Why did you start using Linux?

[LinuxUserSince2013]

I'm thinking about an online conversation I am having.... I'm scratching my head, because I know why I started using Linux. Privacy and Security were my main two reasons. And thought that was the main reasons why most people start using Linux.

 

[KGIII]

I used UNIX long ago. When I retired, I no longer needed Windows for anything. So, I switched everything to Linux, as I was already familiar with Linux on servers and the desktop.

 

[deb_user]

I bought an eee-pc when they first came out, and it came with a custom version of Linux. It wasn't ideal for me, so I started trying different Linux distros, and soon abandoned Windows entirely. I haven't had a Windows box since, other than in a VM for occasional toying with.

 

[dos2unix]

Me and a partner were the first ISP in the area. Back in the dial up modem days.
There really weren't any other options in those days. I think eventually got a PowerPC Mac,
so we had two OS's for a while. We were a slackware shop. The company is long gone,
But sometimes you gotta remember who broght ya to the dance.

That was over 30 years ago. Since then, I've only had Linux/UNIX jobs.

 

[LinuxUserSince2013]

I first heard about Linux was in 1998 or 1999. It was slackware, and I no use for Linux because I felt that Windows was the best, and since everyone used it why come over to Linux? You remember when Windows 8 came out? Microsoft decided to do away with the start menu? That was the time when I decided, I did not want spend money on a touch screen system. I started my real journey into the Linux world. When Windows 10 came out, and linux/windows users on youtube started complaining about the new end user agreement to Windows 10, I printed the whole thing and read it. I was horrified by what I was reading! I tried to stay completely away from Windows 10 without any luck. While 90% of what I do is on Linux, I still boot into Windows for a few hardware things, that Linux can't do for me.

 

[gvisoc]

Curiosity!

I was in my last year of high school, and my brother was in second year of the degree we both studied. The labs of 2 out of 3 majors were run on Linux for all their respective subjects: Telematics on Red Hat Linux (5.2 at the time) and Communications and Signals Processing on Debian (Bo), so my brother came one day with a bunch of floppies, a CD of the Red Hat, and a very thick manual, and we got to install it on a 400 MB partition. It took us about 5 hours to leave the computer with a dual boot with Windows 95 and everything restored (applications and data), as that was the computer our dad used to run his business.

I was sidekicking just out of curiosity, as we didn't use it at high school, and that was the reason I threw myself on this rabbit hole almost 28 years ago: curiosity and exploration. Back then, Windows 95 was just a bad, closed-source product, but not as obnoxiously toxic as today.

 

[osprey]

I'm thinking about an online conversation I am having.... I'm scratching my head, because I know why I started using Linux. Privacy and Security were my main two reasons. And thought that was the main reasons why most people start using Linux.

There's quite a few responses that reflect upon this question around starting linux in this thread from December 2024 where the OP asks "How did you start using the Linux operating system?" here: https://www.linux.org/threads/linux-operating-system.54628.

In post #10 my own immediate reasons were outlined for moving to linux. It was security related because the windows operating system that I was using caught an email worm that infected the machine. That experience was extremely disruptive and annoying at the time so windows was discarded and replaced by RedHat linux.

In addition to that practical reason, the open source nature in the philosophical underpinnings of the linux ecosystem were also very appealing.

One influential reading was by Eric S Raymond called "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" about which there's info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cathedral_and_the_Bazaar. Basically it outlined two models of software development, the more authoritarian one dubbed the "Cathedral" in which development was controlled and progressed through a controlling group with all the constrictions that entails, and a second model dubbed the "Bazaar" which is the open source model enabling contributions from anyone from anywhere to be made for the development of the project without the Cathedral type of constrictions. Linux was founded on the Bazaar model in this conceptualisation.

The Bazaar model closely resembles the open nature in the common practice of science where the developments and results of the seeking of knowledge are freely shared for the ultimate advancement of humanity. On-going research and results are usually published in journals or by other means to be made freely available for the benefit of all and especially for those who are interested.

Another aspect that made linux appealing was the story of its origins from a student who followed his own curious interests, made some initial headway and invited anyone else who was interested to develop his vision together with him. There were no company commercial imperatives, no organisational pressures, rather just an individual working much like an artist might create their work to fulfil a vision they have. It's an inspirational story which is outlined in the book of 2001 called: "Just for Fun: The story of an accidental revolutionary" by Linus Torvalds and David Diamond. It's freely available online from a number of sources as a pdf.

 

[kc1di]

I started with Linux in 1995 Slackware at the time. I started using it because a couple programs I wan't for Ham Radio were not in Windows but in slackware. Remember install it from about 15 floppy discs. Took a bit of work to get it going back then there were no package managers and every thing need to be manually configured. I had some Unix experience prior to linux. But in any event it stuck I would dual boot window up through win 7 and then never used windows on my own machines after that. Been just Linux ever since. It all works for me.

 

[MikeWalsh]

With me, it's been a case, I think, of 'comfortable familiarity'.

At EOL for XP I'd had it with Windows. I needed summat to replace it with, Googled the issue & discovered all these free OSs, and dived right in. Went with Ubuntu 'cos everybody & his dog recommended it, but it was rather heavy for my elderly hardware at that time.

Distro-hopped for a while, looking for summat better. Canonical forced my hand a couple of months later by dropping support for the onboard Radeon GPU. All it did after that was crash all the time.

An acquaintance suggested trying 'Puppy'. With nowt to lose - and having tried her the previous year - I did.....and absolutely everything worked, OOTB, from the word 'go'. I didn't look any further. 'Puppy' did everything I wanted, along with being a tinkerer's paradise.

From the very first trial, 5 more months will see my 13th anniversary with 'our Pup'.....and around a dozen using Linux full-time. I found 'the one for me' a VERY long time ago.

(shrug...)


Mike.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

I started using Linux a Long time ago (for my age)- about 2018-2020. Mint x32 on a tower that ran XP, because I could not get the Internet on XP to work..

Dabbled with it on and off for a while,

Used to tweak windows, which really got me intrigued on Linux

Gave up a while later while going through a hard time

Recently, My surface was having issues with explorer,

Got a PS5 for games..

And what sealed the the coffin was a crash while reinstalling.

Went Mint,

Then Kubuntu and MX.

Not looking back, and (Besides camera) my surface is a rocket with A quarter of the ram usage...

Plasma on it brings back them ' tweaking days on an old Dell that self-destructed.

I still like the Win GUI from 8.1 on back, and keep a few running those systems just for exploring and GUI tweaking, but my daily is an IPad for school/tv, and my SP8 with Kubuntu and MX.

 

[theLegionWithin]

per the previous that @osprey linked - my response there is the same though I've switched things around a bit, my main rig has been replaced with a mini pc with vanilla Arch, my failover laptop has been switched over to CachyOS, my testbench laptop has fedora on it now (though I do distro hop its only on that one laptop). dns sink still runs dietpi (and is a breeze to administer, I only ssh in to update it every 3 or 4 months). the win10 voip solution (via google voice) is probably getting switched over to something else soon - havent decided what yet.

I get enough of the win11 stuff at work, I dont need it here at home.

 

[lomszz]

I simply love the control Linux brings to me, also I'm starting to hate Microsoft more and more by their choices. Switch sure wasn't easy, I kept switching to Windows and back to Linux multiple times.

 

[MikeRocor]

I had taken an intro to Unix course at college and got hooked on shell scripting. I had a history of writing some non-trivial batch programs on MS DOS / Win 95 platforms but the "batch" language was kind of limiting, so shell scripting hit a kind of "sweet spot" for me.

But I'm also a bit of a control freak about my computers and my unfamiliarity with the Linux boot process was a stumbling block (because of the initrd that just goes away entirely upon the system switching over to the "real" root file system on disk - at that time, I was not able follow that leap from what was referenced in the bootloader to the actual running system) so I never did much with my first redhat linux system.

It wasn't until I got involved with mini-linux systems (DSL) that I really got a handle on linux and became comfortable using it for pretty much everything. To this day I'm using a "min-linie" but now it's Tiny Core, which is a -huge- step up from DSL.

So my first reason for using Linux was for scripting/automating tasks but soon all the other reasons started becoming important to: control, learning, speed, FOSS, privacy and all the rest of the whole linux "thing".

 

[Whovianime]

I started to use Linux because it was customizable to max and I like that, I can resize and change colors and icons on EVERYTHING and every setting is at my fingertips, I don´t need to search and then wait 2-5 seconds for windows to find what I was looking for.
Using Linux reminds me of when I was using Windows XP back when my mom got that old bulky pc back in 2009, I was 9 years old and I could do whatever I wanted on it. I learned a lot from it, too.

 

[SEAPOPSICLE]

mainly because "f-word, we ball" and seeing I can't install the program I need is another reason that I should try out linux

the one thing holding me from trying linux out is beacuse I just think It seems like I have to typey-type to do something and not this point-and-do it, like old windows ms-dos or stuff

 

[gvisoc]

I have to typey-type to do something

That is optional. You have the terminal for the same kind of things you have PowerShell in Windows.

 

[tpkusr]

My first Linux experience was around 2003 when my friend suggested I try Red Hat Linux. Unfortunately, I didn't like it that much.
After using XP for a long time, Windows announced not to support it anymore, and they wanted you to change your hardware and Windows version every few years.
So, I was looking for a Linux distro which was minimal and fast. Then I found Lucid Puppy. I was amazed by its speed and simplicity. Then I moved to Tahrpup, and then started to use Dog Linux, and now I am using Porteus Linux.

 

[KGIII]

The Cathedral and the Bazaar"

Well worth reading.

 

[deb_user]

Most Linux users typey-type in the terminal because it's faster and more efficient. But everything can be done in the GUI if desired, just like in Windows. It's harder, but it can be done.

 

[KGIII]

Well worth reading.

Also, I should point out that it is (of course) free.

https://monoskop.org/images/e/e0/Raymond_Eric_S_The_Cathedral_and_the_Bazaar_rev_ed.pdf

It uses an open publishing license, and so we can share it here. Most of the Linux ebooks you find online are likely to be pirated. They're actually not legal to share. (Note: There are free Linux ebooks out there.)

But, this one can be shared.

If it were more contemporary, I suspect it would have used a 'Creative Commons' (CC) license.

By the way, all of these licenses are backed by copyrights. It is the copyright laws that enforce things like the GPL, OPL, and CC licenses. They are not ceded to the 'public domain'. They allow and restrict, all backed by the force of copyright laws. The author or copyright owner can decide which rights they grant, which is something you are free to do. They just use these existing license formats for simplicity, clarity, consistency, etc...

(I use CC BY 4.0 for my material.)