So what got you into Linux?

**hard candy** · 02-09-2005, 09:50 AM

I hate spending money, especially when I do not have any, and found a free cd in the back of a Caldera Openlinux manual that was $3 in a bargain bin at BooksAMillion.
So I loaded it up and it got installed somehow and worked and it looked really crappy. But it was "free" and had all these "free" programs available. Plus the Windows98 Plus Pack was $19.95 and I really didn't see the point of a "jungle" theme. And i didn't have to enter a registration code every time I reinstalled Linux and didn't have to download 8 hours of updates after a new install.
Then I really felt like a stranger in a strange land whenever I asked other computer users if they had used linux. Especially at the chain computer stores, "we don't know anything about linux" was the reply from technical support at Best Buy, Compusa, and Circuit City back in the 1990's. So I thought to myself and told them, "You claim to know computers but do not know anything about Linux? Excuse me, that's a red flag to me. It tells me you do not know what the heck you are doing, that you are reading a book to fix someone's computer and why the heck should I pay you for that? " at which point they got mad and I left. Don't think I converted many folks that way.

**WayStar** · 02-09-2005, 10:57 AM

For a long time, I'd missed the control of a real command line. I also wanted real freedom to tinker with my system. Plus, I was using Blender a lot and the other Blenderheads told me that it ran faster on Linux.

So, a few years ago I had a week's vacation and no money to go anywhere. So I got drunk and installed Linux.

I always keep notes when I do an install, and that first time was no exception. It's amazing how readable my first install notes are, especially considering how many beers I'd had.

-Waylena

**JayMan8081** · 02-09-2005, 11:24 AM

Shortly before I joined JL (LNO at the time) I did my first install of Linux. I installed Mandrake 9.0 I think. I first installed Linux that summer because I had a class in the fall called Operating Systems and all the programming for that class was going to be done in a lab of Mandrake machines so I figured it would help if I had at least played around with Linux some. Since that class I have always had a Linux install on at least one of my machines and I am almost constantly playing around with new things (distros, wm, etc.). I just like all of the choices available and the fact that I learn something new almost everyday.

**nikodell** · 02-09-2005, 11:29 AM

I bought my first PC had windows 98 on it snd that just sucked can we say crash monster , a fellow coffie shop bum whos second job was an admin localy mentioned LINUX and on my trail home I found a magizine with a LINUX disk in it never got that version running but cruzed fron there to Red Hat ,Mandrake, and now I prefer SuSE reguardless of the problems I ran into with its differences and i do allways have a copy of KNOPPIX handy , I do run windows mostly for design work in Autocad,3DStudio_Max,and the Gaming, although At on point I had the win in VMWare but nolonger have VM so XP remains for now allthough I have heard from a proffesor of mine that worked with AUTODESK thet in house they had a version of AutoCad running on linux but no plans for reliese to public

My New battle and yes I like the punnishment , ie putting the puzzle togather is making my AMD 64 sys run the way I want :

Any one got info for getting the Asus a8v Delux wirless G running in master mode with suse 9.1 or reguardless of that fact Ad-Hoc transmitting so I can access net with my laptop through D_PC_LAN
I can see the thing from laptop and get ip, netmask , and thats it no trans mit recieve??
havent tried much as I am at the quarters end and must go to class rt now BYE$.

**root.veg** · 02-09-2005, 11:50 AM

The engineering department at my university made me use:

HP-UX running on thin terminals arranged in clusters;
twm (window manager)
pine (e-mail)
mosaic (web browser)
emacs (editing)
latex (report writing)
matlab (hardcore number-crunching of matrices)
Patran/Abaqus (Finite Element analysis)

...so that's how I found out about Unix. I was particularly impressed about being able to log in in console mode, from home during the holidays, via Telnet (remember when Telnet wasn't a dirty word?!). I was using my Mum&Dad's piece-of-crud Windows 95 box over dial-up, and I still had access to the department's computing power to use matlab or write a report in latex using emacs. I thought that was WAY cool

Also did some programming in Fortran (ugh!) and Pascal - still got the code listing for my remote-controlled robot which sorted square blocks from circular blocks.

So when I had to leave university:

1) I'd got used to Unix;
2) I hated the user interface of Windows - and you can't change it meaningfully;
3) I didn't have enough cash to get a Mac.
4) I literally asked my friend (who specialised in software) "is there a version of Unix I can buy for a PC?"

...and that was the first time I heard the word "Debian". Brings a tear to my eye just telling the story

**IsaacKuo** · 02-09-2005, 12:15 PM

Before I started putting together my own computers, I only had computers with Windows already installed. I had no compelling reason to switch from a working OS.

After I started putting together my own computers, I had many computers with no OS. I didn't want to pay for or pirate Windows, so I tried out Linux.

I haven't looked back since, except to dual boot and then finally to wipe out my old Windows partitions! (In other words, I have since found compelling reasons to scrap Windows entirely.)

**StarKnight83** · 02-09-2005, 01:10 PM

In 1999 i came across this poetry site i really liked and from then on followed it on about a weekly basic. Well the poet kept a sort of blog/diary about his basic life and in about 2000 kept complaining about windows and all of its problems. in 2001 he made this big announcement about switching his main computer to a OS called mandrake. Said it was all great and no spyware and whatnot else. Thought cool and promtly forgot about it. Well when I went off to college in 2002 i spent half the year always trying to keep my comp and my roommates comp ahead of all the virus' and stuff (he was and is still rather computer illiterate) I remembered about the mandrake bit and looked it up. Seemed pretty impressed by what i saw and dled the isos (8.2) I was lucky in that everything on my system was recognized by default (before this i had only used windows and so didnt know how to trouble shoot stuff beyond change setting, reboot) Well as the years have gone on since then Ive done gentoo, yellowdog, and LFS systems a number of times. But my desktop still always dual boots mandrake and XP (for the games) and my laptops have done OS X and YDL (and gentoo occasionally)

**hard candy** · 02-09-2005, 02:48 PM

and that was the first time I heard the word "Debian". Brings a tear to my eye just telling the story

The tear probably comes from memories of trying to install Debian the first time.

**Icarus** · 02-09-2005, 02:53 PM

Originally posted by hard candy
The tear probably comes from memories of trying to install Debian the first time.

or finding out that your 'brand new Debian install' was out of date over 2 years ago

**timothykaine** · 02-09-2005, 03:30 PM

It was a combination of two things. I needed a new hobby, and I was really pissed off at the new Windows activation procedure to keep you from installing on multiple machines.

**TheCatMan** · 02-09-2005, 07:12 PM

Back in 2001 I was building my first computer, and after being exposed to the likes of DOS, Acorn/Archimedes, Atari and Sinclair, I didn't feel any loyalty to any specific OS.

I decided to go with the PC architecture, and originally planned to use Windows because, although I thought it was badly designed, it was well-supported and I didn't want the hassle of learning to use yet another new OS. What changed my mind was the email program Outlook Express, which crashed horribly on my dad's machine, leaving Wondows 95 in such a mess that I had to reinstall. (I'm the family's tech support.)

Before reinstalling I spent about a week trying to fix it, and learned a lot about the system in the process. The local PC shop couldn't help at all. I came away thinking, "if I have to spend time learning the fine details of a system just to keep it running, I might as well choose one that suits me a bit better." A bit of research led me to Linux, and after a few months dual-booting with DOS 6.22, I went pure Linux and haven't looked back since.

Edit: Just found my first ever post to LNO. How young and innocent I was! *sniff*

**Sepero** · 02-09-2005, 07:51 PM

Originally posted by hard candy
The tear probably comes from memories of trying to install Debian the first time.

Funny. Woody was pretty difficult.

or finding out that your 'brand new Debian install' was out of date over 2 years ago

Not funny.

Unlike some distros, security is at the top of Debian's list. So, it installs with very secure, time tested packages. If I want newer(less secure packages), then I upgrade to a different branch.

Debian: the only distro that is actually 3 in 1(stable, testing, unstable). And unlike other distros, I can use apt-get to mix old packages with new, and it still resolves all dependancies perfectly!

**jamez1988** · 02-09-2005, 08:34 PM

I got a free PC from a friend, and all these people told me that Windows was on the way out, I should check out Linux. So, I got one of my friend's dads to install Mandrake 7 for me, and it ran, and I could play Kasteroids, so I was happy. Then I discovered the joys of playing with diffrent Linux distros and making them do cool stuff.
Eventually, I more or less settled on Debian Sarge, and now I'm helping build a new distro aimed at teenagers.

**madcompnerd** · 02-09-2005, 09:03 PM

You might look into more mellow default colors on the site jamez.

**Parcival** · 02-10-2005, 04:39 AM

Originally posted by TheCatMan
Edit: Just found my first ever post to LNO. How young and innocent I was! *sniff*

You just motivated me to go and search for my first post... I got tears in my eyes after reading it. I remember how nervous I was doing my first post
to not violate any netiquette. Ten minutes later the Grand Master's eyes had already caught me and answered my totally n00b question. Back then I had no clue who he was, but gosh, I really miss him now.

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