When did you start using Linux and why?

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jbMacAZ
Posts: 61
Joined: Tue Aug 22, 2017 2:08 am

Re: When did you start using Linux and why?

#21 Post by jbMacAZ »

2015. I got tired of having to reconfigure my settings after another large unplanned forced update. I started with Ubuntu 14 to get proof of concept with a liveCD. I set up Mint as a persistent liveUSB for several weeks. Finally, I installed it (dual boot). I have distro hopped, a lot. Rolling releases are great when your hardware is new and not yet well supported. I've even dabbled with kernel building to use unreleased hardware patches. But as the equipment ages, the appeal of a rolling distro fades. MX just seems more balanced. My actual computing needs are simple. But I like to decide when to update or upgrade my system or when to change the interface.
MX-18 on Asus T100CHI (z3775 Intel baytrail) mixed-mode 32 bit UEFI, 64 bit OS
Dell 3250 Inspiron desktop, i5-6400, 64 bit OS

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seaken64
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Re: When did you start using Linux and why?

#22 Post by seaken64 »

Somewhere around 2000 or 2001. I’ve been a power user of computers since starting with CP/M and then moved on to DOS and DR-DOS, then Windows. I was a hold-out for years and did not see the point of a “gui” for well into the Windows era. But I was always reading magazines and books that focused on business use of computers. Things like operating systems, file management, databases, spreadsheets, word processing, etc.

I had interest in companies that were crossing over into Linux such as Caldera, Corel, Borland, IBM, and Oracle. I was browsing in a bookstore and decided to buy a book that included a CD, it was for Slackware, around version 7. I started reading and trying it out on one of my “old” computers, a 486dx/66, that had been replaced by our “new” computer, a Pentium-III running Win98SE. At the time I was more comfortable at the command line and in the file system using something like Midnight Commander. I ended up learning how to set up Xfree and the X windowing system.

My next book with CD was on Red Hat 8, then I bought a software package for SuSE 8 and installed it with KDE. I thought that was cool and I found it a lot easier than Slackware or Red Hat. Eventually I found Vector Linux since I had some “old” computers and Vector made them useful again and by this time Windows XP was locked down by an activation scheme. The internet and viruses were the big things at the time and I had heard that Linux did not have viruses. So I learned to hack config files and scripts to get all sorts of modems and NIC’s to work with Vector. I used Vector Linux the most for such things as browsing the internet (not just the web) and research and that led to lots of downloads and burning CD’s. I would install Slackware and Vector and try to learn Linux.

I tried Knoppix, Simply Mepis, and Puppy. But I continued to find most success with Vector. But after awhile I started running into trouble when I started wanting to use more software packages beyond networking and browsing. I still found Slackware too hard to figure out anytime a software package was not in the default repositories or if it need dependencies that were not installed with the distro version I had installed.

By this time broadband internet was available and I had learned to set up a LAN behind a NAT router. I also started accumulating a lot of old computers from the dump, friends, and our business cast-offs. The computers I had were now either Pentium-III or P4 with 1GB Ram. I started dabbling with Ubuntu.

This eventually led to Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu. Then Peppermint and LXLE. I also used some Turnkey systems based on Ubuntu as servers in the business. I found Xubuntu to be the easiest for me to setup and I became a fan of Xfce, I still use some Xubuntu in my business and in some of my home computers.

As I became better at package management I started looking at Debian, I liked that I could use the apt program from the command line. At the same time I was looking for other Linux distros that worked well on old machines, especially Pentiums 2, 3, and 4 with between 128 Mb and 1024 Mb of RAM, I had success with Puppy but didn’t like the packaging or the documentation. I tried Lubuntu, LXLE, Elementary, Crunchgbang! And WattOS. In my search for a lightweight Linux that was easy to install and modify I came across antiX, probably on Distrowatch.

antiX was a lot like Vector but instead of Slackware it was based on Debian. I liked that I could easily install packages with apt or synaptic. I soon replaced all my Vector and Lubuntu installs with antiX-14/15. I’ve been using antiX as my “old computer” distro ever since.

On some of my systems I had a little more power and more Ram so I took a look at MX-14. It wasn’t quite as nice as Xubuntu back then so I didn’t use it as much as Xubuntu. But I soon got more familiar with antiX and Debian and eventually I landed on MX-17 to replace most of my Xubuntu installs. MX is now my “go to” distro for all computers with more than 1 Gb RAM.

I’m still a power user and comfortable at the command line but I’m not a developer. I like what antiX and MX offers to make Debian easier and to set themselves apart from other distros. MX is very usable without being too complicated. And antiX is the best low-memory Linux out there, hands down.

Seaken64
MX21-64 XFCE & W11 on Lenovo 330S LT. MX21-KDE & MX21-XFCE on Live USB.
MX18-64 & W7, Fedora on HP Core2 DT
MX21-32 XFCE w/ MX-Fluxbox on P4HT DT w/ antiX21, SUSE Tumbleweed, Q4OS, WXP
antiX21 on Compaq PIII 1 Ghz DT, w/ Debian, MX18FB, W2K

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figueroa
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Re: When did you start using Linux and why?

#23 Post by figueroa »

This is a fast moving thread. In 1984 we bought a C-64 "for the family" and the same year I was given an account on a PDP-11(??) running Unix accessed by dial-up. I've been hooked ever since. In 1994 (I think) I downloaded 24 720K disks worth of Slackware after it was announced on UseNet, and used that to develop shell programming scripts to use at work under Unix. On my regular desktop I held out with the Commodore systems then DOS and OS/2, while we were having to run Windows 95 (which has always been a pain) on the desktop at work (Wright Patterson AFB). About 2001 I started using Linux on my main desktop, Slackware, Red Hat, Mandrake, and then about 2004 put Gentoo on the desktop and never looked back. I've never been a paid system administrator, but do maintain Linux systems remotely for my church and its school. The school has been using Gentoo on the desktop for 7-8 years, and we're in the middle over setting up new hardware with Mint XFCE on the desktop, but next time it will most likely be MX. We move slowly and favor stability over bleeding edge. Friends shouldn't let friends do Windows.
Andy Figueroa
Using Unix from 1984; GNU/Linux from 1993

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Artim
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Re: When did you start using Linux and why?

#24 Post by Artim »

I had a WindowsXP machine, new and powerful with a 14.4 baud dialup modem, Celeron processor and 512 megabytes of RAM. I had no idea if that was a lot, but the word "mega" sounds like a lot, and more than 500 of them sounded like a huge amount. That's a lot of mega-somethings, right?

That machine is probably close to 20 years old now, and still runs fast and nimble with AntiX! It's used for schoolwork, email, and web surfing. I don't multi-task anyway (even on my newer 4-GIG machine), so Antix has kept that ancient relic out of the landfill for almost 2 decades!

When WinXP suffered "Windows rot," which is the name some people made up to describe how Windows gets slower and sslllowwwwwerr with time and the cure - at least back then - was to reinstall it. But I didn't have the old WinXP installation disk. Omygosh, now what? I searched for help on my poor old crippled computer for some alternative after learning the price of a new Mac was ridiculous. I ended up taking a "distro chooser quiz" from some web site to help me find a Linux that would work for a technophobic student with "just okay" hardware. The "distro chooser" directed me to Ubuntu, and ordered a LiveCD from a vendor. It arrived in a week, which even now is pretty darn quick. Ubu 8.04. Ugly dirt brown by default, but it did everything I needed, so I installed it, giving it the entire disk. Bye bye Windows!

I played with all of the 'buntu flavors (LXDE wasn't around yet) and chose Xubuntu because it was a whole bunch easier and faster, and had all kindsa options! So I became an Xfce fanboy. Ubuntu is [in]famous for being bricked by updates, though, so I wanted something NOT Ubuntu-based and visited independent PCLinuxOS (Xfce edition), Slackware-based SalixOS, which I still think is awesome, Linux Mint Xfce because it has that cool updater that helps technophobes and newbies avoid those dangerous and deadly upstream updates, and Linux Lite. They're all great! But not on that aging Dell anymore. Not even Linux Lite was light enough, and sure enough, an upstream update (why do updates to a distro intended for novices include Beta software?! Unforgivable!) borked it and sent me off the Ubuntu-based train for good. Heard about MX and how it's the heir of an older distro that did what Ubuntu was supposed to do - make Linux usable by ordinary mortals and casual computer users. Only built on Debian Stable rather than the experimental stuff. MX-18 now runs sweetly and swiftly on my newer machine, and AntiX keeps the old ancient Dell humming along like new.

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baldyeti
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Re: When did you start using Linux and why?

#25 Post by baldyeti »

There is a similar previous thread: what was the first linux distro you used

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Hooten
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Re: When did you start using Linux and why?

#26 Post by Hooten »

About in late 2012. After windows 7. First i was totally mad with the stability of windows. It was very common thing to reinstall windows every few months due to malwares or blue screens. It was also time for me to buy a laptop and i bought a Dell inspiron 3537 with Ubuntu and not windows 8 that every new laptop had upon this new release from microsoft,
After that i never installed windows in my machines. The difference was huge and it was a very pleasant experience. Never had issues with malwares and malicious stuff, also Linux (after few months i started distrohopping) in general was stable not like windows and it was breaking only when i was doing something without knowing what i'm doing with my system. The big difference was this, customization was big thing too, but using an operating system that sparks your curiosity to learn about it, how it works, how it spins...etc it was and still is a really fun thing.
The only drawback for me in the beginning at least was games of course. But now with proton from Valve, has made wine a pain-free process and it looks like that hole "gaming" nagging thing about Linux is not an issue any more.

Also MX finally stopped me from distrohopping all these years. Thank you MX team.

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D800
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri Dec 29, 2017 6:41 pm

Re: When did you start using Linux and why?

#27 Post by D800 »

Back when I was in college, there was an elective class on Linux. I think the distro they had us use was Red Hat. The university was Windows heavy and being able to use something else was a refreshing change. Since I was a gamer I stuck with Windows for many years after. However, I always kept at least one book on Linux on my bookshelf since I took that class. I always had a curiosity about Linux. I experimented with a few different distros PC Linux OS, Ubuntu Studio to name a few. However, somewhere around the release of Windows 7 I started getting tired of using Windows. The release of Windows 10 was the jumping off point for me. MX Linux is my daily driver at home that I use full time now. I have one program I use Windows for at home. Unfortunately my company uses Windows and that will not change. A work day without a computer issue, glitch, crash, etc. is almost non-existent at my workplace. Firing up MX Linux at home is a feeling of zen. Using MX Linux just plain works - that is why I use it today.
Even though I have dabbled in Linux for years, I am still a newbie. I learn new concepts as needed because I no longer have the time as I once did due to other life responsibilities.
Thank you for everyone involved MX Linux's success - and thank you for this forum.

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Asrael
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Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2019 4:40 pm

Re: When did you start using Linux and why?

#28 Post by Asrael »

Way back when desktops were the only affordable system: Slackware 3.0 (mid 90's?) quickly followed by 3.1; Tried Debian (6 floppys to install - try that without an error); Redhat (hated it); Suse - it was great until it sold out; Ubuntu until they destroyed the desktop (Unity); Then a long period of Windoze - dropped my P4 for an i5 laptop: started experimenting again with Linux after using Raspbian; tried Linux Lite, Mint Cinnamon, Manjaro Cinnamon (I like the last two - amazing how good Linux is these days); was passed an old desktop cast-off so the obvious thing was to install Linux; (XFCE didn't seem to like my laptop); currently loving MX xfce with a backup install of Mint xfce (dual booting off separate SSDs). I still have Win10 on a laptop for when nothing else works. However booting Windows after not using it for a while seems to kill the machine until it's done updating and allows you to use the OS you've paid for.
But despite all this I'm still a novice!
Forgot the why: Back when I started dabbling with Linux MS owned the personal computer. Linux put an end to that. It smelt of freedom and given that it was also free in monetary terms it was simply too amazing to ignore.
MX Linux 21.3 64 bit, Asus M4A77T, Athlon II X2 260, Radeon HD5570, Realtek RTL8192EE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter, 16Gb RAM, 2 x 500Gb Sata SSD

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rasat
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Re: When did you start using Linux and why?

#29 Post by rasat »

In 1996 I found one CD in my office (Nairobi). One friend of mine working in the same office, brought it from Singapore. Got curious, did an install and started using Linux from that day onward. Same as Linus Torvald, I am also born in Helsinki. I didn't know him but I simply started to dislike Windows. Learned to use Linux on my own until I joined Arch Linux in 2002, where I learned the in and outs of Linux.

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Redacted
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Re: When did you start using Linux and why?

#30 Post by Redacted »

Sometime in the early 2000s.
I was fed up with many things about Windows (98). Privacy concerns, security concerns, their whole business model, to be honest.
Since then I've always had a Linux only system. It has always more than sufficed for the things I do.
I used Ubuntu, then tried Red Hat just before it discontinued the free version.
I went back to Ubuntu, but at some point went to Linux Mint for quite a while.
Finally made the switch to MX at the beginning of 2017.
The incredible freedom linux gives the user has been worth all the (not so) tough times it took to learn it.

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