It's time for a poll. How long have you used Linux?

Since 2008/09 I was "brave" enough to try out a live version (burned on DVD) which I used to replace my malware infested Windows machine. Back in those days I knew diddly squat about computers or networking or any of that. I wasn't even interested in computing in general.

But by using that Live CD (Ubuntu, I remember well) and reading the documentation within I got an idea of the whole computer thing and got interested in the possibilities.
So after 1 year of doing live sessions I picked up the courage and installed it.

Never looked back. Tried MAC OS for a bit on a MacbookAir I bought from a colleague but it's just not the same is it?
Running GNU/Linux exclusively since 2013.
 


I've been using Linux since 2008 that was also when I discovered it. It all started when I saw youtube videos of people installing MacOS on a PC and I had no idea of the existence of Linux.
 
I started at my job in 1994... I was introduced to Linux in 1996. For those of you who are old enough to remember The Jetson's, It was like when Mac the robot met Rosie. Burrrrderet BinGgGgG. Mac meets Rosie
 
The first Distro I installed was Ubuntu. I don't know if you guys remember Wubi. It was a windows installer that install Ubuntu on your computer without the need to partition your hard drive. You just ran the .exe and rebooted the PC. The boot menu would come up and you would select Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux. It worked really well and allowed me to learn linux. I imagine more than a few people got started in linux that way. Gnome and Synaptic Package Manager helped me navigate linux until I could start using the command line. This was around 2009 or so. I just had just gotten out of the Army around that time and had some spare time to mess around with my PC.
 
KGIII said:
My answer isn't really "right". I used Unix for years. When Linux came out, I played with it a number of times. I was playing with Linux when RedHat was still something you could buy a CD for at Best Buy.

But, I didn't use Linux exclusively until about 2007 or 2008. That's less than 15 years. So, that's what I picked.
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I rather liked that Eunuchs OS. :) But I use Debian and Ubuntu mainly. If I'm extra-jacked-up on Coffee (Coffee darker than my closet), I may even run *BSD as well.
 
shadypark78 said:
The first Distro I installed was Ubuntu. I don't know if you guys remember Wubi. It was a windows installer that install Ubuntu on your computer without the need to partition your hard drive. You just ran the .exe and rebooted the PC. The boot menu would come up and you would select Windows XP or Ubuntu Linux. It worked really well and allowed me to learn linux. I imagine more than a few people got started in linux that way. Gnome and Synaptic Package Manager helped me navigate linux until I could start using the command line. This was around 2009 or so. I just had just gotten out of the Army around that time and had some spare time to mess around with my PC.
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Wow. That brings back memories. Ubuntu had Unity then. I miss Ubuntu with Unity.... :\ Also, thank you for your service, good sir/ma'am. How long were you in the Army for? :)
 
blackneos940 said:
But I use Debian and Ubuntu mainly.
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I did some math/memory digging later and I switched to Linux around maybe August of 2007 - exclusively. As mentioned, I'd played with it prior. I want to say August? Maybe late July? Ah well...

But, as for your Ubuntu thing, I'm actually an Ubuntu Member (and a Lubuntu Member). That just means I help the projects out, but I mostly work with Lubuntu. But, I do get a snazzy @ubuntu.com email address.

I don't know if I get to keep it after I stop helping out.
 
blackneos940 said:
Wow. That brings back memories. Ubuntu had Unity then. I miss Ubuntu with Unity.... :\ Also, thank you for your service, good sir/ma'am. How long were you in the Army for? :)
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I know, I almost forgot about Wubi myself. I use debian and ubuntu quite a bit. I was in the Army for 6 years (active duty) and 1 year in the Army National Guard. I was an Infantryman for 4 years, and then I reclassed to a Medic for my last three years. I loved every minute of it, and count myself lucky to have survived and to have the honor of wearing the uniform. I deployed twice to Iraq. I was in the 3rd Infantry Division which was the first unit to enter Iraq, and Baghdad. Then I went back for the Surge, which was a whole different kind of deployment, but with the 101st Airborne (Air Assault).
 
In the near future I will only use Linux. Because Linux; It is the best choice for privacy, speed and customization.

I get better performance than most story-based games compared to Windows. I don't really trust online tests either. Because when I test it myself, I get very high FPS.
 
galiban said:
Because Linux; It is the best choice for privacy, speed and customization.
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It can be those things, or maybe defaults/starts as those things, but it's up to you to make it those things/keep it as those things.

Which is great. It really is.

You can still load it up with cruft and make it slow. It's still reliant on you to keep your data private. Linux is great for tweaking until you go one tweak too far and burn the whole thing down.

For example, all the privacy built into the system (or at least non-invasive stuff added to the system) is still only so private if you decide to login to Facebook with your real name. (That's just a wild example.)

And, as I said, it's great. You get to do that with Linux, and more.

Once you switch full-time, you'll be at the start of a great adventure in learning. Well, you can... You can learn as much as you want and there will still always be more to learn.
 
KGIII said:
It can be those things, or maybe defaults/starts as those things, but it's up to you to make it those things/keep it as those things.

Which is great. It really is.

You can still load it up with cruft and make it slow. It's still reliant on you to keep your data private. Linux is great for tweaking until you go one tweak too far and burn the whole thing down.

For example, all the privacy built into the system (or at least non-invasive stuff added to the system) is still only so private if you decide to login to Facebook with your real name. (That's just a wild example.)

And, as I said, it's great. You get to do that with Linux, and more.

Once you switch full-time, you'll be at the start of a great adventure in learning. Well, you can... You can learn as much as you want and there will still always be more to learn.
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It works with performance. Using Unity3D and Android Emulator with 3.2 GB Ram is a great thing.
Doesn't compromise on speed

 
Using since 1996 , Red Hat was the version I started with . Used Linux Mint and Ubuntu for the ease of install and use . But Also used puppy linux and elementary os . Still searching for a version with some visual goodies and summprt for my old amd E1 6010 .
 
Was a webmaster back in the late 90s early 2000s on Solaris, and when I left I was done.
Came back to linux a little over a year ago, and of course had forgotten what little I had learned all those years ago.
Four computers in my home, and only one not on Linux, and still using Windows just waiting on a client that needs a cheap "hold me over pc" to sell it to.
;)
 
xlbooyahlx said:
Was a webmaster back in the late 90s early 2000s on Solaris
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I was a DEC (Digital) customer back in the day. It's a long story but I was poor and my academic research was sponsored (in part) by Digital Equipment Corporation. (They had a 64 bit "Alpha" system in the early 90s!)

They sold a bunch of stuff off, including to Oracle (which we will NOT be discussing), in the 90s. They ended up going to Compaq, at least a large chunk of the holdings, but the writing had been on the wall for a while.

Which is, to make a long story short, when we moved to Sun hardware. This included SunOS and Solaris.

Alas, they too went to Oracle. It wasn't immediate, but once again the writing was on the wall.

This is when we moved to HP (which acquired Compaq, and with it DEC) hardware or were doing so (as the hardware needed to be replaced) when I sold the company and retired.

The point is, I miss Solaris and SunOS. Those were the days.

I'm pretty sure I remember the history properly, though those memories have grown a bit fuzzy in the years since.
 
KGIII said:
The point is, I miss Solaris and SunOS. Those were the days.
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They still make some x86 clones. To me, Solaris was the most "linux-like" of the big 3.

Believe it or not we ran Solaris at Microsoft for a while.

I never messed with DEC. I did a couple of short stints with HP-UX back in the early 2000's.

My favorite UNIX was AIX back in the day. The IBM Power10 systems are still pretty nice.
It's probably one of the least Linux-like UNIX's. ( Although HP/UX has it's moments also )
But of course you can run some versions of Linux on them.

Linux distributions and virtualization options for Power10 Linux on Power servers

Use this topic to find the Linux distributions and virtualization options that are optimized for Power10 processor-based systems that are running Linux.
www.ibm.com
 
dos2unix said:
I never messed with DEC.
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While you can get scholarships and grants to cover your education, stuff like your research isn't free. You might get a stipend, but that's the extent of it. My research was largely self-funded.

So, I approached DEC when I reintroduced my application to the grad program. To add to the reasons, I was able to freely access the Mass Dept. Of Transportation, but I don't want to digress too far. DEC was "local" and eager to help. They got their money's worth.
 
dos2unix said:
Believe it or not we ran Solaris at Microsoft for a while.
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I heard rumors about Hotmail. The rumors were that Microsoft tried several times to migrate Hotmail from Solaris to Windows Server after Microsoft acquired Hotmail. The problems were related to the huge size of the existing user base. They had scaling problems with Windows, but eventually solved them. Repeating: Only rumors, not necessarily "true" or "fact", okay?
 
sphen said:
I heard rumors about Hotmail.
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I recalled similar and knew I'd read something about it. I'm pretty sure I found the article I read way back then - and I'm pretty sure I found the article (way back then) on Slashdot. Pretty sure... It's weird to remember that when I forget so many other things.

Anyhow:

www.zdnet.com

MS moving Hotmail to Win2000 servers

It's called eating your own dog food. Microsoft is finally moving Hotmail off open source Unix and on to Windows 2000
www.zdnet.com www.zdnet.com
 
Knoppix found me around 2002. Then OpenSuse, Ubuntu, Porteus, Slax, Debian, TinyCore and I cannot remember how many. The more I got into Linux the less I used M$. Now it is Linux all the way. YAY!

Vektor
 
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