How Linux entered into your life!!!

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jahid

How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by jahid »

I am pretty curious about how everyone was first introduced with this free world known as Linux. It seems pretty interesting to hear the story of someones first acquaintance with Linux/Unix. I am not talking about Mac though.

Here's mine:

My first introduction with Linux began with Linux Mint 10 julia. I knew only the version number then, not the code name. It was my second year of university. One day a junior (not from my department) came with a disk with Linux Mint 10 burned inside. He got it from his seniors and didn't even know what it was for. But I was interested just because it was an OS which is not windows. So i installed it within my windows installation and started exploring. After some time I noticed that, what in the world! it can see everything, access everything, delete everything even the viruses. Poor windows viruses... they all got killed that day and buried deep inside my hard disk awaiting getting replaced by another files and literally be thrown to hell for their heinous crimes in this life :lol: :lol: . I was amazed and got addicted to it in no time and started boasting about my new born power (dealing with virus was considered as a supreme power) within my friend circle. Some of my friends was a little acquainted with ubuntu. I managed a ubuntu 9.10 disk but couldn't make it work properly with my pc. That's how Linux entered into my life......and i am happy about it.....
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
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xenopeek
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Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by xenopeek »

How accidental and sudden that you started using Linux! For me it was more gradual.

I recall trying to get Debian and Red Hat to work in the late '90s. Didn't work out, but some spark was ignited. Some time later I started working with UNIX servers at work. Fast forward to 2006, and being completely fed up with Windows. Probably from some magazine CD I installed Ubuntu and was hooked. Those early releases man, takes me back :) Having used UNIX at work made the transition easy for me, at least for the command line and file system.

I stuck with Ubuntu for 6 years, till the arrival of Unity as default. It was a disaster on my hardware; random crashes throughout the day. I switched to Linux Mint 11 and the rest is public history on this forum :)
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RacerBG

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by RacerBG »

I learned about Linux in 2009 thanks to Ubuntu 9.04 but I never tried it because I was still a die hard XP user. Somewhere in 2012 I was brave enough and tried Ubuntu 12.04 as a dual-boot with Windows 7. I was amazed how fast it was compared to Windows but still I wasn't ready for Linux. Then on 3rd of March 2013 after little investigation and a lot headaches around the dying Windows 7 I tried Mint 14 Nadya and you know what happened next... ;)
jahid

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by jahid »

xenopeek wrote: I stuck with Ubuntu for 6 years, till the arrival of Unity as default.
Hmm, the arrival of unity as default, till then I used to use both LM and ubuntu with equal pace in different partitions. But poor ubuntu..., it lost an important user (that's me :lol:) partially, immediately after it made unity as the default DE.
It's not my fault, I tried several times to like it, but no matter how much I try, I just can't make me to like the Unity Destop. Now I have a separate partition to do experiments on this kind of alien beings.

Disclaimer: I neither have any enmity with Unity nor any friendship.
jahid

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by jahid »

RacerBG wrote:Then on 3rd of March 2013 after little investigation and a lot headaches around the dying Windows 7 I tried Mint 14 Nadya and you know what happened next... ;)
You even remember the date... :D
eanfrid

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by eanfrid »

Back in 1998 when I was an IT manager, I wanted to really experiment with this new Linux thing to see what was better than in Windows 3.11 and Windows 95. I first tried the Mandrake Linux and tried many others. But none actually convinced me to be fit at least for desktop use. A few years later I finally found the distrib I was looking for: Debian Woody. Meanwhile, I became a freelance IT consultant and chose to get rid of Windows as soon as possible for my own stuff.

Since fall 2005 and Debian Sarge, I only use Linux (or NetBSD-FreeBSD) for any computer I own, for either work or home use. For beginners, I was still looking for a suitable Linux distro. MEPIS used to be good but I discovered Linux Mint Maya and it soon replaced MEPIS in my "recommend" list for would-be Windows-switchers.
killer de bug

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by killer de bug »

I have ever wanted to try Linux. I was in high school at the beginning of the 2000's. I had a disk to install Red Hat. But on the family's computer it was impossible to install. My parents would not let me do this. Finally in June 2008, at the end of my 3rd year at the university, I decided to try Linux on my laptop. I was advised to try Linux Mint. I installed it and loved it. But it was freezing occasionally and I had to perform hard reboot to solve this. I was unable to solve this issue, so I tried Debian and OpenSuse during the summer. I kept OpenSuse for 1 year but for a strange proxy setting I was unable to install software or to upgrade it at the uni. But Firefox was working fine...

I got away of Linux for some months in 2009. I had bought a new laptop with Vista and moved in a hurry in Canada for my last year of studies. No time to install Linux. In December Vista had already killed me. Constant updates, reboot as soon as I wasn't looking the screen for 10 minutes... And one day I was unable to save a file in the HD. I did not have the right. On my computer, my HD, with an admin account. Do you believe this? :lol:

I went to the uni, and in the evening I downloaded Linux Mint 8. I installed it on a second partition and felt in love. I had to use Windows during my studies. But 1 year later, as soon as everything was over, I installed Linux Mint 10 on the entire HD. Since then I don't have any Windows OS at home. Freedom... :)
niowluka

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by niowluka »

2005. I had to go to a library with my then girlfriend, and in IT section I found a book about Linux and thought to give it a try. I vaguely knew it from university and I actually wasn't expecting a 'desktop' system. I thought it would be fully CLI based and I'd have it alongside Windows and just practice some commands.

The book came with a Mandriva installer CD, which would not work on my laptop (well, the mouse wouldn't work, which at that time was a show stopper). I didn't give up and on some forum I found someone who said a new distro called 'Ubuntu' worked on his exact same laptop. So I installed it and... loved it !! It was either 5.04 or 5.10 release, flash endlessly kept on crashing the browsers, the system used to hang on daily basis, I had no idea what I was doing but somehow I knew this was 'my' OS. After a few months I moved on and I went through Debian, Gentoo, Suse, Slackware and Arch, before completing a (almost) full circle and ending up with Mint a couple of months ago.

Right now I'm fully Linux compliant, I use JFS for everything and I simply do not see myself using Windows again. Ever.
BlackVeils

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by BlackVeils »

i didnt know there was a world outside of windows, then i somehow randomly saw a little information about ubuntu and slax. the idea amused me, as i'm a GUI geek, i liked to explore different software - if it was relevant to me.

time went by, the small curiosity nagged somewhat, leading me to to read about how a ubuntu based system would be the safe option for a beginner, due to hardware and community support. i looked around, chose zorin because it said about being customisable.

i didnt really know anything, just that there were inbuilt software channels with linux-only software, and i didnt need any Windows specific programs, so i removed Windows with the understanding that i could put it back if needed. i didnt know what i was getting myself into, but i was willing to explore and learn.

it was strange at first, but i quickly figured out how to tweak things to be more efficient for me etc i was enjoying the process, had no driver problems or other issues, i geeked linux every day..... 3 years later, and i still enjoy linux, i appreciate the freedom, no inclination towards using Windows. i had fun with geeky projects and helping on forums. every day i have read a lot and followed linux news. its only recently that i stopped being as geeky, and am settling down with Mint 17 xfce, or a general 14.04 base.
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jimallyn
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Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by jimallyn »

I had always been unhappy with the quality of Microsoft products, and Microsoft's business practices, and had long wished there was an alternative. In 2002, a guy I knew vaguely came in to my shop and gave me a Mandrake Linux CD. I installed it, and was hooked. Shortly after that, Xandros came out, and I switched to that. I continued to use Xandros as my main distro until recently, when I got a new computer and installed Mint 17 Cinnamon on it. I still have my computer with Xandros 4 on it, and another computer with Xandros 1 on it, but they don't get used much now that I've got my new computer with Mint on it. I actually have win98 on two of my old computers, and an old 386 machine with win3.11 on it, but they don't get used much, either. I have turned several of my friends and family members on to Linux and Open Source software, and they like it as much as I do.
“If the government were coming for your TVs and cars, then you'd be upset. But, as it is, they're only coming for your sons.” - Daniel Berrigan
catfish12

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by catfish12 »

I use to use windows from 98 xp windows 7 got feed up with slow downs virus malware etc tried a few distros to get my sound
working and graphics figured it out with terminal commands acer 8935g working great :D mint 15 16 17 xfce got lots of ram
but like the quickness of xfce. This got me to the stage of making a new desk top to run on linux mint 17 xfce everything just ran out
the box no problems :wink: and thats how i got using Linux what a good day that was :D
jahid

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by jahid »

catfish12 wrote:I use to use windows from 98 xp windows 7 got feed up with slow downs virus malware etc
That occurred to me too. I was so annoyed with windows viruses that i consider the day i got that first LM 10 disk, as my personal Independence Day.. :lol:
gtsfer

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by gtsfer »

My actual first exposure to to Linux was in the corporate arena some years ago.

But I can thank the demise of Windows XP and a brief glimpse of W8 (on someone else's hardware) for my decision to install Linux on my own gear at home and to learn more about it. It was the best thing M$ ever did for me. So W8 was actually a good thing, even though I wouldn't consider touching it with a ten foot pole.
OrangeShark

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by OrangeShark »

I've always heard about Linux hear and there on the internet but never actually tried it out. Then just before going to University I was thinking, why haven't I tried it out? So I went and installed Ubuntu and fell in love. I was pretty much able to do all my school work in Linux except for some window specific stuff.
RacerBG

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by RacerBG »

jahid wrote:
RacerBG wrote:Then on 3rd of March 2013 after little investigation and a lot headaches around the dying Windows 7 I tried Mint 14 Nadya and you know what happened next... ;)
You even remember the date... :D
The same day I registered here. ;) By the way 3rd of March is the date when the Bulgarian state was re-established as the Principality of Bulgaria in 1878 so I can easily remember this.
apemanx

Share your journey to up to Linux mint...

Post by apemanx »

I only recently started using LMDE/Other mint versions full time. Been using Linux daily for 9 years now.
I wondered about the "Linux journey" the brought me here, and would love to read some other stories of how people got to this point (the point of writing on the MINT forum and using Mint)


What was your Linux Journey that got you to the lovely Mint?


When I started I was given a RHEL 4 copy from my Computer Sciences Lecturer in my First Year --- That was learning curve!
From that struggle I moved to a few Linux Format CD distros before I settled on Ubuntu.
When my Laptop motherboard failed a while back I started playing with Slackware, openSUSE, Debian, Debian Testing and some lioghtweight distros - I needed some new flavour. That got me to Mint. I wanted something directly based of Debian and that got me here!

Now I'm very happy!

Thanks

Hope to hear some more cool stories.
Last edited by xenopeek on Tue Aug 12, 2014 8:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: merged to this topic
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Pierre
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Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by Pierre »

I had always been unhappy with the quality of Microsoft products, and Microsoft's business practices,
and had long wished there was an alternative
too many updates, patches & when it's a re-install - too many hoops to jump through.
- and don't start on that activation nonsense. :twisted:

circa 2005 and a Mandrake cd on the front cover of a UK Linux mag - in the local newspaper shop.
- have been buying PC magazines since the 90s, but the number / type have dropped away dramatically in recent times.
& even the UK based Linux magazines have diminished in recent years.

and then there was "Ubuntu shipIT" - lots of five at a time,
one for me & four to give away 8)
- but then they stopped those. :(
& broadband hadn't got to my area - yet.
- a calamity - that was.

even now, a new version of LinuxMint @ ~850Mb - can take 3 hrs - to download.
- 3g data speeds aren't always the best Y'know.
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/dev/urandom

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by /dev/urandom »

jahid wrote:I am pretty curious about how everyone was first introduced with this free world known as Linux.
^ I thought so once, then I found this article.

Anyway: Back in the mid-90s, classmates of mine told me of S.u.S.E. Linux, version 5.3 or so. At school we had two IT labs with WfW 3.11 and one with varying Linuxes, mostly S.u.S.E., IIRC.

One day I was brave and bought S.u.S.E. 6.0 (should've been 1998) and I even had a t-shirt with one of its weird 3D "logos" on it. I played a bit with KDE 1.1 (?), but it soon was too boring for me, and I went back to Windows. I tried a couple of Linuxes after that, I guess I had the most fun with Red Hat (I really liked its BlueCurve theme), but all of them lacked a good reason to drop my customized Windows. Of course, some of my servers always ran Debian Linux until 2013, but I didn't see a valuable advantage of having a Linux desktop.

My very last non-virtualized Linux left my hard disk in 2012, it was a dual-booted Fedora 17-pre. Some update completely broke the boot process, I couldn't get into the system anymore. That was the last drop.

At least I learned two things from that:

1. Don't try new systems on your primary machine.
2. Linux is not the only answer.

I started diving into the BSD world after my last bad experiences with Linux and I won't look back. I bought a dedicated laptop just for that, my Windows machine won't see any dual-boot anymore. Of course Windows still has a virtual machine to randomly take a look at what's going on here, including Mint, Crunchbang (lovely!) and Arch.

Isn't it nice to have the choice?
killer de bug

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by killer de bug »

Pierre wrote: even now, a new version of LinuxMint @ ~850Mb - can take 3 hrs - to download.
- 3g data speeds aren't always the best Y'know.
I thought Perth was a big city with high speed net... :shock:
gtsfer

Re: How Linux entered into your life!!!

Post by gtsfer »

Pierre wrote:even now, a new version of LinuxMint @ ~850Mb - can take 3 hrs - to download.
- 3g data speeds aren't always the best Y'know.
Wow, I would have thought Perth had high speed internet too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth
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