What drove you to start messing with linux distros?

[KGIII]

I was bored and wanted to see what Linux was about and no other reason I was happy using Windows.

You recently changed the color of your signature. Now, I can't help but notice it. So, it reminds me of the song every time I see it. I can live with that, but it's the most I've ever thought about that musical.

Anyhow...

Some folks choose to use Linux and then insert it as a part of their personality. If the subject of computers comes up, or even if it doesn't, they'll find a way to insert that they use Linux. This is also true among the various communities where you'll find people who are a bit too smug, asserting that they're using Arch.

Nah... That's not for me...

I use Linux because it's what works for me. As mentioned above (and over a number of other threads), I already had some experience and some experience with Unix. So... Yeah, of course I moved to one of the *NIX-type OSes. If I hadn't gone to Linux, I am 100% certain that I'd have still ended up in the *NIX realm - probably with one of the BSD incarnations.

If Linux didn't exist and have this level of developer support, I'd almost certainly be in the BSD camp. That seems likely, given the situation. I was moving away from Windows, not necessarily toward Linux. I'd have been similarly content in the BSD realm, assuming the Linux realm never existed at all.

 

[Mike-BTU]

You recently changed the color of your signature. Now, I can't help but notice it.

I can barely see the signature! I'm using the Dark Test style, so it's black on a very dark gray background.

 

[f33dm3bits]

"perversion"? Just a thought.

Why/How would Linux be a perversion?

 

[darry1966]

Started in the 90's when Linux was the new kid on the block with regards to operating systems. It was very primitive but has come a long way since compared since then to become the only operating system besides Android. Started with Redhat and ended up using Puppy for the longest time. These days Mint and Debian based Spiral linux and WattOS. Anyway Linux is now what I use everyday. What lead me to Linux the constant re-installing of windows.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Windows becoming spyware is the main reason for switch to Linux.
However it likely wouldn't happen without birth of proton that encouraged me to dump windows for real and for good.

 

[Vimmer]

My boss thought I "knew Unix" because I "knew regular expressions".

probably best you passed up the job, but regular expressions are probably harder and weirder than Unix in general...i keep meaning to memorize them a little more thoroughly than what i know, but now a days, you don't really need to remember anything, which is a problem IMO.

 

[craigevil]

Windows XP crashed and literally deleted everything in MyDocuments including 4k mp3s. My roommate gave me a Knoppix disk try to try to save the files, but they were complete gone. So he helped me install Debian Woody, I have been using Debian ever since. I have tried many other distros but never found anything on them that Debian didn't have.

 

[Brickwizard]

I have been using Debian ever since. I have tried many other distros but never found anything on them that Debian didn't have

I agree, a distribution consists of the kernel [same for all] the Family [Debian,RHEL,Arch] they all do the same job but slightly different in the commands used, and the Distribution, the pre packed applications and desktops otherwise known as the eye cany

 

[MikeRocor]

Why/How would Linux be a perversion?

Well, of course, because it goes against the MS-provided message of "It's ok. We would never lead you astray. You must be paranoid if you don't trust us."

 

[Brickwizard]

because it goes against the MS-provided message of "It's ok.

I know few people read our signatures, so for those that don't
The idea that Bill Gates has appeared like a knight in shining armour to lead all customers out of a mire of technological chaos neatly ignores the fact that it was he, by peddling second-rate technology, who led them into it in the first place
Douglas Adams [1995]

 

[MikeRocor]

probably best you passed up the job, but regular expressions are probably harder and weirder than Unix in general...i keep meaning to memorize them a little more thoroughly than what i know, but now a days, you don't really need to remember anything, which is a problem IMO.

Actually, in my opinion, regular expressions are a lot harder to understand and use than Unix in general... and I think he was giving me undue credit for more understanding of R.E. than I really had. Even now, almost thirty years later, I have to look things up every time I use an R.E. for anything non-trivial.

In retrospect, the company had such a track record of supporting their on-site consultants that, unless the client needed a really experienced Unix geek, they probably could have sent me there cold-turkey and made it work - though I myself would not have been comfortable with that.

 

[rafales1959]

With all the bloat Windows over the years, The last windows I was happy with was Win95A (no/ IE). I found Debian in the late 90's, and CrunchBang in the early 2000's. Been using MX linux for a long while, now enjoying CachyOS.

 

[Phydoux]

I was at a computer show in the 1990s (Spring of 1994) and there was a guy with the standard White Box Computer system sitting there with a 3.5" and 5.25" floppies in it and a CD-ROM Drive.

It was running this DOS like OS on it. At first I shrugged it off because Windows was pretty popular then (Windows 95 wasn't out yet but I ran Windows 3.11 religiously). But the guy booted this GUI that looked interesting. I think I paid like $.25 for 3 floppies for the main OS and another $.25 for the GUI It might have been Gnome. It was part of the X11 Window System. I installed that on an older PC that I had laying around and I found it was pretty interesting.

Over the years I played around with varying distros of Linux. I knew a guy who ran a BBS in the mid to late 90s on Linux. It was running Mystic BBS for a while and then WWIV. It was pretty neat too. But then he switched to Telnet.

But I kept my eye on this Linux thing. Seemed pretty promising for sure. In 2007, I started dual booting via the Hot Swap Drive system i had setup. Basically a 5.25" Hard drive tray system that held 3.5" drives. I had 3 120GB Drives all the same model (so I didn't have to change the CMOS every time I switched drives). One had Windows on it, one had my main Linux OS on it (Ubuntu), and the 3rd one was for me to try out other Linux distros on it.

So, all I would have to do is power down whatever OS I was using, pull that drive out, slide in the other one and boot it back up again (I still recommend people doing this even though same drive types really don't matter anymore with some BIOSes). I did that for about 3 years and I found myself spending 85-90% of my time in Linux doing that.

Than, in 2010 I started my Photography business. Linux really didn't have great photo editing capabilities back then. Especially RAW photo images. So I kinda needed Photoshop and that wasn't running in Linux. Not even with WINE. So, I kind of put Linux on the back burner for about 9 years.

In 2018, I tried installing Windows 10 on an 8 year old machine. Even though it had 32GB of RAM, it was still slower than molasses! For real! I couldn't use it and I wasn't about to build a new one. I just didn't have the money nor the time for that.

So, I scoured the internet to see what the best Linux distro was at that time. I saw a video on Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.3. It looked a LOT Like Windows 7. I had to give that one a go. So, I installed it and yeah... Ran absolutely perfect! Felt just like Windows 7. Perfect way for me to transition away from Windows. Over the next week or so I configured it to look sort of like my old Windows 7 system. Wallpaper and the programs I had installed that I needed alternatives for in Linux. It was VERY cool!

Then, Mint Cinnamon 19.0 came out within the 2 weeks of me switching and I just went ahead and updated it. Looked and still ran great for me! I was definitely hooked! I could see myself never EVER going back to Windows ever again.

February 2020 came around and I saw a couple videos on this thing called Arch Linux. I watched a demo video and an install video. The install video, the guy said he was using the Wiki. I followed along with him having the Wiki open and watching the video. Looked pretty cool actually. So I wanted to give Arch an honest try. I figured I was pretty comfortable at the command line, I'll give it a shot. Gotta be honest, it took me 3 attempts to get Arch to boot to a login prompt (actually booted on the 3rd attempt... First 2 were complete failures). But from there, it was smooth sailing!

So, I guess it was my fascination to want to try something different that drove me to Linux. And I'm really glad I had that desire in the past to want to give Linux a try. It's pretty cool now. Very comparable to Windows. Even BETTER from my viewpoint!

 

[Vimmer]

I have tried many other distros but never found anything on them that Debian didn't have.

yes, generally speaking that's true: arch is there if you really don't have attachments to your files and you want to challenge yourself. Even if you don't like systemd, the debian selections still have antiX. Redhat is the corporate version of linux, i'm not sure why anyone would need to use redhat distros, but that's another perspective. I personally want to try out designing linux from scratch at some point, but that is a big task.

Actually, in my opinion, regular expressions are a lot harder to understand and use than Unix in general... and I think he was giving me undue credit for more understanding of R.E. than I really had. Even now, almost thirty years later, I have to look things up every time I use an R.E. for anything non-trivial.

IMO, it's not that regexes are terribly hard in and of themselves, and i think they are great in the sense that no one has come up with any all-ecompassing alternatives...the problem is that you have to use them differently depending on the context and software. Of course, nobody likes the giant strings of regex, that's probably the worst code imaginable, so best to stick with some simple and useful things to remember. For example: in regex, if you understand the meanings of

*, ^, [ ], ., and [^ ]

, you probably won't need anything else. It is annoying that * is globbing in one context but "zero or more of the previous character(s)" in regular expressions.

 

[Mike-BTU]

... February 2020 came around and I saw a couple videos on this thing called Arch Linux. I watched a demo video and an install video. The install video, the guy said he was using the Wiki. I followed along with him having the Wiki open and watching the video. Looked pretty cool actually. So I wanted to give Arch an honest try. I figured I was pretty comfortable at the command line, I'll give it a shot. Gotta be honest, it took me 3 attempts to get Arch to boot to a login prompt (actually booted on the 3rd attempt... First 2 were complete failures). But from there, it was smooth sailing! ...

I've been considering Arch for awhile. Are you still running it as your sole OS?

 

[The Duck]

You recently changed the color of your signature.

No I recently changed my avatar and not my signature.

 

[Smilax]

Novell sent me a dealer copy of SuSE 9.1 to do with whatever I liked. Whether or not we wanted to admit it, Netware was on the way out and NT was a threat. I installed it and liked it, then they sent a copy of 9.3 and I was quickly able to make it do really useful things without licensing fees on retired hardware. I've been hooked ever since.

 

[KGIII]

No I recently changed my avatar and not my signature.

Well, something changed it. I think there's a bug involved in how the system deals with themes.

Your signature is now black on the Solarized Dark theme. I'd use Sauron (or similar) but it doesn't work well. Maybe I should try poking at themes but that's knowledge outside my wheelhouse.

 

[Vimmer]

Well, something changed it. I think there's a bug involved in how the system deals with themes.

Your signature is now black on the Solarized Dark theme. I'd use Sauron (or similar) but it doesn't work well. Maybe I should try poking at themes but that's knowledge outside my wheelhouse.

Tbh, the signature feature does not work, and on my end no one has a sig

 

[KGIII]

Tbh, the signature feature does not work, and on my end no one has a sig

That's weird. Signatures don't show up on mobile devices. Are you using a mobile device?