Where, and when, did you start using Linux? Where are you now?

Petter1 , 5 months ago

I started using linux as my mac got unusable with macOS First touch with Linux I had in Work, i test our products which run on an embedded Linux yocto build.

Now, my phone and my buisness windows are now the only proprietary OSs I use (have a pinePhone, bit it is not daily drivable for me)

Now I have the old macbookpro5,2 running Arch and my iMac running openSuse TW. For my smart home, I have a pi Zero 2W running hombridge via hoobs. Ah yea and a router on a board that I got from a friend running on OpnSense. With him I have a proxmox server running.

TimeSquirrel , 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago)

2001, I was 19 in USAF tech school in Biloxi, Mississippi, just bought a second hand computer from someone else in the dorm and needed a budget OS, and the local BX/PX had a copy of Corel Linux for $30. I had no idea WTF it was at the time, I thought it was just some kinda cheap bootleg Windows or something, something with half-ass compatibility like OS/2. I had no clue how to use it and I couldn't get any familiar programs to work, so I just paid another dude like $20 to burn me his copy of Windows 2000 for me.

Didn't even realize its potential until later, 2004 when I got a civilian IT job. Now Debian has been my daily driver for ten years.

Edit: oh yeah, the box came with an inflatable penguin, which I gave to the dorm guard on duty when I got back because he recognized it and I didn't think anything of it. If you ever see this post I want my penguin back now, dude.

WreckingBANG , 5 months ago

I started because of ProxMox on my Server. I started about a Year ago with Linux Desktops because of Privacy. I wanted to only use it for Office and have a Windows Dual Boot for Gaming. Then i tried a few Games on Linux and realized that Proton is great. Then i only used Linux. Then i deleted Windows. Now i love Linux and Hate Windows

cetvrti_magi , 5 months ago

Started more than 2 years ago with Ubuntu, now I’m on EndeavourOS.

Dagamant , 5 months ago

Early 2000s, I was a young pc repair guy and Linux offered a free solution to “what to do with these computers people abandon”. Started out with Redhat when it was free but switched to Ubuntu when it came out. Since then I always ran Linux on a secondary computer or laptop because I needed windows to play games. Back in 2008 I ran Linux exclusively for a while because I couldn’t afford a windows license and I played some games using WINE. As of last year I have again switched to using Linux exclusively due to privacy concerns and Valve making Proton work for most games I play.

peanutbutter_gas , 5 months ago

I dabbled in Linux for a while (since 2009, college). I did some distro hopping for a while ( Ubuntu, opensuse, mint, Debian). I finally mained Linux after windows 8 came out, ugh.

I mained Manjaro and then switched over to Endeavour. I couldn’t be happier. My opinion of Linux keeps getting better and better, but that’s probably because I have to fix my parents computers once in a while. They run windows 10 now. I hate it. Ads in the start menu?! Kill me now.

peanutbutter_gas , 5 months ago

Valve with Proton also helped a lot. Playing games on Linux is easy as pushing play. If I have any problems, I just wait for a glorious egg roll to drop.

CrypticCoffee , 5 months ago

I tried a long time ago on Mandrake or Mandriva, cannot remember. Didn’t stick and eventually after trying to use Windows 10 on a HDD, Linux Mint welcomed me with open arms. Now duel booting on OpenSuse but haven’t started Windows in 6 months. I just don’t need it anymore. Thanks to the Wine and proton teams!

Corngood , 5 months ago

Slackware in 93 or 94, on a 386DX40 with 4MiB ram and a 40MiB HDD. A friend and I split downloading the disk sets 1/2 disks a day on our limited ISP time.

When Netscape came out, I ran it on that machine. It took literally 30 minutes to start (with much swapping), but was actually usable thereafter.

banazir , 5 months ago

My first Linux distro was Mandrake. I’m not exactly sure when it was, but FiveStar sounds about right, so 2003 or so. I’ve since used Gentoo, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and possibly some others. I did use Windows 8.1 for a good few years, but came back to Linux when I saw where Windows was headed. Right now I’m on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, which is pretty darn good, and thinking of maybe hopping on to OpenMandriva, though not out of any real necessity. I have a PinePhone and have used Mobian and PosmarketOS on it. There’s also my first generation Raspberry Pi running Raspbian.

The way modern commercial OSs are developing, I’m extremely glad something like Linux exists. Libre software is the future.

xor , 5 months ago

bout 20 years ago, i was using knoppix and dyne:bolic… then backtrack, then kali…
linux mint, kubuntu, lubuntu… ubuntu…
probably because i like programming and thought hacking was kool…
I think im gonna try Void Linux next… i’ve heard great things…
i’ve still kept my dual boot all this time, because of a couple programs… and a backup for when i brick my linux partition…

boerbiet , 5 months ago

Started out with Mandrake in 1998 and got into Debian shortly after. I moved to Gentoo in 2002. In the later 2000s I only used my desktop for gaming and stopped dual booting for many years. My home server runs BSD and I was using a 2010 MacBook as my laptop. The only Linux box in my home was my HTPC, running Ubuntu.

When I heard of Proton I started dual booting again. In 2020 I got rid of Windows and the aging MacBook. Since then my desktop, laptop and HTPC run on Arch. The server is still FreeBSD.

bloopernova , 5 months ago

Mid 90s at work as a project support technician in Sony Broadcast R&D in the UK. Slackware, then red hat mostly. Installed Linux boxes in various digital TV stations in London in 1999/2000, used to insert interactive games into the broadcast stream.

I was a sysadmin from 99 to about 2018, from then onwards I’m more DevOps. Done a bunch of stuff with CentOS too, including migrating 500k email accounts to our hosted solution. Other cool stuff included a VMware based development environment using Foreman + FreeIPA to auto provision dev VMs with all sorts of puppet code.

Now at home I run Fedora and work on macOS, writing Terraform and Python. And some nodejs too.

Been at it a long ass time now lol

beta_tester , 5 months ago (edited 5 months ago)

I started dualbooting 12 years ago, never used linux. Started again dualbooting 9 years ago, never used linux. Purged windows 2-3 years ago

I’m on silverblue and I don’t care about the system anymore because I don’t interact with it. It auto updates and I’ve got a fedora distrobox. I’d probably do the same if I were on opensuse or arch, meaning nothing would change for me if I would distro hop.

Edit: I fancy with opensuse Aeon but I don’t really gain much. Maybe I’ll install it on my next machine

_haha_oh_wow_ , 5 months ago

I started in the mid to late 90s when my dad brought home old redhat CDs. I don’t really use Linux consistently unless you count my Android phone or my Steam Deck, but the last OS I used was Linux Mint on a Thinkpad W520 maybe