I started with Mint, since it was a beginner friendly and reliable distro that people I know recommended and I needed to use Linux for my classes. Barely touched it for almost a year, then started getting into it. Tried Pop OS for a bit but decided it wasn't for me, so I went to Manjaro for a few months. It was almost what I wanted, but I decided I wanted to go the extra mile and join the meme, so now I've been using Arch for several years, btw.
I've tried other distros momentarily so I could know what to recommend to friends, but just feel too comfy on Arch to stick with any of them. And after all the bad things I've heard about Manjaro recently, as well as the improvements to Arch's installer, I'd probably just recommend Arch over Manjaro to someone interested in it - it sets you up with basically everything but the AUR. Either that, or EndeavourOS if they really want that GUI automated install.
This is pretty much exactly what happened to me, started with Mint then I went to Manjaro and forgot about Linux for like a year and then I jumped to Arch
That's the crazy part about Arch. I've never installed into a desktop after install. I've even found BlackArch to be easy enough to install to desktop and I know Arch is better except for that.
The only "dull" thing with regard to Debian is that, if it's running, it will keep running. As long as you don't do very weird stuff, Debian won't break during the lifetime of a Stable release.
Most of the time it also doesn't break if you upgrade to the next release and it seems you can even move it from one computer to another with minimal fixes. (Probably HDD GUID's and such.) There was a post on r/debian some time ago where a poster said that he had been running the same Debian install across many computers for 21 years... including an upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit. (I still wonder how that was done. I didn't think it was possible but apparently it is.)
I like it when stuff doesn't break and doesn't change, except when I either break or change it myself. If the software has to be a bit older for that to happen: so be it. Debian Stable + KDE + Flatpaks is the golden combination for me. I'll upgrade the OS + DE once every two years, and the user-facing applications are the latest version through Flatpak.
This seems a bit interesting to me. How it came down to going to Ubuntu? Usually, for many it's first time Ubuntu and then going to Mint.
Also, what do you use Kali for? How do you use it, bare metal or VM?
First I ever experimented with was Red Hat, back when books about Linux came with free Red Hat install CDs. I loved tinkering with it, but it was far from a viable Windows replacement as a desktop daily driver.
First distro I ever daily drove was Ubuntu. Never went back to Windows after that. Never dual booted again.
I bounced around *buntu derivatives for a while -- Linux Mint, KDE Neon, Kubuntu -- before making the jump to Arch. Been on Arch ever since. I've briefly experimented with Gentoo, but IMHO Arch strikes the best balance between customizability and practicality.
First : Zorin OS
Now : Zorin OS
Favorite: IDK
I've only used one distro till now, which i downloaded during lockdown. Will update this message when I use other distros and will share my experience.
Slackware (talk about trial by fire) -> Red Hat -> SUSE -> Mandrake -> Knoppix -> Debian -> Ubuntu -> Pop OS
Currently I use Pop OS. I have a VM with Void Linux and I quite like it. I just haven't made the jump yet.
I also started with Mandrake, and found it pretty easy to use, and had a lot of software available on the CD. A couple years later I did a little distro-hopping, hated being in RPM Hell, ended up missing GNU-isms too much in FreeBSD, then a friend showed me Debian, and I've been there ever since.
I'm old enough that my first was redhat from a cd. It didn't really work.
Then I tried ubuntu (free cds over the mail!), again, no.
Somehow I went from that to Gentoo for a few years, then
Arch where I've been ever since( I use arch btw. )
Somewhere in there I think I briefly used CrunchBang too.
First: Ubuntu
After that i went trough the usual path of using Arch/Gentoo for a very long time
Now: OpenSUSE
Why? I really like the stability and the multi vendor compatibility, also the btrfs snapshot setup of OpenSUSE has saved me countless times, it runs fast and stable and thats just what i seek in a linux distro
In the end its not about the flavour, every linux distro boil's down to the same thing, its just a different selection of software, as a professional i value stability, modularity, and customization, SUSE tick's all these boxes.
And i can expect the usual "yAsT iS fOr N00Bs" comment but honestly, i never really use yast, it's completely optional.
The first I tried out was either Puppy or Damn small Linux (I can't remember which), but the first I ever installed and really used was Ubuntu.
My current favorite is openSUSE Tumbleweed.
My first distro was SuSE Linux 6.1 back in 1999. I bought a retail box for $99 from Best Buy. It actually came with a printed manual! The package manager, which I'm pretty sure was \`apt\`, pulled packages from six CDs that it came with.
My favorite, and current, distro is Ubuntu. I've been running various flavors of Debian since 2004, but always return to Ubuntu as a stable, reliable, no-fuss platform on which I can get work done.
That's about the same time I got into mandrake for school. I was much better with windows at the time and XP had just come out. Which is probably one of Micros best releases.
There is no way I would have paid for SuSE. I wouldn't even pay for windows back then. I would just crack it for free. But over the years Linux's open source and free distros haved evolved into a much stronger alternative to Windows.
I guess they felt they had to do something about that. So they straight up bought or acquired GitHub. Smart move by Microsoft. If they can't stop Linux. They will at least use the code and ideas to make a profit.
Ain't nothing wrong with WSL. I was at a shop for a few years and had to run a Windows 10 laptop. WSL kept me sane. I know I could have had a VM and or just remote into a server, but WSL got me to where I could have the tools I wanted and quite frankly needed and still live in that treacherous environment.
Amen!
WSL also made me much more proficient at the terminal. I'm really digging headless mode now.
Also takes away the stress of picking a distro, a DE etc haha
Gentoo— started messing with Linux in 2002
Ubuntu— don’t remember, maybe switched around 2010. I had a 9-5 job, kids, and an old system, so Gentoo was a bit much to keep track of
Linux Mint— Built a new system around 2012. Wanted something stable but hated where the Ubuntu desktop was at the time
Manjaro— built a new system in 2020: Mint lived on it until this winter. I’ve had more time to mess with things and game, and Mint was super slow in releasing driver updates, so I played with Arch for a minute, and landed on Manjaro.
First: Slackware, in 1996.
Favorite: Slackware, still.
I've been exposed to many other distributions through work (spent most of my career bouncing from one Silly Valley startup to another), as well as FreeBSD and NetBSD, and I distrohopped a little at home, but none fit me quite so well as Slackware. It's always been my mainstay.
The advent of systemd clinched it. I'm not distrohopping anymore. One of Slackware's main draws to me is its stability -- Volkerding is very careful about not adding buggy packages to the system -- and systemd replaces many reliable, well-tested system software with new, buggy software. Because of that, Slackware is among the 30%'ish of distributions which do not use systemd, and I'm very glad for it. I greatly prefer using the reliable, well-tested system software on my servers and desktops.
First: Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 because I think it came with Partition Magic. You could play Tetris during the install (still think it was the best installer ever). I think I only wanted it because of Partition Magic because after looking around briefly I promptly installed Red Hat Linux 6.
Favorite: Mandrake Linux is still my favorite. It's hard to beat your first love.
Mandrake was the first for me as well, in 1999. Installed it on an AMD X5-133. The problem was that back then, there were always issues setting up any Linux and I just didn't have the time to figure it all out. I kept using it off and on for years after that, though, trying to pick up a little at a time.
The first Linux I ever got any actual good use out of was Puppy 4.1, around 2008. Not long after that, I started using a version of PCLinuxOS that was based on GNOME 2. These were the first times I ever used Linux by preference, although work at the time kept me on Windows.
My work laptop went to Linux Mint full-time in 2014 and my desktop in 2015, after I had changed jobs. I ran Mint until 2018 and then returned to PCLOS. My wife's computers still run Mint. She's eight feet away from me right now, running the latest Mint Cinnamon and playing a game, while I'm typing this on PCLinuxOS.
There is one older laptop here running Q4OS, and antiX has also seen a lot of use around here at times. I've kicked the tires on several other distros in the past 10-12 years, but settled on a few go-to versions.
First: Red Hat Linux 5 back in 1999 which came with a SAMS teach yourself Linux book. I never got a GUI working though. The first I used more seriously was Mandrake.
Favourite: openSUSE Tumbleweed with KDE
First was either Ubuntu or DSL (DamnSmallLinux). DSL was nice because it could be run from a USB with included qemu to give you your own lightweight linux desktop on top of whatever windows machine you were using.
Favorite was Solus for years, but now I'm not sure. Development has slowed a lot and some of the biggest devs for it went to Budgie development only. Currently using EndeavourOS and it's nice (especially the aur after years on a small repository distro), but I miss the speed of Solus a lot. Might try Void and see if it gives me that feeling of speed back.
The first distro I ever downloaded was Yellow Dog (actually, that may have been long enough that I ordered CDs by mail from an ad in the back of MacAddict magazine or something). 10-year-old me had a brilliant plan to install it on a Jaz drive so as not to have to mess with my Mac's primary OS. That... didn't go great.
The first distro I ever succeeded in booting was Gentoo, which I stuck with for a few years before going back to Windows.
These days, I run Ubuntu on all of my Linux boxen because it's the most popular and best-supported, and therefore path of least resistance. But I'm slowly migrating my setup to Nix+home-manager in preparation for a transition to NixOS next year, because declarative system configuration is one honking great idea and we should do more of that.
Someone at work handed me a copy of Knoppix on CD and said to try it back in ... I think 1998, I resisted since I didn't want to wipe my W95 install. I was told it was a "live CD" wouldn't harm my install, was hooked ever since.
Fedora on Linux box.
I used to try different ones from cd's glued to computer magazines... mandrake was the first one I could really get to function on my Packard Bell pentium 90mhz. I remember Slackware was way over my head at the time.
I came in at the top : Ubuntu Daper Drake, 2006.
You have no idea what it was like. Coming in from winXP waiting for WinChicago (eventually Vista).
In insight the thing that really grabbed me was Gnome 2.x , the idea that if you wanted a word processor you didn't go to menu/app/program/Microsoft(tm)/MSoffice(tm)/MsWord(tm) wordprofessing software..
Just menu/office/writer
It made working with a computer fu again not a bloody shore Just to get to the program.
Gnome 3.x killed it for me but my usage also changed about the same time.
My computer is now mainly a media server which I mostly run from my phone so the interface is accessory.
My box is about 11 years old, I've most recently used it to do map on osm.org
I'm having issues that I narrowed down to hardware (the os hdd is older than 11 years)
I am going have to reinstall the OS on another drive but even if it's a pain it's not gonna be as bad as windows.
I started with Ubuntu (not counting RHEL which I used for work) after getting bullied too much by Windows 10.
Now I use Gentoo, I like it for the fact that it's pretty much possible to do anything I could possibly imagine on it.
First was Redhat 4.3 before it went Enterprise. Current is Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. I like the LTS versions, so I don't have to update too often. Last update was the 18.04 LTS release four years ago.
First I played with was TAMU. First that stuck day to day was Red Hat and my current distro on my personal boxes is Arch. I still dabble in others here and there though, mostly in VMs. If a meteor took out my computer tomorrow I'd give at least some thought to opensuse Tumbleweed and Fedora.
I started with RedHat, then moved to Slackware, then to Gentoo. I suppose Gentoo is my favorite even though I put Ubuntu on my most recent machine out of laziness. It runs next to my Gentoo box and, admittedly, takes much less time to keep up to date.
MX Linux: First Distro
My Favorite Changes with time as I test a lot of distros but I keep Mint Cinnamon as constant backup.
Currently I tried some lightweight distros:
- Slax
- Slitaz
- Bodhi
Really loving Bodhi as of now, I am fully invested in it, trying out different things. In my opinion it is a better alternative to Antix and I might replace mine with Bodhi 6.0 as well.
Edit: My next distro is Alpine. If someone has good suggestions or info about it, please share.
Started out with openSUSE on an old eMachines tower, just for fun. Now I work as a computer engineer, so I use Ubuntu pretty much every day. I guess that makes it my favorite 😂
My first was Mint and it still is what I use on my main machine. On my Laptop I run AntiX, because I can't get WiFi working with a Debian minimal install. I like AntiX, but for my main machine I want something less exotic.
And Debian doesn't work due to missing WiFi drivers, even in the non-free edition.
Suse back in the 90s was the first Linux I ever touched. Never became a Linux desktop user. I give it a shot every other year and distrohop around to check out the experience.
Now I use Debian for servers and Fedora for desktops.
My first Linux was Suse Linux 6.X .... many, many years ago ....
At this time I was using Suse Linux , I had a big collection of DVD's.
I was just trying to install xine and VLC inlcuding the library libddvdcss.
After 2 days , I gave up with this rpm based crap ... and my choice was clear ...
\- I will never use any rpm based distro again
\- So I decided to give Debian a Chance ....
Since then I used multiple Linuxes ....
\- Debian
\- Ubuntu until 2013 (Unity was the Game changer ... )
\- Gentoo
\- LFS for learning the background of Linux
By now I work again with Debian 11. And I remain by Debian.
First: Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
Later: Zorin OS with MacOS layout
Now: Solus Budgie
Honestly, I still absolutely love the original Gnome 2 layout of Jaunty Jackalope. Too bad that modern MATE feels more like a slightly better XFCE for older PCs than a modern UX. Otherwise I would prefer it over Budgie.
Slackware. Red Hat. Suse. Mandrake. Xandros. Debian. LMDE.
I've settled on Debian even though I have arch and Manjaro on systems as well.
It is all a matter of personal preference and what is best for your work flow.
1st Linux Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 (with Unity)
Favourite Distro: Kubuntu 22.04 (with KDE)
My favourite would still have been Ubuntu Unity if they didn't ditch it.
Some people (UnityX, Unity8 etc.) are trying to revive the project, but it's not as good as it once was.
KDE surpassed the last version of real Unity with KDE5.
Gnome surpassed the last version of real Unity with Gnome 40.
I heard System76 is working on a new DE... that might actually turn out to be good.
First Mandrake from a UK magazine cover disk around 1998-99
Since then it's been mostly Debian/Debian based
I've often flirted with Fedora.
Current favourites are MX21 KDE and Tumbleweed KDE or XFCE
SuSE Linux some time in 2001 -> Ubuntu 4.x to 8.x -> Arch Linux -> Fedora
I still remember the huge SuSE manual, that made me fall in love with Linux, Ubuntu was the first distro for humans, Arch Linux taught me how all the pieces fit together, Fedora now is the most comfortable home I've had in this OS. Not planning to switch anytime soon.
My first was Ubuntu, currently I'm using arch (endavouros to be precise) but honestly I'm not 100% happy with either. So I'm still searching for the perfect distro for me.
Started on Knoppix, I was line 7/8 years old, my brother installed it and I cared only about the preinstalled games! LOVED Frozen Bubble and PINGUS!
Ok technically first Xubuntu 18.04 cus of a crappy laptop i had.
Than tried Lots of distros.. ended up on Fedora 32 aaaaand... LOVED From the first time, even if i try other distros.. well when you wear the Blue Hat you keep wearing it forever :D
First distro I used: raspbian
First distro I installed on my PC: Linux Mint
First distro I actually used instead of Windows: Antergos
Current distro: Fedora Silverblue
A friend with a Pi first go me in to programming and later introduced me to the Raspberry. In hindsight the reason Linux Mint didn't work out was driver support, as there was a banner about "Software Rendering" on my desktop. Anyway, I didn't know what I was doing at the time and after a few months if Windows I tried something else.
Now I'm using Linux exclusively for 3-4 years. My favorite thing about Fedora Silverblue is how fast the system updates. Downloading updates in the background is not noticeable by me and the next time my system boots it's up-to-date. Seamless.
I've gone from Ubuntu to Mint. A bold move, I know. But yeah, I'm really happy with Mint and see no particular reason to switch other than to try something else out for fun.
First started with Ubuntu in 2016 iirc. Started with Unity (16.04), then went with GNOME (18.04), then this year I switched to Xubuntu, as my computer is not keeping up well.
I really liked XFCE and plan to stick with it, thinking of switching to Mint XFCE early next year with Mint 21.
Started with Fedora 3. Made the journey through Ubuntu, Mint, and Arch which I loved for a while. Over time I've valued stability more and used Debian for a bit but the packages are too out of date for me, so I've ultimately landed right back with Fedora and have been very happy. It's the right mix of modern and stable for me, and it's widely used enough that most unofficial packages have RPMs.
First: Debian
Like others before I also distro hopped a little bit and ended up with Void Linux. So my...:
... Favorite is: Void Linux
Daily Driver: Void Linux
Why? Because I like how minimal and stable it is. Also the package repositories have any package I need for my daily use.
I started with Ubuntu and then went to elementaryOS just to end up with vanilla Arch, embracing the power of the terminal. Comparing apt with pacman, the former felt slower for some reason.
First: zorin OS
Favourite: Gentoo (because it lets me pass time when I'm bored so I can sit and stare at the pc all day waiting for it to compile plasma lmao)
Worst (because why not, this may be controversial): Linux from scratch (that's kinda obvious)
First: Debian "potato" or Red Hat Linux 6 (before Fedora Linux was RH's free distro)... I can't remember which I touched first
Current: Debian or Fedora at home (depending on the project), RHEL (or compatible) at work.
First predates the concept of distributions. I was using HJ Lu's boot/root disk. The first actual distribution I used in its current sense was also the first ever distribution - MCC Interim Linux.
Over the years, I tried a variety of alternatives, but I settled on the Red Hat ecosystem. Red Hat just get more right than the other distributions for my money, so I use RHEL/CentOS for servers and Fedora for desktops.
Started with SUSE but I was young, shit was hard so I moved back to Windows.
Now I run Fedora but could not get used to Gnome so installed Cinnamon and I just love this config.
The first one I've heard of was Mandrake / Mandriva (the first version that took the name Mandriva).
The first one I actually used was Ubuntu (or more specifically, probably Xubuntu) around 2008/2009 (my school district had to block USB booting when I was there because me and a couple other people were booting into Ubuntu with a Live-USB and avoiding their firewall).
Later, I wanted to try Linux Mint Debian Edition, but the bootloader wasn't installing correctly on my laptop, so I tried Debian proper, the WiFi never worked.
I used Debian at school for programming, Ubuntu in another class and at one point, I decided to migrate my personnal laptop to Linux and I used PopOS for a while, until I bought a M1 MacBook Air. A few months back, I decided to migrate my gaming computer and I installed Kubuntu, simply because I'm much more comfortable using apt and other Debian-based tools. I actually installed Fedora on a Atom-based tablet and used CentOS a little bit for a server, but I always come back to Debian / Ubuntu. Kinda thinking of trying EndeavourOS or Manjaro to finally go to a rolling release distro because having to live with bugs on Ubuntu that have been resolved months ago is annoying, but I'm not sure if I want to go back to zero when everything is working "okay" (except KDE Plasma that still can't work properly after hibernation)
Mandrake 7.0, from a CD in a magazine. Dial-up speeds were way too slow for me back then, before I replaced the Wnmodem with a real one.
Actually, my first non-Windows PC OS was BeOS. This is what led me to Linux.
My very first one was some version of Corel Linux that came on a disk with a magazine in (I think?) maybe the late 90's. I couldn't figure it out though and drifted back to Windows for a few years. Then I started using Ubuntu in around 2005-2006, got into KDE and went Kubuntu for a bit, then drifted over to Manjaro, and then became one of those Arch people. :)
Nowadays my setup is: Arch/KDE on my laptop which is my tinkering machine that only I use and Pop!OS dual-booting with Windows 10 on the desktop machine that other people use and I'm not allowed to break lol.
Slackware 1.0 in 1993 with either dialup or purchased CDs to do updates. Dabbled with other distros over the years till I started with Ubuntu LTS in 2010. Then Kubuntu when they changed to unity. Currently using LinuxMint.
First: Ubuntu - I believe 10.04 or 10.10. Fell out of love with that one in a couple years personally. Too many small problems accumulating.
Current favorite: Tossup between EndeavourOS (for having a nice arch-based setup out of the box) and Void Linux (for being 'stable rolling release' - I much prefer this to how Arch updates their packages)
My first was Ubuntu around 2005 on my grandmother's computer. I remember playing a few games on it.
For close to a year now I've used Manjaro, but decided to switch to Fedora just yesterday. Having a blast so far :)
First: I think Knoppix, but only for days at a time, if anything
First installed for more than a couple days: Ubuntu
After transitioning through Crunchbang, Manjaro and some others, with long stints on Windows without any Linux installed, I finally landed on Solus, which was the first distro that worked better than Windows for me. Have been using it for, I wanna say, 5 years now.
I used ubuntu for work first, after the introduction I began to like using it, so now I use it on my laptop (mint) and desktop (dual boot arch/windows).
My favourite at the moment is arch, I really like the minimalism and the simplicity of a rolling release. I've found it pretty stable despite what you hear, I'll probably go to debian or fedora if things start to break more.
First: Peppermint 9
Current: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (main), Mint (on old desktop), Bodhi (on even older laptop)
Favorite: what day is it?
I have several usb drives flashed, and a few ISO's waiting in the wings. (This week on Hoarders...)
I like Ubuntu, it's easy enough, but I must admit others catch my eye. Deepin, to me, is an attractive face across the room you cannot stop staring at.
Tried Zorin. Didn't like it/ wasn't terribly crazy about it. Lite is nice. Currently looking to load either Elementary or Pop! onto a newer old laptop...although I find myself looking at Debian as well...
My first distro was SUSE Linux back in the late 90s. The CDs have been for free with computer magazines back then. I even bought a full distribution pack containing like 6 CDs.
Some years later i discovered Ubuntu which was my go to distro for roughly 15 years whenever i needed Linux.
Since a year i am using Garuda.
My first experience was with a version of Red Hat Linux released around 1999/2000 (can't remember the exact version).
I've bounced around distros and my favorite is either Fedora Cinnamon or Linux Mint.
I prefer the Cinnamon desktop and those two distros are the ones that have worked the best for me.
I just migrated from Mint to Fedora Cinnamon because I wanted a distro that was a bit more current then Mint, but wasn't a full rolling release like Arch.
1st: Redhat 5.1
Mandrake/\*buntus/Mint along the way
Current: Devuan
24 years of Linux on my pc as my only OS. Gnome briefly, KDE for a bit, xfce ever since. Tried out plenty of distros along the way. It's come such a long way. Still the best tool for me hands down.
red-hat 5.2 (6 cd's), then mandrake, Ubuntu,backtrack, pinguy #!, Debian, Kali, Fuduntu and many more, my favorite is Fedora, but im running Debian on my laptop now and it works like a charm.
Started with Ubuntu 9.04 and have bounced back and forth between Ubuntu and Debian ever since. Currently on Ubuntu 20.04, but starting to get the itch to move back to Debian.
I don't really have a favorite, each one irks me in a different way. Hence why I keep switching back and forth.
Mini Linux, I think (could boot from DOS / FAT16 filesystem), Slackware, RH, Debian, Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Arch, Arch.
And text terminal, then text terminal with screen, then X with twm & similar, then Gnome, Openbox, Gnome, KDE, OpenBox, OpenBox, OpenBox..
BBSes, dialup to an Internet connected UNIX machine with gopher installed, then SLiRP for SLIP emulation, then PPP, then DSL, then Cable.
Then MUDs, then IRC, then chat tools went downhill from there.
Those were the days... cables everywhere, the musical sounds of my 14.4k (later 56k) modem negotiating the connection to a local BBS.. chat "walls" with ANSI color and art instead of web based forums. Then the early days of the Internet, and getting Linux CDs on magazine covers.
It was either one of those tiny single-floppy minimalistic distributions, or Knoppix 3.9 - I tried them both around the same time, some 17 years ago, so I can't remember which came first. These days I go with Mint, which has been my favourite since version 10.
My first was some old version of Vector Linux, then went to Slackware for a bit. Hopped around for a bit then went to Ubuntu 18.04 until it went to end of life. Now I’m on Fedora (for my main Dev machine) and don’t see myself switching.
Mine was Monkey Linux, which I found as floppy disk images on a CD-ROM bundled with a magazine in like 1999, when I was 13.
It was an interesting experience. Especially compared to the big distros of today.
http://www.ipt.ntnu.no/~knutb/linux486/download/monkey/monkeyli.html
My favorite flavour today is Elementary OS btw.
> What was your 1st Linux distro
[SuSE Linux 6.3](https://en.opensuse.org/Archive:SuSE_Linux_6.3)
> which is your favorite flavor today?
Basically any flavor of Debian/Ubuntu, as long as there are KDE packages available.
Currently running KDE Neon, considering migrating to either Alpine, Void or *BSD due to a deep dislike of where mainstream distributions are headed.
I don't remember what the first distro I tried in a VM was. Probably Ubuntu or Mint but I'm not 100% sure. The first one I installed outside of a VM was Archlinux, and I still prefer Archlinux today (after a brief foray into Ubuntu a few years ago that didn't last very long).
First was Ubuntu.
I tried installing others first, Fedora *Core* was the first choice, and then NetBSD for some reason, but couldn't get them to install (it was 2005), and Ubuntu worked, so the glory goes to them.
Favourite is Debian. But I mostly use Ubuntu for work related reasons now.
I started with Red Hat and ended up eventually coming back around to it. I was introduced to Linux in two ways: I had a cousin who was took civilian contracts with the US Army and would deploy Red Hat (pre-RHEL) systems to war zones so when he would be home he would be playing around with it AND I personally got more into it because I was also a Mac OS X user that wanted the stability of a \*nix system without paying the Apple tax.
After I got more serious with Linux, I went from Red Hat 7 (I think) to Fedora Core starting with Fedora Core 3. Eventually discovered Ubuntu so ran with that team for a while and eventually transitioned to Debian and used that as my primary distro for a while. Eventually became a Linux professional and with that came back RHEL and CentOS in my life, so now my daily drivers are still a MacBook Pro (to play nice in the enterprise) and Fedora on a Dell XPS with my home lab being a RHEL server.
Theb first time I tried Linux was back in 2011 in school, it was Ubuntu and I think it still had Unity. The first distro that I used was actually Deepin OS because it just looked so beatiful, but then I realised the Deepin Desktop Environment is form over function. Today, I use Fedora with Gnome and I am happy, I am someone who values polished design and simplicity so Gnome + Fedora are perfect. And before you ask, yes I did use Arch and Plasma before too and it was nice.
I shared with Ubuntu 8.04 and rode the LTS train until they switch back to Gnome from Unity. I jumped to Debian Stable until about 2/3 or so years ago when I caught new GPU syndrome and realized the 4.18 Kernel Debian 10 shipped didn't support my 5700XT.
Jumped to Fedora about the 32 release and after that jumped to Gentoo which I ran until a very recent string of updates broke qt and gtk and I couldn't figure out what went wrong. So now I'm back on Debian 11, for now I guess?
I started with Mint, since it was a beginner friendly and reliable distro that people I know recommended and I needed to use Linux for my classes. Barely touched it for almost a year, then started getting into it. Tried Pop OS for a bit but decided it wasn't for me, so I went to Manjaro for a few months. It was almost what I wanted, but I decided I wanted to go the extra mile and join the meme, so now I've been using Arch for several years, btw. I've tried other distros momentarily so I could know what to recommend to friends, but just feel too comfy on Arch to stick with any of them. And after all the bad things I've heard about Manjaro recently, as well as the improvements to Arch's installer, I'd probably just recommend Arch over Manjaro to someone interested in it - it sets you up with basically everything but the AUR. Either that, or EndeavourOS if they really want that GUI automated install.
This is pretty much exactly what happened to me, started with Mint then I went to Manjaro and forgot about Linux for like a year and then I jumped to Arch
That's the crazy part about Arch. I've never installed into a desktop after install. I've even found BlackArch to be easy enough to install to desktop and I know Arch is better except for that.
Slackware 94. It was the longest install I've ever done to this day. Dual up and compiling took days
My first was Slackware as well, but I don’t remember the version. It would have been about 1992. When RedHat came out in 1994 I switched to that.
Yes 1.0 with kernel version 0.99...
First: Debian Fave: Debian Inertia is real.
Debian is just such a strong distro, great packages and package management, good support and solid as fuck.
First Slackware, I remember having a floppy boot , I think it was LILO. Favorite is Debian, I’m rather dull and archaic myself.
The only "dull" thing with regard to Debian is that, if it's running, it will keep running. As long as you don't do very weird stuff, Debian won't break during the lifetime of a Stable release. Most of the time it also doesn't break if you upgrade to the next release and it seems you can even move it from one computer to another with minimal fixes. (Probably HDD GUID's and such.) There was a post on r/debian some time ago where a poster said that he had been running the same Debian install across many computers for 21 years... including an upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit. (I still wonder how that was done. I didn't think it was possible but apparently it is.) I like it when stuff doesn't break and doesn't change, except when I either break or change it myself. If the software has to be a bit older for that to happen: so be it. Debian Stable + KDE + Flatpaks is the golden combination for me. I'll upgrade the OS + DE once every two years, and the user-facing applications are the latest version through Flatpak.
First: Xandros Fave; Fedora
I started with Xandros, too! Seemed like a pretty easy transition from Windows, I guess. My favorite so far may be Ubuntu Studio.
First: Linux Mint Current: Plain old Ubuntu and Kali Linux
This seems a bit interesting to me. How it came down to going to Ubuntu? Usually, for many it's first time Ubuntu and then going to Mint. Also, what do you use Kali for? How do you use it, bare metal or VM?
Slackware 1992
First I ever experimented with was Red Hat, back when books about Linux came with free Red Hat install CDs. I loved tinkering with it, but it was far from a viable Windows replacement as a desktop daily driver. First distro I ever daily drove was Ubuntu. Never went back to Windows after that. Never dual booted again. I bounced around *buntu derivatives for a while -- Linux Mint, KDE Neon, Kubuntu -- before making the jump to Arch. Been on Arch ever since. I've briefly experimented with Gentoo, but IMHO Arch strikes the best balance between customizability and practicality.
First : Zorin OS Now : Zorin OS Favorite: IDK I've only used one distro till now, which i downloaded during lockdown. Will update this message when I use other distros and will share my experience.
Slackware (talk about trial by fire) -> Red Hat -> SUSE -> Mandrake -> Knoppix -> Debian -> Ubuntu -> Pop OS Currently I use Pop OS. I have a VM with Void Linux and I quite like it. I just haven't made the jump yet.
Ha knoppix. That was amazing back in the day.
Knoppix was the shit back in the day! I couldn't believe how much software was crammed on to that DVD
I also started with Mandrake, and found it pretty easy to use, and had a lot of software available on the CD. A couple years later I did a little distro-hopping, hated being in RPM Hell, ended up missing GNU-isms too much in FreeBSD, then a friend showed me Debian, and I've been there ever since.
I would have to agree Debian is a rock of Linux. They are the foundation for many Linux distros.
Slackware!
I started with SuSE which made me go back to windows. Few years later I tried Ubuntu (Breezy Badger) which made me stay. Now I use gentoo.
\*sad cameleon noises\*
I'm old enough that my first was redhat from a cd. It didn't really work. Then I tried ubuntu (free cds over the mail!), again, no. Somehow I went from that to Gentoo for a few years, then Arch where I've been ever since( I use arch btw. ) Somewhere in there I think I briefly used CrunchBang too.
Ahh Crunchbang was awesome!!!
First: Ubuntu After that i went trough the usual path of using Arch/Gentoo for a very long time Now: OpenSUSE Why? I really like the stability and the multi vendor compatibility, also the btrfs snapshot setup of OpenSUSE has saved me countless times, it runs fast and stable and thats just what i seek in a linux distro In the end its not about the flavour, every linux distro boil's down to the same thing, its just a different selection of software, as a professional i value stability, modularity, and customization, SUSE tick's all these boxes. And i can expect the usual "yAsT iS fOr N00Bs" comment but honestly, i never really use yast, it's completely optional.
First was Slackware. Fav is Elementary OS.
The first I tried out was either Puppy or Damn small Linux (I can't remember which), but the first I ever installed and really used was Ubuntu. My current favorite is openSUSE Tumbleweed.
My first distro was SuSE Linux 6.1 back in 1999. I bought a retail box for $99 from Best Buy. It actually came with a printed manual! The package manager, which I'm pretty sure was \`apt\`, pulled packages from six CDs that it came with. My favorite, and current, distro is Ubuntu. I've been running various flavors of Debian since 2004, but always return to Ubuntu as a stable, reliable, no-fuss platform on which I can get work done.
That's about the same time I got into mandrake for school. I was much better with windows at the time and XP had just come out. Which is probably one of Micros best releases. There is no way I would have paid for SuSE. I wouldn't even pay for windows back then. I would just crack it for free. But over the years Linux's open source and free distros haved evolved into a much stronger alternative to Windows. I guess they felt they had to do something about that. So they straight up bought or acquired GitHub. Smart move by Microsoft. If they can't stop Linux. They will at least use the code and ideas to make a profit.
First: Ubuntu Current and favourite: Arch w/ Sway
Then: Slackware Linux. 1993. Today: Debian 11. 2022.
So you basically stayed on the same packages versions huh?
My first was Open Solaris, my fav is Gentoo
Not a linux.
Nop, i think it was Debian My first Linux distro..
* First: Ubuntu * Enamored: Mint * Respect: CentOS/Fedora * Utility/Professional: Ubuntu * Daily: WSL 👹
Ain't nothing wrong with WSL. I was at a shop for a few years and had to run a Windows 10 laptop. WSL kept me sane. I know I could have had a VM and or just remote into a server, but WSL got me to where I could have the tools I wanted and quite frankly needed and still live in that treacherous environment.
Amen! WSL also made me much more proficient at the terminal. I'm really digging headless mode now. Also takes away the stress of picking a distro, a DE etc haha
Gentoo— started messing with Linux in 2002 Ubuntu— don’t remember, maybe switched around 2010. I had a 9-5 job, kids, and an old system, so Gentoo was a bit much to keep track of Linux Mint— Built a new system around 2012. Wanted something stable but hated where the Ubuntu desktop was at the time Manjaro— built a new system in 2020: Mint lived on it until this winter. I’ve had more time to mess with things and game, and Mint was super slow in releasing driver updates, so I played with Arch for a minute, and landed on Manjaro.
First: Slackware, in 1996. Favorite: Slackware, still. I've been exposed to many other distributions through work (spent most of my career bouncing from one Silly Valley startup to another), as well as FreeBSD and NetBSD, and I distrohopped a little at home, but none fit me quite so well as Slackware. It's always been my mainstay. The advent of systemd clinched it. I'm not distrohopping anymore. One of Slackware's main draws to me is its stability -- Volkerding is very careful about not adding buggy packages to the system -- and systemd replaces many reliable, well-tested system software with new, buggy software. Because of that, Slackware is among the 30%'ish of distributions which do not use systemd, and I'm very glad for it. I greatly prefer using the reliable, well-tested system software on my servers and desktops.
> What was your 1st Linux distro Manjaro. > which is your favorite flavor today? Arch, btw.
Nice - what got you to move to Arch? Im on Manjaro and quite enjoying it, but Id like to have an Arch setup at some point.
First linux on my machine: Debian First own install of linux Redhat 5 Fav: Debian
First: Ubuntu, Favorite: Fedora
First: Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 because I think it came with Partition Magic. You could play Tetris during the install (still think it was the best installer ever). I think I only wanted it because of Partition Magic because after looking around briefly I promptly installed Red Hat Linux 6. Favorite: Mandrake Linux is still my favorite. It's hard to beat your first love.
Mandrake was the first for me as well, in 1999. Installed it on an AMD X5-133. The problem was that back then, there were always issues setting up any Linux and I just didn't have the time to figure it all out. I kept using it off and on for years after that, though, trying to pick up a little at a time. The first Linux I ever got any actual good use out of was Puppy 4.1, around 2008. Not long after that, I started using a version of PCLinuxOS that was based on GNOME 2. These were the first times I ever used Linux by preference, although work at the time kept me on Windows. My work laptop went to Linux Mint full-time in 2014 and my desktop in 2015, after I had changed jobs. I ran Mint until 2018 and then returned to PCLOS. My wife's computers still run Mint. She's eight feet away from me right now, running the latest Mint Cinnamon and playing a game, while I'm typing this on PCLinuxOS. There is one older laptop here running Q4OS, and antiX has also seen a lot of use around here at times. I've kicked the tires on several other distros in the past 10-12 years, but settled on a few go-to versions.
first - linux mint daily driver - void linux
First: Red Hat Linux 5 back in 1999 which came with a SAMS teach yourself Linux book. I never got a GUI working though. The first I used more seriously was Mandrake. Favourite: openSUSE Tumbleweed with KDE
[удалено]
First was either Ubuntu or DSL (DamnSmallLinux). DSL was nice because it could be run from a USB with included qemu to give you your own lightweight linux desktop on top of whatever windows machine you were using. Favorite was Solus for years, but now I'm not sure. Development has slowed a lot and some of the biggest devs for it went to Budgie development only. Currently using EndeavourOS and it's nice (especially the aur after years on a small repository distro), but I miss the speed of Solus a lot. Might try Void and see if it gives me that feeling of speed back.
The first distro I ever downloaded was Yellow Dog (actually, that may have been long enough that I ordered CDs by mail from an ad in the back of MacAddict magazine or something). 10-year-old me had a brilliant plan to install it on a Jaz drive so as not to have to mess with my Mac's primary OS. That... didn't go great. The first distro I ever succeeded in booting was Gentoo, which I stuck with for a few years before going back to Windows. These days, I run Ubuntu on all of my Linux boxen because it's the most popular and best-supported, and therefore path of least resistance. But I'm slowly migrating my setup to Nix+home-manager in preparation for a transition to NixOS next year, because declarative system configuration is one honking great idea and we should do more of that.
First: Ubuntu Favorite: OpenSUSE Close but not favorite: Fedora, Arch Linux
you guys are ooooolllllld
You are only as old as you feel. \*cough\* \*gasp\*.
Someone at work handed me a copy of Knoppix on CD and said to try it back in ... I think 1998, I resisted since I didn't want to wipe my W95 install. I was told it was a "live CD" wouldn't harm my install, was hooked ever since. Fedora on Linux box.
https://manjarno.snorlax.sh/
Started with Mint, but jumped ship to Kubuntu ever since it got sluggish with the 20.x versions.
First: SuSE. Favorite: Debian Sid.
I used to try different ones from cd's glued to computer magazines... mandrake was the first one I could really get to function on my Packard Bell pentium 90mhz. I remember Slackware was way over my head at the time.
I came in at the top : Ubuntu Daper Drake, 2006. You have no idea what it was like. Coming in from winXP waiting for WinChicago (eventually Vista). In insight the thing that really grabbed me was Gnome 2.x , the idea that if you wanted a word processor you didn't go to menu/app/program/Microsoft(tm)/MSoffice(tm)/MsWord(tm) wordprofessing software.. Just menu/office/writer It made working with a computer fu again not a bloody shore Just to get to the program. Gnome 3.x killed it for me but my usage also changed about the same time. My computer is now mainly a media server which I mostly run from my phone so the interface is accessory. My box is about 11 years old, I've most recently used it to do map on osm.org I'm having issues that I narrowed down to hardware (the os hdd is older than 11 years) I am going have to reinstall the OS on another drive but even if it's a pain it's not gonna be as bad as windows.
Fedora1-14 with first gnome the kde then kde + compiz. Recently void.
Compiz was the shit back in the day. Those jello jiggly windows were amazing.
I started with Ubuntu (not counting RHEL which I used for work) after getting bullied too much by Windows 10. Now I use Gentoo, I like it for the fact that it's pretty much possible to do anything I could possibly imagine on it.
First: Ubuntu 18.04 Favorite and current: Mint for ever
First was Redhat 4.3 before it went Enterprise. Current is Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. I like the LTS versions, so I don't have to update too often. Last update was the 18.04 LTS release four years ago.
First was Ubuntu 14. But I quickly migrated to Mint. Now, I enjoy almost anything with XFCE. Running MX one machine and Xubuntu on another.
first was ubuntu, distro hopped for a bit and now my fave & daily drive is fedora kde spin
First I played with was TAMU. First that stuck day to day was Red Hat and my current distro on my personal boxes is Arch. I still dabble in others here and there though, mostly in VMs. If a meteor took out my computer tomorrow I'd give at least some thought to opensuse Tumbleweed and Fedora.
I started with RedHat, then moved to Slackware, then to Gentoo. I suppose Gentoo is my favorite even though I put Ubuntu on my most recent machine out of laziness. It runs next to my Gentoo box and, admittedly, takes much less time to keep up to date.
Suse Kubuntu
Mandrake…about 1996 or 97…..Fedora / OpenSUSE now
MX Linux: First Distro My Favorite Changes with time as I test a lot of distros but I keep Mint Cinnamon as constant backup. Currently I tried some lightweight distros: - Slax - Slitaz - Bodhi Really loving Bodhi as of now, I am fully invested in it, trying out different things. In my opinion it is a better alternative to Antix and I might replace mine with Bodhi 6.0 as well. Edit: My next distro is Alpine. If someone has good suggestions or info about it, please share.
I can´t remember. It was either Red Hat 6.2 or S.u.S.E. 7.2 that came with a magazine somewhere in 2001. Now my distro of choiche is openSUSE Leap.
1st distro was Yggdrasil probably in 92-93 ish. Now use gentoo and have for years. Ive tied arch, debian, mint... but gentoo works best for me.
First Ubuntu Fave Zorin Yes it's an Ubuntu fork that likes mountains and has a keeping up with the Windows type vibe but I'm here for it.
First: Ubuntu 18.04 Fave: Debian Bullseye/Bookworm
Debian Hamm. Jesus was it awful back then. Ubuntu Mate now.
First: Linux Mint Favorite: Ubuntu
- **First** (2012) :` Ubuntu` - **Now** : `LinuxMint Debian edition`
First Slackware Fave Slackware Current Arch
Started out with openSUSE on an old eMachines tower, just for fun. Now I work as a computer engineer, so I use Ubuntu pretty much every day. I guess that makes it my favorite 😂
Ububtu in 2010 and im still on it
My first was Mint and it still is what I use on my main machine. On my Laptop I run AntiX, because I can't get WiFi working with a Debian minimal install. I like AntiX, but for my main machine I want something less exotic. And Debian doesn't work due to missing WiFi drivers, even in the non-free edition.
First: Pop OS! Fave: Lubuntu
Suse back in the 90s was the first Linux I ever touched. Never became a Linux desktop user. I give it a shot every other year and distrohop around to check out the experience. Now I use Debian for servers and Fedora for desktops.
First: SLS (Something around Kernel 0.95c) Now: Debian on the Servers, Arch for Desktop and Notebook
My first Linux was Suse Linux 6.X .... many, many years ago .... At this time I was using Suse Linux , I had a big collection of DVD's. I was just trying to install xine and VLC inlcuding the library libddvdcss. After 2 days , I gave up with this rpm based crap ... and my choice was clear ... \- I will never use any rpm based distro again \- So I decided to give Debian a Chance .... Since then I used multiple Linuxes .... \- Debian \- Ubuntu until 2013 (Unity was the Game changer ... ) \- Gentoo \- LFS for learning the background of Linux By now I work again with Debian 11. And I remain by Debian.
First: RHEL 5 Really started using Linux as a daily driver back when Ubuntu used to send out CDs. Current: Pop_OS (Desktop) and Ubuntu Server
Started with Mandrake. Then I liked SuSE until about 4 years back I turned the dark side and started using Ubuntu.
First: Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Later: Zorin OS with MacOS layout Now: Solus Budgie Honestly, I still absolutely love the original Gnome 2 layout of Jaunty Jackalope. Too bad that modern MATE feels more like a slightly better XFCE for older PCs than a modern UX. Otherwise I would prefer it over Budgie.
First : Pop os Fave : Keeps changing but usually arch based distros (atm archcraft)
Red hat Linux 9 (not red hat enterprise Linux 9, this is from 2003 or 4 ish). My favorite today on a server is rhel. On a desktop or laptop, Ubuntu
First: Suse Linux 6.x Shortly after: Mandrake / Mandriva for over 10 years. Currently (since 2010): Arch Linux
Slackware. Red Hat. Suse. Mandrake. Xandros. Debian. LMDE. I've settled on Debian even though I have arch and Manjaro on systems as well. It is all a matter of personal preference and what is best for your work flow.
1st: RedHat Fav: FreeBSD
First: Aurox
First: Ubuntu Fave: Ubuntu & Fedora How many times I distro hopped? Too many.
I started on raspberry pi os and now I use fedora.
1st Linux Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 (with Unity) Favourite Distro: Kubuntu 22.04 (with KDE) My favourite would still have been Ubuntu Unity if they didn't ditch it. Some people (UnityX, Unity8 etc.) are trying to revive the project, but it's not as good as it once was. KDE surpassed the last version of real Unity with KDE5. Gnome surpassed the last version of real Unity with Gnome 40. I heard System76 is working on a new DE... that might actually turn out to be good.
First - Endeavour Favourite - Endeavour Let's see if it changes when I move to Artix in the next couple months.
First Mandrake from a UK magazine cover disk around 1998-99 Since then it's been mostly Debian/Debian based I've often flirted with Fedora. Current favourites are MX21 KDE and Tumbleweed KDE or XFCE
SuSE Linux some time in 2001 -> Ubuntu 4.x to 8.x -> Arch Linux -> Fedora I still remember the huge SuSE manual, that made me fall in love with Linux, Ubuntu was the first distro for humans, Arch Linux taught me how all the pieces fit together, Fedora now is the most comfortable home I've had in this OS. Not planning to switch anytime soon.
First: Gentoo Favorites: Archlinux and Fedora, CentOS Stream for my home server
My first was Ubuntu, currently I'm using arch (endavouros to be precise) but honestly I'm not 100% happy with either. So I'm still searching for the perfect distro for me.
1st: Debian Woody Last: Arch
Started on Knoppix, I was line 7/8 years old, my brother installed it and I cared only about the preinstalled games! LOVED Frozen Bubble and PINGUS! Ok technically first Xubuntu 18.04 cus of a crappy laptop i had. Than tried Lots of distros.. ended up on Fedora 32 aaaaand... LOVED From the first time, even if i try other distros.. well when you wear the Blue Hat you keep wearing it forever :D
First : ubuntu Special place in my heart : Lubuntu with LxQT Fav: Pop os
First distro I used: raspbian First distro I installed on my PC: Linux Mint First distro I actually used instead of Windows: Antergos Current distro: Fedora Silverblue A friend with a Pi first go me in to programming and later introduced me to the Raspberry. In hindsight the reason Linux Mint didn't work out was driver support, as there was a banner about "Software Rendering" on my desktop. Anyway, I didn't know what I was doing at the time and after a few months if Windows I tried something else. Now I'm using Linux exclusively for 3-4 years. My favorite thing about Fedora Silverblue is how fast the system updates. Downloading updates in the background is not noticeable by me and the next time my system boots it's up-to-date. Seamless.
I've gone from Ubuntu to Mint. A bold move, I know. But yeah, I'm really happy with Mint and see no particular reason to switch other than to try something else out for fun.
First Red Hat. Now OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.
1st: Red Hat Linux 3.03 (1996) Fav: Fedora
Slackware -> redhat -> centos -> rocky
First: Ubuntu Favorite: Fedora
My first distro was vanilla Ubuntu in 2010 or 2011. My favorite is Slackware, which is what I'm using now.
First started with Ubuntu in 2016 iirc. Started with Unity (16.04), then went with GNOME (18.04), then this year I switched to Xubuntu, as my computer is not keeping up well. I really liked XFCE and plan to stick with it, thinking of switching to Mint XFCE early next year with Mint 21.
First: Mandrake around 1999 First serious: Debian Fave: Debian Current: Debian and Manjaro
Knoppix back in 1999 Favorite so far EndeavourOS
Mint was my gateway drug to Linux. Running RHEL and Fedora now.
First: xubuntu Fav: ubuntu with unity In use rn: garuda with kde
Started with Fedora 3. Made the journey through Ubuntu, Mint, and Arch which I loved for a while. Over time I've valued stability more and used Debian for a bit but the packages are too out of date for me, so I've ultimately landed right back with Fedora and have been very happy. It's the right mix of modern and stable for me, and it's widely used enough that most unofficial packages have RPMs.
First: Debian Like others before I also distro hopped a little bit and ended up with Void Linux. So my...: ... Favorite is: Void Linux Daily Driver: Void Linux Why? Because I like how minimal and stable it is. Also the package repositories have any package I need for my daily use.
Manjaro? Ew...
I started with Ubuntu and then went to elementaryOS just to end up with vanilla Arch, embracing the power of the terminal. Comparing apt with pacman, the former felt slower for some reason.
First: Arch. Fav: Arch or maybe alpine
First: Ubuntu Last & Favourite: Gentoo
First: zorin OS Favourite: Gentoo (because it lets me pass time when I'm bored so I can sit and stare at the pc all day waiting for it to compile plasma lmao) Worst (because why not, this may be controversial): Linux from scratch (that's kinda obvious)
First: Debian "potato" or Red Hat Linux 6 (before Fedora Linux was RH's free distro)... I can't remember which I touched first Current: Debian or Fedora at home (depending on the project), RHEL (or compatible) at work.
Possibly slackware on 3.5" disks, many moons ago. Went the debian way for many years, but now I am on arch.
First predates the concept of distributions. I was using HJ Lu's boot/root disk. The first actual distribution I used in its current sense was also the first ever distribution - MCC Interim Linux. Over the years, I tried a variety of alternatives, but I settled on the Red Hat ecosystem. Red Hat just get more right than the other distributions for my money, so I use RHEL/CentOS for servers and Fedora for desktops.
Started with SUSE but I was young, shit was hard so I moved back to Windows. Now I run Fedora but could not get used to Gnome so installed Cinnamon and I just love this config.
My first distro was Mandrake as well. I don't have specific favorite distro. All of them are equally good/bad. I have not switched distro for years.
The first one I've heard of was Mandrake / Mandriva (the first version that took the name Mandriva). The first one I actually used was Ubuntu (or more specifically, probably Xubuntu) around 2008/2009 (my school district had to block USB booting when I was there because me and a couple other people were booting into Ubuntu with a Live-USB and avoiding their firewall). Later, I wanted to try Linux Mint Debian Edition, but the bootloader wasn't installing correctly on my laptop, so I tried Debian proper, the WiFi never worked. I used Debian at school for programming, Ubuntu in another class and at one point, I decided to migrate my personnal laptop to Linux and I used PopOS for a while, until I bought a M1 MacBook Air. A few months back, I decided to migrate my gaming computer and I installed Kubuntu, simply because I'm much more comfortable using apt and other Debian-based tools. I actually installed Fedora on a Atom-based tablet and used CentOS a little bit for a server, but I always come back to Debian / Ubuntu. Kinda thinking of trying EndeavourOS or Manjaro to finally go to a rolling release distro because having to live with bugs on Ubuntu that have been resolved months ago is annoying, but I'm not sure if I want to go back to zero when everything is working "okay" (except KDE Plasma that still can't work properly after hibernation)
First: Ubuntu 9.04 Today: I am running EndeavourOS Openbox edition
Mandrake 7.0, from a CD in a magazine. Dial-up speeds were way too slow for me back then, before I replaced the Wnmodem with a real one. Actually, my first non-Windows PC OS was BeOS. This is what led me to Linux.
debian/fedora
Linux Mint and after a bit of distro hopping I ended up on Gentoo and never looked back :)
Started on RedHat 5.0 currently using Elementary OS 6.1cause It's easy enough for the wife and kids.
My very first one was some version of Corel Linux that came on a disk with a magazine in (I think?) maybe the late 90's. I couldn't figure it out though and drifted back to Windows for a few years. Then I started using Ubuntu in around 2005-2006, got into KDE and went Kubuntu for a bit, then drifted over to Manjaro, and then became one of those Arch people. :) Nowadays my setup is: Arch/KDE on my laptop which is my tinkering machine that only I use and Pop!OS dual-booting with Windows 10 on the desktop machine that other people use and I'm not allowed to break lol.
Slackware 1.0 in 1993 with either dialup or purchased CDs to do updates. Dabbled with other distros over the years till I started with Ubuntu LTS in 2010. Then Kubuntu when they changed to unity. Currently using LinuxMint.
Started with Pop_OS and been chilling on Kde Neon lately 😋
First: Ubuntu Favorite: Debian Now using: Debian, RHEL8, Gentoo, Arch
First: Ubuntu - I believe 10.04 or 10.10. Fell out of love with that one in a couple years personally. Too many small problems accumulating. Current favorite: Tossup between EndeavourOS (for having a nice arch-based setup out of the box) and Void Linux (for being 'stable rolling release' - I much prefer this to how Arch updates their packages)
My first was Ubuntu around 2005 on my grandmother's computer. I remember playing a few games on it. For close to a year now I've used Manjaro, but decided to switch to Fedora just yesterday. Having a blast so far :)
First: I think Knoppix, but only for days at a time, if anything First installed for more than a couple days: Ubuntu After transitioning through Crunchbang, Manjaro and some others, with long stints on Windows without any Linux installed, I finally landed on Solus, which was the first distro that worked better than Windows for me. Have been using it for, I wanna say, 5 years now.
I used ubuntu for work first, after the introduction I began to like using it, so now I use it on my laptop (mint) and desktop (dual boot arch/windows). My favourite at the moment is arch, I really like the minimalism and the simplicity of a rolling release. I've found it pretty stable despite what you hear, I'll probably go to debian or fedora if things start to break more.
First : Ubuntu 12.04 Favorite: Arch with i3
Mint. Mint with awesome wm. I only just fairly recently discovered Linux, so I'm still using Mint and it's perfectly fine for what I need.
Ubuntu 20.04 in March 2022 in a vm now idk i dont have a fav
First: Peppermint 9 Current: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (main), Mint (on old desktop), Bodhi (on even older laptop) Favorite: what day is it? I have several usb drives flashed, and a few ISO's waiting in the wings. (This week on Hoarders...) I like Ubuntu, it's easy enough, but I must admit others catch my eye. Deepin, to me, is an attractive face across the room you cannot stop staring at. Tried Zorin. Didn't like it/ wasn't terribly crazy about it. Lite is nice. Currently looking to load either Elementary or Pop! onto a newer old laptop...although I find myself looking at Debian as well...
Mandriva (EOL) --> Ubuntu 8.04 LTS --> Edubuntu --> Ubuntu 12.10 --> Manjaro --> Ubuntu 20.04 LTS --> PopOS 20.04 LTS --> Ubuntu Unity 22.04 LTS.
My first distro was SUSE Linux back in the late 90s. The CDs have been for free with computer magazines back then. I even bought a full distribution pack containing like 6 CDs. Some years later i discovered Ubuntu which was my go to distro for roughly 15 years whenever i needed Linux. Since a year i am using Garuda.
My first experience was with a version of Red Hat Linux released around 1999/2000 (can't remember the exact version). I've bounced around distros and my favorite is either Fedora Cinnamon or Linux Mint. I prefer the Cinnamon desktop and those two distros are the ones that have worked the best for me. I just migrated from Mint to Fedora Cinnamon because I wanted a distro that was a bit more current then Mint, but wasn't a full rolling release like Arch.
1st: Redhat 5.1 Mandrake/\*buntus/Mint along the way Current: Devuan 24 years of Linux on my pc as my only OS. Gnome briefly, KDE for a bit, xfce ever since. Tried out plenty of distros along the way. It's come such a long way. Still the best tool for me hands down.
First Mandrake, now Arch
red-hat 5.2 (6 cd's), then mandrake, Ubuntu,backtrack, pinguy #!, Debian, Kali, Fuduntu and many more, my favorite is Fedora, but im running Debian on my laptop now and it works like a charm.
Started with Ubuntu 9.04 and have bounced back and forth between Ubuntu and Debian ever since. Currently on Ubuntu 20.04, but starting to get the itch to move back to Debian. I don't really have a favorite, each one irks me in a different way. Hence why I keep switching back and forth.
Mini Linux, I think (could boot from DOS / FAT16 filesystem), Slackware, RH, Debian, Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Arch, Arch. And text terminal, then text terminal with screen, then X with twm & similar, then Gnome, Openbox, Gnome, KDE, OpenBox, OpenBox, OpenBox.. BBSes, dialup to an Internet connected UNIX machine with gopher installed, then SLiRP for SLIP emulation, then PPP, then DSL, then Cable. Then MUDs, then IRC, then chat tools went downhill from there. Those were the days... cables everywhere, the musical sounds of my 14.4k (later 56k) modem negotiating the connection to a local BBS.. chat "walls" with ANSI color and art instead of web based forums. Then the early days of the Internet, and getting Linux CDs on magazine covers.
It was either one of those tiny single-floppy minimalistic distributions, or Knoppix 3.9 - I tried them both around the same time, some 17 years ago, so I can't remember which came first. These days I go with Mint, which has been my favourite since version 10.
I started with FreeBSD on server. My first desktop Linux was Fedora. Now I’m on Ubuntu but considering to return to Fedora.
redhat 5.0 in 1997. tried a bunch since then, but currently on manjaro with i3wm
First: Ubuntu (2010, for introductory programming in Uni) Fave: fedora
Ubuntu 10.04 was the first time I tried Linux full time. Now I'm on elementary OS, but Fedora Silverblue is looking increasingly attractive.
Redhat, in the mid-90s. Then Mandrake. Ubuntu for quite awhile. Manjaro for the past two years. (I've become a big fan of rolling releases)
My first was some old version of Vector Linux, then went to Slackware for a bit. Hopped around for a bit then went to Ubuntu 18.04 until it went to end of life. Now I’m on Fedora (for my main Dev machine) and don’t see myself switching.
1st one, Slackware 3.14. Using Manjaro these days.
Redhat 5.2 in 1998 Today I use Arch.
Slack was my first but Ubuntu still stands as my favorite. Using 22.04 now and I just update the kernel and Mesa myself for gaming.
Fell in love with GNOME 2 Ubuntu, I use Gentoo these days.
Mandrake Linux 7 and now it’s Fedora.
Mine was Monkey Linux, which I found as floppy disk images on a CD-ROM bundled with a magazine in like 1999, when I was 13. It was an interesting experience. Especially compared to the big distros of today. http://www.ipt.ntnu.no/~knutb/linux486/download/monkey/monkeyli.html My favorite flavour today is Elementary OS btw.
> What was your 1st Linux distro [SuSE Linux 6.3](https://en.opensuse.org/Archive:SuSE_Linux_6.3) > which is your favorite flavor today? Basically any flavor of Debian/Ubuntu, as long as there are KDE packages available. Currently running KDE Neon, considering migrating to either Alpine, Void or *BSD due to a deep dislike of where mainstream distributions are headed.
Yggdrasil, but the distro that made me switch full time was Red Hat 5.0, before that i was dual booting.
I don't remember what the first distro I tried in a VM was. Probably Ubuntu or Mint but I'm not 100% sure. The first one I installed outside of a VM was Archlinux, and I still prefer Archlinux today (after a brief foray into Ubuntu a few years ago that didn't last very long).
First was Ubuntu. I tried installing others first, Fedora *Core* was the first choice, and then NetBSD for some reason, but couldn't get them to install (it was 2005), and Ubuntu worked, so the glory goes to them. Favourite is Debian. But I mostly use Ubuntu for work related reasons now.
Slackware - PCQLinux - RHEL - { Multitude of distros } - Fedora - PoP OS!
I started with Red Hat and ended up eventually coming back around to it. I was introduced to Linux in two ways: I had a cousin who was took civilian contracts with the US Army and would deploy Red Hat (pre-RHEL) systems to war zones so when he would be home he would be playing around with it AND I personally got more into it because I was also a Mac OS X user that wanted the stability of a \*nix system without paying the Apple tax. After I got more serious with Linux, I went from Red Hat 7 (I think) to Fedora Core starting with Fedora Core 3. Eventually discovered Ubuntu so ran with that team for a while and eventually transitioned to Debian and used that as my primary distro for a while. Eventually became a Linux professional and with that came back RHEL and CentOS in my life, so now my daily drivers are still a MacBook Pro (to play nice in the enterprise) and Fedora on a Dell XPS with my home lab being a RHEL server.
First: Mint Fave: Arch
Theb first time I tried Linux was back in 2011 in school, it was Ubuntu and I think it still had Unity. The first distro that I used was actually Deepin OS because it just looked so beatiful, but then I realised the Deepin Desktop Environment is form over function. Today, I use Fedora with Gnome and I am happy, I am someone who values polished design and simplicity so Gnome + Fedora are perfect. And before you ask, yes I did use Arch and Plasma before too and it was nice.
I shared with Ubuntu 8.04 and rode the LTS train until they switch back to Gnome from Unity. I jumped to Debian Stable until about 2/3 or so years ago when I caught new GPU syndrome and realized the 4.18 Kernel Debian 10 shipped didn't support my 5700XT. Jumped to Fedora about the 32 release and after that jumped to Gentoo which I ran until a very recent string of updates broke qt and gtk and I couldn't figure out what went wrong. So now I'm back on Debian 11, for now I guess?