.04) - Debian (Squeeze) - Crunchbang - Debian (Squeeze) - Fedora - Crunchbang - Arch - Debian (Wheezy) [ - FreeBSD (8.2) - OpenBSD (5.1) - FreeBSD(9.0)] - Debian Jessie (and a bunch of virtual machines with all kinds of distributions..)

I installed my first Slackware during the 1996 Christmas holidays...

Yeah, I'm old :(