When did you come to Linux?

[zshlover]

20 years ago, on slackware linux. This was before youtube, smartphones, all support was in IRC. It was something like this



And hours to get X working and networking. Back then there were issues with usb support too. Times change

[tuxedlinux]

I am curious, as to when people came to Linux. I got interested in Linux back in 2000 with Mandrake Linux. I bought a boxed copy from a computer store, and took it home, and installed it on one of my desktop computers. I was lost. I mean lost. It was so different from Windows 98, and the Linux community back then was very elitist and there was too much RTFM'ing, too much "you are just a (l)user because you cannot hack scripts, write code, cannot use the command line and install on bare metal. I was turned off. I was derided for using a "baby" distro like Mandrake, instead of Slackware, Debian, Red Hat or building from scratch.

I was actually banned from a linux board for asking questions, and pointing out how they were turning off people like me who wanted to use Linux, but needed help. I remember I had a second hand 33.6K modem in my computer that a buddy had given me when he had upgraded to a bleeding edge 56k V.90 modem. I was using a Cyrix 6x86 chip a 166 mhz. After I had such a bad experience, I left linux for almost a decade with the attitude of "F" those elitist bastiges.

I was utter revolted by the super elite attitudes I encountered. Then I tried SuSE linux around 2009-2010 and was under impressed, so I left Linux again, but I had noticed that the communities were no longer so "LEET", and much more willing to help newbies. So I had a better opinion of Linux. Then in 2012 or so, I found this thing called Ubuntu, and it was decent, I think it was version 11.04. Then I started seeing this thing called "Mint Linux. In the meantime I had updated to Windows 7, and loved it. But there was a void, I needed to have filled. I played with installing some of the BSDs, no love there. Then I installed Mint around 2014 and it was version 17.1. I used an old Compaq laptop, and it worked. It just worked! I felt like I was accomplished, I felt some of the thrill from booting up my very first computer using DOS 1.1.

Then I found this board, and to my utter amazement, not only were the people nice, helpful, and patient with me, there was no elitist stink, no RTFM, no "how dare you not use command line, how dare you not be able to write scripts to make things work!". I felt like I was home. Thanks Mint.

I first started using Linux in January 16, 2020. I started with Ubuntu 18.04 and now use Mint 20.

[MurphCID]

20 years ago, on slackware linux. This was before youtube, smartphones, all support was in IRC. It was something like this



And hours to get X working and networking. Back then there were issues with usb support too. Times change

Dude! You are my hero, a real OG Slackware user!

[MartyMint]

I hardly consider 2013 to be "OG"....

[MurphCID]

Yes, but if you used/Use Slackware, you are an OG regardless..... Even Arch users cannot have that much street cred as any Slackware user.

[MurphCID]

I still see a level and element of the toxic Linux community is still out there, but thankfully it is a lot less than it was in days gone by. I think the Linux fan-boy/fan-girl syndrome is still hurting us though. I AM glad to see more girls using Linux, that is a good sign. Now if I could just get my two daughters to convert to Linux....

[spamegg]

Windows user 1999-2019, Mint user late 2019-present.
I tried Mandrake like the OP, but in 2002.
I tried Zenwalk (Slackware-based distro) and Ubuntu Netbook Remix in 2010.
Used Mac OS at work 2006-2015.
Used Ubuntu and Mint in Virtualbox 2018-2019.
Then fully switched when Win7 EOL approached.

[MurphCID]

Windows user 1999-2019, Mint user late 2019-present.
I tried Mandrake like the OP, but in 2002.
I tried Zenwalk (Slackware-based distro) and Ubuntu Netbook Remix in 2010.
Used Mac OS at work 2006-2015.
Used Ubuntu and Mint in Virtualbox 2018-2019.
Then fully switched when Win7 EOL approached.

I know that Mandrake was not user friendly by todays standards, but it has a certain rosy glow in retrospect.

[bridnour]

I first started using Linux on a semi-regular basis in 1995-1996 time-frame with one of the initial versions of Red Hat Linux.

I freely swapped between RPM based distros (Mandrake, Red Hat, and SuSE) until the introduction of Ubuntu in 2004(?). I've used primarily Ubuntu and derivatives since.

That said, I've tried most major distro types. I've even did a "Linux From Scratch" installation once.

[spamegg]

I know that Mandrake was not user friendly by todays standards, but it has a certain rosy glow in retrospect.

Agreed, it was really cool back then, especially being my first encounter with Linux!

[MurphCID]

I know that Mandrake was not user friendly by todays standards, but it has a certain rosy glow in retrospect.

Agreed, it was really cool back then, especially being my first encounter with Linux!

One of the things that was so cool to me, was the fact that it had all those DE's and Window managers. You could try out all sorts of things. I switched between KDE and Gnome back when Gnome did not suck.

[DavidMcCann]

At the beginning of the century I had a computer called a Q60 — it used the Motorola 68060 (the top Mac only had a 68040) and double booted QDOS (from the Sinclair QL) and a port of Red Hat Linux. That was replaced by a home-built PC running Fedora, from the CD in the back of Linux for Dummies. Fedora gave way to CentOS until that computer died at Christmas 2019. I installed PCLinuxOS on the new one, a decision I now regret. I'm currently deciding between Mint and Mageia. The one thing I've never had is Windows!

[ivar]

I know that Mandrake was not user friendly by todays standards, but it has a certain rosy glow in retrospect.

I recall downloading the Mandrake ISO over a weekend after switching from 64k ISDN dialup to 64k leased line at work, lol!

Installed it on a 90's Acer minitower, the install itself was very straightforward IIRC, only lots of choices. And it worked at first until I started messing too much with it, e.g changing from Gnome to KDE, then installing one of those lightweight windows managers to speed it up. Maybe IceBox. I managed to bork the installation really bad, then it got put aside and forgotten.
Next foray IIRC was Ubuntu 5.04 - Breezy Badger or something?

[MurphCID]

I know that Mandrake was not user friendly by todays standards, but it has a certain rosy glow in retrospect.

I recall downloading the Mandrake ISO over a weekend after switching from 64k ISDN dialup to 64k leased line at work, lol!

Installed it on a 90's Acer minitower, the install itself was very straightforward IIRC, only lots of choices. And it worked at first until I started messing too much with it, e.g changing from Gnome to KDE, then installing one of those lightweight windows managers to speed it up. Maybe IceBox. I managed to bork the installation really bad, then it got put aside and forgotten.
Next foray IIRC was Ubuntu 5.04 - Breezy Badger or something?

My computer for Mandrake was a home-made Cyrix 166 with a full 1 gb of RAM. Never was able to get a lot of things working, but it was NEAT! I got back into Linux with Ubuntu 18.04 (I think or was it 16.04? neither one lasted very long).