When did you come to Linux?

[SpectreOl]

Like op, I found linux in the late 90's. Downloaded several versions to try: mandrake, red hat and suse..

Also like op, I found the learning curve way too heavy and users seemed more like the elite enthusiasts, not very noobie friendly at all.

It put me off and though linux was given a nice shiny os and put on shelves in pc stores (for a shot time, due to lack of sales - many didn't know what it was), I was still afraid, due to past experiences.

Linux has come a long way since then.. it's much easier to get into, the community is much more newbie friendly, most issues can be remedied by a quick search of Google and it's even entered the gaming scene (still early days).

I came back about 2010'ish, about 10 years since my 1st experience. I knew there was something good about linux and still had interest in it. The 1st few year's was dual boot with Windows, trying different versions to see what was for me. Mint was the cure..

These day's, I run mostly linux. Linux on the laptop and dual boot on the pc, mint/win7 (Linux being the default boot).I basically use linux all the time now, it much quicker than ms and I only use ms for gaming.. hopefully one day that will change and major games will hit linux, allowing me to bin Windows altogether.

[MurphCID]

I am getting closer to ditching Microsoft completely, as Mint Linux evolves and gets better.

[SpectreOl]

Mint has surpassed ms in so many levels.. the only thing that ms has the strangle hold on is business (companies are unwilling to spend training staff - would work out cheaper in the long run) and gaming, but there's so many alternatives to ms for gaming and steamOs is great for promoting gaming on linux. Still, don't hold your breath for linux gaming..

[zoli62]

It is funny to me, how many of us followed similar trajectories with Linux RedHat (Mandrake)>SuSE>Debian (Ubuntu/Mint). Could it be that there is a theme here? Could it be that installing software via APT-Get prevents dependency h*ll and makes things much smoother?

It was back in 2000 when i have seen first Linux. In my workplace at the time, a gateway machine was installed with Red Hat. Later came the Suse then Debian.

At that time, only four major Linux distributions existed.

[SpectreOl]

It is funny to me, how many of us followed similar trajectories with Linux RedHat (Mandrake)>SuSE>Debian (Ubuntu/Mint). Could it be that there is a theme here? Could it be that installing software via APT-Get prevents dependency h*ll and makes things much smoother?

Or could it have been the pain of setting up win98, only to find it was so bulky and slow, ending with a trip to the feared blue screen of death??

Having come from the Amiga, with its Shell and Arexx, I tried early versions of Linux back then, only to find a massive learning curve and a user base full of enthusiasts that had very little patience with idiot questions from some mis-guided newbie. The Linux community seemed full of elitists back then, who was very scary and would make you run and hide.. Thank goodness the Linux community is not like that anymore...

We did have a couple of decent versions of windows in my mind, with XP and win7 and a few buggy ones in between, then ms introduced 10, with its handy back door, for them to pry into your machine (and possibly a new gateway for script kiddies) and a whole new bundle of issues. Life is circular, it seems.

And all the while, Linux becoming more user friendly and easy to use, with a much better community and creeping in on the games market a little..

I have high hopes for Linux..

[BG405]

We did have a couple of decent versions of windows in my mind, with XP and win7

Agreed, I used xp for a few years & it worked quite well (not TOO many BSODs), although its file management left a lot to be desired. That was (mostly) fixed & much improved in Win7 although 7 had its own issues (more overheads to name the worst offender) & would regularly hang for ages when trying to open applications.

Vista Blister was an abomination, hugely bloated (took up around 25GB!!), VERY slow launching & running stuff and constant BSODs. Was always being called on to fix that horrid OS. I never ran that version on my machines. 7, whilst it looked a lot like Vista (which I initially found offputting) was much better in comparison. Things certainly went downhill after Win7 though.

Nothing comes close to modern Linux now, IMHO. Even if there's a really BIG stuff-up (usually man-made it seems) one can usually get into a TTY to fix it.

[SpectreOl]

Agreed, I used xp for a few years & it worked quite well (not TOO many BSODs), although its file management left a lot to be desired. That was (mostly) fixed & much improved in Win7 although 7 had its own issues (more overheads to name the worst offender) & would regularly hang for ages when trying to open applications.

Vista Blister was an abomination, hugely bloated (took up around 25GB!!), VERY slow launching & running stuff and constant BSODs. Was always being called on to fix that horrid OS. I never ran that version on my machines. 7, whilst it looked a lot like Vista (which I initially found offputting) was much better in comparison. Things certainly went downhill after Win7 though.

Nothing comes close to modern Linux now, IMHO. Even if there's a really BIG stuff-up (usually man-made it seems) one can usually get into a TTY to fix it.

Xp was a huge step forward for ms, only to take a step back with vista. Seems to me that ms is doing a drunken waltz - every other os version to break your machine and then a new one to fix it - 1 step forward and a step backwards.. Their affair to be honest - I'm pretty much completely Linux now.

Like you, I was once asked to fix the vista machine and was quite un-impressed by it - never again after that, nor would I install it. Win7 was vista fixed (mostly) and I found it to be my favourite flavour of ms - I used it right up until I turned away from the dark side and into the light. I did try win8, but again, it was a broken os in my view..

If your a gamer or a mainstream business company, you may still need ms as a crutch, but for anything else Linux is better IMHO. I do wonder sometimes, how much longer ms can rely on this slowly failing strangle-hold - surely, its only a matter of time...

[rambo919]

About 3 years ago when it became clear that M$ was intent on completely loosing it's mind, basically win10 being the "last version of windows" was the last straw.... and they can't even make THAT work properly. So this rat started looking for ways to abandon ship. Win7 was the best version they ever made, I even used it since the RC period, yes I liked it that much. Then came win8 and the slightly better "functionally insane" win10 and I was.... nope nope nope bye.

So I started off with LM17 on a laptop, eventually dual-booted my main PC, then came the slight chaos that was LM18 where samba didn't work, PoL stopped working, infinite shutdown times (which I later figured out was an app that the system could not for the life of it manage to force close.... I mean really that was such a basic thing to just kill it and shut down), nvidia drivers sucking, etc. Basically I managed to make it to LM18.2 before rage-quitting linux entirely till now because everything on win7 still "just worked" and I got fed up with the constant struggles.... there is more to life than constantly threatening your PC with physical destruction.

Also the backwardness of some "hardcore" or "old-school" users alienated me a bit, I eventually formed the impression that they still considered winxp the main competition/alternative and were being constantly surprised that win10 even existed. There were constant directives to use the sometimes horribly outdated (and sometimes containing non-functional versions) repo's instead of official ppa's as if it was religious doctrine. It did not help that debian sometimes compiles the packages with minor errors for who knows what reasons. And yes there were even a few left that still regarded anything with a GUI as "just not linux" and contemptible even though they did not always come out and say it outright. Basically a lot of influential people still were caught in dev-centric echo chambers and living in the last decade.

A good sign is a few projects (ultracopier, opensnitch, lutris though I have my doubts about that one) for "normies" are surfacing but I still have a year and a bit to wait for them to mature enough to not needlessly aggravate me. Snaps are a good start but I can see all kinds of possible problems without it being isolated and centrally managed with something like PoL. Still I do see snaps as being a good replacement for ppa's it just needs a bit more thought to it than just plain slapping it on. Same can be said for the new ability to install x86 and x64 versions of packages alongside each other.... it's bound to create utter confusion the way it's currently handled.

I did briefly try opensue and manjaro but found yast dysfunctional and AUR half abandoned. So now with the release of LM19 I again am feeling drawn back and have it installed on a VM to tinker with. Very likely when win7 finally gets abandoned I will dual-boot again with networking disabled on the win7 installation or something will still decide but no way I'll ever use win10 without being forced to. Even though it seems that M$ has patched win7 to be extra unstable and slow the same way they did with winxp at the end it's still better all things considered than either linux or win10. That said though my tune will very like be LM by end 2019.

[rambo919]

If your a gamer or a mainstream business company, you may still need ms as a crutch, but for anything else Linux is better IMHO. I do wonder sometimes, how much longer ms can rely on this slowly failing strangle-hold - surely, its only a matter of time...

One word, MSOffice.

The second thing is cli interfaces terrify the vast majority of people. Either they just don't understand it, think it automatically means someone is hacking/cracking or they are scared they'd do more harm than good if they so much as touch it.

The OEM's respond to what normal people actually want as much as bribery. It's all about business. We can't just blaim windows on every new machine for it's dominance. Which is why M$ is now attempting to mole it's way into linux, the other option might just be them hedging their bets with a switchover to a linux-like windows if they need to though that seems slightly far fetched.

[Arch_Enemy]

These day's, I run mostly linux. Linux on the laptop and dual boot on the pc, mint/win7 (Linux being the default boot).I basically use linux all the time now, it much quicker than ms and I only use ms for gaming.. hopefully one day that will change and major games will hit linux, allowing me to bin Windows altogether.

Or, Canon starts making Linux drivers available again...

[Arch_Enemy]

I am getting closer to ditching Microsoft completely, as Mint Linux evolves and gets better.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft ... x-product/

https://fossbytes.com/xenix-history-mic ... ng-system/

[MurphCID]

I am getting closer to ditching Microsoft completely, as Mint Linux evolves and gets better.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft ... x-product/

https://fossbytes.com/xenix-history-mic ... ng-system/

But in the real world, what does this portend for Linux?

[SpectreOl]

I am getting closer to ditching Microsoft completely, as Mint Linux evolves and gets better.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft ... x-product/

https://fossbytes.com/xenix-history-mic ... ng-system/

But in the real world, what does this portend for Linux?

ms are far from stupid.. Their mantra is "A ms machine in every household". That has always been their mantra and always will be..

That said, with all their blunders, with god awful os versions, the migration to Apple and Linux from ms is is quite obvious and im sure ms also sees a trend that is against their mantra. Is ms-Linux simply a desperate attempt, to try to keep folks under their roof? It cant be to undermine Linux, because thats just not going to happen and is a ridiculous notion..

As for the omen, I actually see this as a good thing for Linux. Hardware vendors target ms machines and if ms is to have their own port of Linux, they will want hardware vendors to support them with working drivers. Surely, this can only be good news for Linux. On the flip side (at least for ms), opening a gateway that may encourage more users to 'try' Linux, making it less scary to those that dont know any better, is a very dangerous tactic - they actually may like it..

It may not be very long lived, but "its too late to close the gate after the horses have bolted" and a flood of Linux drivers would not hurt Linux at all..

[MurphCID]

I think that the tipping point, for MS anyway, would be to port MS Office to Linux. That would be the "killer app" that would possibly cause many people to look at Linux.

[BG405]

That would be the "killer app" that would possibly cause many people to look at Linux.

Probably the biggest remaining hurdle for offices etc. as well. I think you're right there.

[lsemmens]

I think that the tipping point, for MS anyway, would be to port MS Office to Linux. That would be the "killer app" that would possibly cause many people to look at Linux.

+1, I agree.

Maybe M$ are seeing the writing on the wall and changing their business model. Dropping OS development all together and working on "killer" apps instead.

[BG405]

Dropping OS development all together and working on "killer" apps instead.

This would be the most logical way forward, except I doubt it's likely to happen any time soon. They've seemingly been concentrating mostly on bundled software for years now though.

MS Windows is a software suite rather than just an OS. I don't like that, I like to choose my own programs. Linux offers that choice.

[lsemmens]

MS Windows is a software suite rather than just an OS. I don't like that, I like to choose my own programs. Linux offers that choice.

And Linux isn't???? With Windows you have to purchase useful apps like Orifice, Photoshop and the like. With Linux, most are pre-installed and FREE!!!! It is easier to remove said apps in Linux and customise Linux which does mean we DO have more choice in Linux, but I'd dispute the fact that M$ is a software suite, whereas, a default Linux install IS a suite.

[SpectreOl]

With Windows you have to purchase useful apps like Orifice, Photoshop and the like. With Linux, most are pre-installed and FREE!!!!

And while on the subject of office, Libre Office and Open Office are not only free, but a very similar looking interface.. Not only that, but you also get additional features for free, such as pdf export.

Say for instance, you wanted Office and then decided you want to write an e-book.. You would have paid big money for office and now you would be paying more big money for adobe writer (or live with watermarks all over your book and have limited functionality)..

Back to Libre Office / Open Office - pdf export is free and it has a good amount of functionality. You've just saved a ton of money, even if you've done the right thing and left a donation... Even when I was on ms, I still used Libra office, saved £££'s..

[MurphCID]

Great point about Libre Office. I have it on all my computers: this one, the Macbook Pro, my Windows desktop, the Dell G7 Gaming computer, and it works well. I use it regularly when my daughters school sends home homework using MS Publisher (I refuse to spend $100 on Publisher), so I use Libre Office to open and edit those files. I have not used Libre Office as much since it was updated to 6.x, but so far I like it, other than the standard ugly linux fonts and icons.