This is currently me and my dad who’s been a Linux sysadmin for over 20 years.
Wholesome af
Huh. 20 years. That’s how long I’ve been using Linux as my primary OS. I hadn’t actually thought about how long that’s been the case until now.
i wasn’t even born back then
Yeah its about the same for me, I started using Linux in earnest around 1997 when the local data magazine distributed Red Hat 4.2, but switched to using it full time around 2003.
For me it was 2003. Debian Woody. On an EasyBytes CDROM. That I paid 5 dollars for. Replaced Windows 98. The boost to the usability of that computer was insane.
Funny, that’s how ling I’ve been using Linux too. It turned into a very lucrative career too, so there’s that I guess.
My girlfriend sent me a picture of her running her first Linux commands yesterday (she had to run a script to connect her Linux Mint laptop to a network). I almost cried 🥲
My first install was around 1994 or so. I downloaded 18 hd floppies from Slackware over my university’s dialup. I loved that I didn’t have to run winsock to use the internet anymore.
Same period. I ended up bringing by box to the office because there was always a floppy that died on me.
I could suddenly run so much stuff at once…
1995 for me. I bought a copy of DLD, a long-since defunct distro at a store. This was before I went to uni and before I had internet, which made learning it very frustrating. And then I wanted to use a printer. Not quite happy memories.
X Windows was my day 1 challenge. I loved having to change the monitor sync and hearing your monitor go “SNAP” when you start it up, then staring at basically a horizontal line. That, and the line in the Usenet posting on how to set up X Windows say “You can physically destroy your monitor here.”
Oh, yeah, I forgot about that! Yeah, Linux at that time really was something else. We’ve come such a long way, it’s amazing.
My first install was also slackware around the same time, but I just bought it from the computer store I worked at. Pat was an occasional customer, who sometimes brought in home brewed beer for the technicians.
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Since 2 months I ditched completely win10 for Linux mint to become my main OS. It ain’t much, but am very happy.
8 years on Linux, and I sure as hell am not as enthusiastic as I was, but that freed me from the distrohopping curse.
*users
You don’t need an apostrophe to make a word plural.
Sorry to say I didnt get into it earlier like some folks here, although I could have. My computing experience started with MSDOS and Windows 3.11, and didn’t start using Linux until I installed Mandrake Linux with KDE in college in 2002. Back then, shit was pretty rough though. Getting XFree86 running was an adventure in itself sometimes. What drew me to it was the ability to do things like quickly deploy a fully featured web server with scripting and database for next to no cost and using it like a developer’s playground. Things I’d be spending thousands in licensing fees for in Windows.
At first I was SSHing into my server from Windows to work on files, but eventually I just installed the full Linux GUI on my desktop as well, so I could use all the cool tools there too.
Back then, shit was pretty rough though.
Bro no kidding… You’d install and hoped your keyboard worked by the end of it.
I stuck with it though… Well over 20 years for me now.
EDIT: I actually remember digging through dbus configs one time for HOURS because I couldn’t get my mouse working. No joke I realized at like 3am it wasn’t plugged in. Hahah… It was such a pain in the ass back then you just assumed it was something insane.
I first installed OG Red Hat 5.2 in 1998, but my computer had a Winmodem rather than a full hardware modem, so I never got it connected to the internet, which severely reduced how useful it was to me. I got broadband a year later, and that changed everything!
I fiddled with a winmodem wrapper, actually bought a hardware modem that connected via usb (???), until I got broadband. It does change everything.
Accurate meme, because the first 10-15 minutes of installing Linux will make you cry, but it picks up from there.
If you’re installing Ubuntu or Manjaro, it’s honestly easier than windows. The options make more sense, and you get much more useful info on your drives. With windows, I have to identify them by capacity, which has led to me installing on the wrong drive before. And live CD installs even allow you to look something up for help right there.
Arch is a totally different story though. No way I would have started using Linux if that was my introduction to it.
Correction: much more useful info full stop. Windows be like “an error happened, good luck shithead”. Linux be like: “error 37: here’s the full stack trace, we put it in a file so you can read in and copy/paste if need be, check the man page for details on how to solve”
What is your issue with installation exactly? I must have done 200+ installs of 2 dozen distros (not you Arch) and its always been smooth and easy. And quick. Like, the whole process only takes 15 minutes for most distros
Yep. I installed Linux on my desktop. Worked great until I let it go to sleep, and it refused to connect back to my monitor. Then when I restarted it, it wouldn’t get past some terminal “can’t find video mode” screen or some shit
I’m going to have to spend a couple hours at least today after work to sort it out.
AMD 5600 XT btw
I had a similar issue once and the problem was low storage space. Maybe you could try deleting some stuff?
Maybe I can help you out. What distro are you using. Did you boot off usb and then install? How did you partition your SSD? Are you able to open a shell prompt?
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14 years here as my only OS :) Well, except for running XP in a virtual machine for an old game my partner wanted to play.
users*
Eh, there’s always something new to learn. New distros, new programs, new ways of doing things. I think the latter happens from stagnation. Search out the new and interesting and you can always be an explorer.
Since 2005 here.
Can someone point me to some linux distros to try as a new user? I’m going to consider dual booting as I still need Windows for the main game I play. But I wanna see if I can get into cyber security on my own. I’m planning on trying to get a list to try out in some VM’s
I would try Linux mint as its the easiest to learn and use. I still use a Linux mint VM in my homelab
Thank you, I’ve heard of that one before. I’ve seen it a few times when I used to be subscribed here. I thought it was a more advanced one.
Its also important to note that most distros are fundamentally the same. You can run Cinammon on Fedora for instance.
Is cinnamon just the desktop environment?
Do you mean you can just swap DE’s and get pretty much the same feeling? I was always under the impression they were all different. I don’t even really understand the different between Ubuntu and debian.
So a desktop is the interface you use your computer with. Most Desktops come with things like a file manager and a windows manager (the thing that manages the placement of windows)
The difference between Ubuntu and Debian is that Ubuntu is based on Debian. Its been modified but it has the same base. I don’t like Ubuntu as they are pushing snaps really hard and its harming the user experience.
Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu. However, its much more user friendly and features a desktop with apps that can handle every aspect of you system. It doesn’t come with snaps and has flatpak enabled along with native packages.
If you aren’t understanding that isn’t a big deal as Linux mint has a easy installer.
If you need more help come check out my Linux questions sub. !Linuxquestions@lemmy.zip
So, it’s just best to experiment with multiple desktops? I read through mint’s page about different versions, which I understand what they were talking about with the different desktops.
So, it’s pretty much all the same? Except debian and Ubuntu use different software distribution stuff?
Also, before I asked this question, I found a website that listed different distro’s and what they were best for, weirdly. They mentioned nothing about Mint. Nut they did say, parrotOS, which, I’ll be honest, I’m not too sure about the different between that and Kali, but I’ll get there. Probably.
They also list : Kodachi, pop!OS, and Nitrux, but with the possible exception of pop, I haven’t heard of the other two. (They listed more, but they were the ones I decided to look into. Again, before asking.)
Most of those websites are crap. You should ignore them. Check out distrowatch for more information.
