Built my first PC in High School from scraps. Decided to try Ubuntu 10.04 (current at the time).
I was very impressed with how much performance a free OS could get out of my awful hardware. Have been using Linux in some form as my OS ever since.
this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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My son's first computer was Linux. ;) He was still toddling but wanted to hit my computer, so I set up an old one for him.
I was 14 in 1991 I should add. I switched from minix not long after I could get Linux to boot. I think that was actually 1992. Both the computer and Linux weren't very good back then ..
I have a physical CD of Ubuntu 6.10, back then they were distributing those over the mail and a friend of mine ordered some and gave me. I still keep it.
- Slackware from like 40 3.5 floppy disks.
I started using linux with dual boot in June 2024 where I installed Fedora/Fedora immutable kde and bazzite.
Tried GNOME on my brother's old Laptop but using Extensions for changing one thing(and breaking every update) was annoying
I have been using Fedora till I stumbled across CachyOS
I switched to Cinnamon around this time from KDE I found kde kinda Buggy (heard it's Nvidia or smth) and it just felt uncomfortable
Around December 2024 Where I used Linux full time (no windows dual boot) this is when I found Cachyos (or arch variants) and Cinnamon comfortable the only problem is that Cinnamon doesn't have Vrr,HDR and Wayland for me but I use Gamescope if I need vrr and HDR
I find cinnamon kind of useless
It just has this beige win 7 look, that is somehow both new and old at the same time. You dont have the Macros and Costumisation of Plasma, but you also dont have the rigidness and tablet-style interface of Gnome. You dont have the ressource friendlyness of xfce. The only thing it has is that it can both render qt and gtk in its own style, but xfce already does that with its very win xp like interface, which both qt and gtk have themes for
It just has this beige win 7 look, that is somehow both new and old at the same time. You dont have the Macros and Costumisation of Plasma, but you also dont have the rigidness and tablet-style interface of Gnome. You dont have the ressource friendlyness of xfce. The only thing it has is that it can both render qt and gtk in its own style, but xfce already does that with its very win xp like interface, which both qt and gtk have themes for
I agree with this kinda but I find Cinnamon more comfortable to use then Xfce but I could use xfce
I was in 8th grade so 13-14 years old right?
About the time that Windows 10 came out. I was just messing around and ended up liking it.
Here's what I started with. The release of Windows 95 lured me away from Amiga, but as the Amiga was a very customisable environment, I had this for an escape plan :D
In the Amiga days I was ridiculously lucky and bagged a Silicon Graphics Indy system for pennies, so Unix was no stranger at this point.
Cool, no, not my version but very close to it...
when I first heard about MS recall
in 2002 when my windows me computer start looping on the blue screen of death, with all of my college papers/essays/tests/assignments trapped in it.
the recovery media refused to work because i had upgraded the computer several times and i couldn't afford the $180 windows xp cd. so i bought a linux magazine for $5 that included a copy of mandrake linux installation media and used paper printouts from my college's computer labs to help me rescue my work from the computer.
That's how you do it. Waiting to drown but suddenly learning to fly :D
a month ago, never goin back...so much power, so much free ram. im in love
Slackware. 1993.
I'm old lol.
Been through:
Slackware
Mandrake
Debian
Ubuntu
Redhat , old and new
Fedora
Arch
Knoppix
Pop!
CentOS
Enlightenment
Etc etc..
Right now I'm living on KDE Neon.
Yggdrasil somewhere around ‘93… maybe ‘94. Recompiling a kernel took a VERY long time.
I’ve been doing this a while.
Linux didn't exist until I was 25.
But are we talking earliest age, or length of time using it? I've been running Linux on PCs for over 30 years.
Yes, at least seeing a 50yo guy like me. We come from the 8bit world, there was no linux!
Been there! It was Avery different time.
The first program I wrote was in the Logo Turtle Game on an Apple Iie in 4th grade. Did some BASIC programming on the Apple IIe's building interpreter too.
I use Arduino boards with Atmega, Esp32/8266, and M0 chips on them for embedded projects. These $8 boards have more processing capability then my first desktop computer....
I know it's just nostalgia, but I sometimes really miss the days when you could memorize the entire memory layout of your computer. You knew that if you poked a value into a memory location, some pixels would flip at a certain place on the screen.
It was nice living in such a small, constrained world.
I still live it. I use some Atmega chips like the attiny85. It only has 256 bytes if RAM and 5 i/o pins to work with. I code in C++ so I have 100% control over memory if I want it.
Someday I'll find a reason to work with attiny10 chips... There's almost no resources on it and it's about the size of a grain of rice!
Man, you make me wish I'd have followed an embedded career. When I first entered the market, embedded was niche and the domain of specialty industries like the MIC. If you cut out companies like Lockheed, building stuff to kill people, the job pool was really small. But there was a window, juuust around the time I moved to management, when you could find embedded jobs. I wish now I'd have taken that fork in the path.
Just to put you all on notice: I started my kids on Linux from day 1 of their computing lives. I'm playing the long game here. In another 80 years they're going to be in the longest living users category.
They mostly use Linux as their daily drivers. Any time they have to use windows for school work they also rage at the terrible UI and lack of ease of use.
I started using Linux before you were born, but i also was 20, so you win😄
Purchased a copy of Redhat from compusa in 1997... never did get my modem working with it unfortunately,
Started with Ubuntu's initial 4.10 release back in '04. I wish I still had the Live CD they mailed me. When Ubuntu ditched Gnome for Unity I switched to Mint. Up until a few months ago I was dual-booting Windows alongside it, but with 10's EOL approaching I'm ditching it.
I do keep an old laptop running Win10 specifically for some Audio-related software I just can't get to work in Linux.
I started using linux Slackware in 1996. First time I was paid to install linux on a server in 1998. It was Red Hat 5.2 way before they switch to Enterprise Linux.
Been my desktop daily driver since 1999.
Yes, I'm old.
Caldera in 1999 or 2000 at home. RedHat and SuSE at work.
I got to cut my teeth on CP/M (not nix of course) on a Kaypro II thanks to my uncle. 1982. I owe him a lot for giving me a headstart on computing.
Commodore vic20 was my first, then a TRS80 with CP/M
I installed Ubuntu in 2007 or so, but moved right after and got a new computer, so I didn't really do anything with it. I installed Peppermint 9 on a new laptop a few years before Windows 7 went EOL because it came with Windows 10 installed but couldn't actually run it. Ran great with Linux. When Windows 7 stopped getting security updates, I installed Peppermint on my desktop, too. After the man dev passed away, the project went it a different direction, so I switched to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. That was a few years ago. Still with it, still happy.
My first laptop was an Ubuntu machine with no battery when I was 4. I had no idea what Linux was, I just played the games my uncle had pre-loaded onto it.
In 2006 my university used Ubuntu, I thought 'Wow, this is different!' Tried it out on my own computer but I was a heavy gamer so windows was the best option (hey, Win7 pretty alright anyway!)
Fast forward to about 2022, I try it again but it's not getting incorporated well with my program usage in school (as a teacher).
Fast forward to 2024, worked out that Tencent software is on AUR (teacher in Mainland China) and I figure I'm doing another dive. So far, so good. Little itty bitty glitches especially with Libreoffice but I'm getting by without touching Win10.
In University. In the 90s we used commercial un*x (HP-UX, IRIX, AIX, Solaris/SunOS, SCO) and some others like SVR4, BSD, Minix. Then a guy on usenet talked about making is own kernel running on a 386. My first real full linux install was kernel 0.99 on a 486DX50, around 1993, came in multiple floppies, then to install X11 that was like 10 more floppies! Configuring things was a bit nighmarish.
I have known about Linux pretty early on, roughly the age of 10 (almost 29 now), but didn't get to have a lot of tech interactions. It wasn't until around 2022/3 that I got Cybersecurity / DevOps certs (still can't get a job) and switched to Linux. I have a couple Chromebooks that run Ubuntu Studio and Lubuntu, a tower that used to run Garuda (Arch) and an old Mac that runs CachyOS. I'm more into Arch distros, but the amount of space on each comp and some hardware quirks make it difficult to run my faves. I gave my wife the Strix but she doesn't want to let me convert it to something other than the Windows 11 it runs. I'm still working on convincing her. Lol
I first dipped my toes in when I was probably around 14, messed with Ubuntu and damn small Linux but that was about it. I stuck with Mac as I didn’t enjoy windows and needed something “mainstream” back then. It wasn’t until apple made hackintosh’s somewhat obsolete and Microsoft started cramming AI into windows that I made the switch. I now run NixOS on my gaming rig and personal laptop
i thought i was old for lemmy till i saw the dates in these comments.
I messed around trying to get Redhat 7.2 or 7.3 working but gave up (Q1 or Q2 2002). I later experimented with SuSe (or however it was stylised in Q1 2005), messed about with Knoppix and a few other distros, before properly going all-in on Ubuntu 5.04 when I was 18.
I first experimented with Linux in 1999, but didn't stay with it for long as I never got X11 working. I started using it more seriously in 2001 / 2002 and by the time Windows XP was established, I was a full time Linux user. I was a lot older than you though being in my mid-thirties.
Debian and Mandrake in the late 1990s. And I was already almost three times as old as you were when you started. These days I'm happy with OpenSUSE Tumbleweed for daily use. I tried NixOS but it threatened to break my old brain.
I had a Linux beginners class at my HS in 10th grade but I've forgot about Linux, until 12th grade when 2 of my really nerdie friends started shilling Linux to me, especially pointing out that now you can play windows games on Linux, and not too long after I eventually did the jump when starting my comp sci uni (19 years old) with Manjaro as a first, but I have found happiness in EndevaorOS due to Manjaro being unstable.
My dad had a Knoppix boot CD in a case with all the games, of course I messed with it as a curious child, I have no idea how old I was, but it was my first foray into the wonderful world of not Windows.
Started with Ubuntu at 12. Did a LAN boot to my mom’s laptop somehow, I couldn’t explain it if I tried. It was supposed to be on my PC. Didn’t work in the end and got grounded for “hacking” went back to it though a few years later at 16 and dived around Ubuntu and Gentoo. Never installed gentoo but I certainly kept trying.
My college buddy first told me about Linux at around the start of 1998. After some research I decided I would make the switch at the end of the semester. For a couple years I had mac but I’ve always had a Linux box running.
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