First Linux?

[SuperRobotic]

i enjoyed reading all your stories

Started back when i was a computer science student. My C++ teacher told us we would be using linux for programming our programs. So i used it a little while at school learning just enough to program my C++ programs.

Then a couple of months down the road I saw Mandrake 7.2 at CompUsa. I bought it to give it a try, and so i could program at home. I installed it with a little bit of trouble but not to much. I was using KDE, dont know what version. Then after 2 months it just stopped working. Nothing would open, just wouldnt work for some reason. So i got pissed at Mandrake ( which now i think it was a KDE problem, not mandrake. ), stopped using it for a couple of months.

Then looking at linux forums, i see people talking about how great Debian was. So i bought the O'Reilly, Learning Debian Linux book. The cd in the back seemed to not want to install. So i downloaded a newer version of Debian from somewhere. That didnt want to seem to work, cause i have one of those damn Promise Ultra controllers. Then someone gave me a link to disks that would have the drivers( ?? ) i would need for Debian to install with my Promise controller. Installed it. But couldnt get x to work. No matter what i did it didnt want to work. Still being a newbie I need X. So i got pissed, real pissed, and stopped using it. Another couple of months went by, and then I bought a 7 cd set of the newest Debian from cheapbytes. Install it fine, but again X doesnt seem to want to work. So i stopped using it agin for a couple of months.

Finally went to a Linux message board, and heard people saying Mandrake 9.0 was good. So i downloaded it. And it worked wonderfully for a couple of weeks. Then all of the sudden it just stopped wanting to connect to the internet. Which i couldnt figure out. So i reinstalled it, chose Blackbox as my WM, and have been having fun since. Got my sound working with the help of people here. And it seems to run faster than WinXP on my comp. So I am happy.

[BigFatJoe]

First linux I installed was Mandrake 6.0. The thing was horrible! It remained on my computer for 4 days. Why? It was a creepy reminder of trying to be like Windows!

I went back to Win 98 running Litestep. I then discovered blackbox (for windows) and then ran across Debian. This was my *really* first linux installed. I've fallen in love with Debian and have stuck with it ever since (i took a complete plunge...no dual boot here). One of these days I'll make myself a LFS partition, but until then....

[LinuxLuke]

my first distro was Caldera OpenLinux 1.3 (in late October). I was looking around on www.Fark.com and saw a link to an anti MS site, so I decided to check it out... and saw that all those pop-ups you see about your computer saving every site you visit to be true, needless to say , I was upset, while looking trough a bookstore, and found a book by Sams... bought it for $10, rushed home and TRIED the install, couldn't get X to work on my Sierra Screamin' 3D, registered at LNO, and MDWatts was nice enough to give me a copy of OL 3.1.1 after I got that in the mail, I started the install up ASAP, it worked out mostly, if I had a better monitor I could have actually had some decent resolutions...(800x600 is lacking...) I now have Caldera 1.3, 2.3, 2.4, and 3.1.1, Gentus, Corel(which won't install...maybe I'll post a new thread about it...) Mandrake 7.0, and Mandrake 8.2, with Red Hat 8.0, and Slackware -current on the way, downloading FreeBSD 5.0... if only my 20 gig hadn't broken while I was away... so after I return the broken drive, and hopefully get a new one, I plan to have a dual boot with Slackware and FreeBSD 5.0.

[RedHatNewbie]

My first experiences with Linux weren't really with Linux, it was Unix. I had an account on an old DEC MicroVAX running Ultrix. Later that was upgraded to a Solaris machine. I only used the C shell and didn't have to manage or administer the machines. But I did get familiar with the command line and vi.

I first installed Linux on one of my computers last September. I was sick of Windows and after purchasing my daughter a new computer with WinXP on it in August when she left for college, I knew I had to start getting serious about an alternative operating system. I had a week of vacation time and stopped by a local bookstore and picked up one of those "Learn Linux" books with Red Hat 6.2 CD's. I installed that on an old P 166 I had kicking around and it went pretty well. Three months later I built a new P4 1.8 and put RH 8 on it. That's my main machine now and I love it.

I almost never boot my Win98 box at home any more though I do have to use Windows at work. My youngest daughter wants me to install Linux on her WinXP computer and my oldest daughter wants me to build her a Linux machine. I now use my Linux computers for just about everything and although I'm still very new with the OS, I am learning it and enjoying it.

Jim

[trickster]

About 2 years ago, I was reading an article on neworder.box.sk, about a l33t hax0r who had his system dual-booting with W2k and Slackware.
Slackware? What the hell is that?
After a quick trip to slackware.com: Linux? That unix-variant the guys at the university's comp lab used to use? Hmm...let's give it a try.
Slackware 8 installed beautifully on my system. A bit of trouble with sound, but I found the answer on the Slackware forums.
I've tried other distros since, but I keep prefering Slack.

[martin]

About a year ago I was watching Techtv and they were installing Linux. After hearing them talk about how tough it was, I almost quit before I started.
I went to Amozon.com, got Sam's Terach Yourself Linux in 24 Hours(it's been the longest 24 hours of my life!!!!) which came with Mandy7.2. The install was COOL!!! I got to make the decisions!!!!! Then I ordered 8.1 from their website. Wasn't to happy that I couldn't get the cd drive to work(su....who knew), got frustrated and decided the hell with it and ordered Slackware 8.1. That was 8 month's ago and I'm still using Slackware.
I also tried Mandy 8.2 and Redhat7.3 but I am stuck on Slackware.

[Artimus]

I've been using Linux for about 7 months. I started with Mandrake 8.2. Surprisingly, I DIDN'T mess up my Windows partition, and I got Lilo up and running. I was pretty happy that day ^_^