I have a physical CD of Ubuntu 6.10, back then they were distributing those over the mail and a friend of mine ordered some and gave me. I still keep it.
this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I was in 8th grade so 13-14 years old right?
About the time that Windows 10 came out. I was just messing around and ended up liking it.
when I first heard about MS recall
Purchased a copy of Redhat from compusa in 1997... never did get my modem working with it unfortunately,
Started with Ubuntu's initial 4.10 release back in '04. I wish I still had the Live CD they mailed me. When Ubuntu ditched Gnome for Unity I switched to Mint. Up until a few months ago I was dual-booting Windows alongside it, but with 10's EOL approaching I'm ditching it.
I do keep an old laptop running Win10 specifically for some Audio-related software I just can't get to work in Linux.
Here's what I started with. The release of Windows 95 lured me away from Amiga, but as the Amiga was a very customisable environment, I had this for an escape plan :D
In the Amiga days I was ridiculously lucky and bagged a Silicon Graphics Indy system for pennies, so Unix was no stranger at this point.
Cool, no, not my version but very close to it...
in 2002 when my windows me computer start looping on the blue screen of death, with all of my college papers/essays/tests/assignments trapped in it.
the recovery media refused to work because i had upgraded the computer several times and i couldn't afford the $180 windows xp cd. so i bought a linux magazine for $5 that included a copy of mandrake linux installation media and used paper printouts from my college's computer labs to help me rescue my work from the computer.
That's how you do it. Waiting to drown but suddenly learning to fly :D
Yggdrasil somewhere around ‘93… maybe ‘94. Recompiling a kernel took a VERY long time.
I’ve been doing this a while.
a month ago, never goin back...so much power, so much free ram. im in love
Caldera in 1999 or 2000 at home. RedHat and SuSE at work.
I got to cut my teeth on CP/M (not nix of course) on a Kaypro II thanks to my uncle. 1982. I owe him a lot for giving me a headstart on computing.
Commodore vic20 was my first, then a TRS80 with CP/M
I installed Ubuntu in 2007 or so, but moved right after and got a new computer, so I didn't really do anything with it. I installed Peppermint 9 on a new laptop a few years before Windows 7 went EOL because it came with Windows 10 installed but couldn't actually run it. Ran great with Linux. When Windows 7 stopped getting security updates, I installed Peppermint on my desktop, too. After the man dev passed away, the project went it a different direction, so I switched to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed. That was a few years ago. Still with it, still happy.
Slackware. 1993.
I'm old lol.
Been through:
Slackware
Mandrake
Debian
Ubuntu
Redhat , old and new
Fedora
Arch
Knoppix
Pop!
CentOS
Enlightenment
Etc etc..
Right now I'm living on KDE Neon.
about a decade ago i used to mess around with some debian based distros on dual boot, mostly as a toy
then used xenialpup for a bit when my drives got toasted
then used mint for a year ish as my daily driver before moving to arch which i've been on ever since
Just to put you all on notice: I started my kids on Linux from day 1 of their computing lives. I'm playing the long game here. In another 80 years they're going to be in the longest living users category.
They mostly use Linux as their daily drivers. Any time they have to use windows for school work they also rage at the terrible UI and lack of ease of use.
Linux didn't exist until I was 25.
But are we talking earliest age, or length of time using it? I've been running Linux on PCs for over 30 years.
Yes, at least seeing a 50yo guy like me. We come from the 8bit world, there was no linux!
Been there! It was Avery different time.
The first program I wrote was in the Logo Turtle Game on an Apple Iie in 4th grade. Did some BASIC programming on the Apple IIe's building interpreter too.
I use Arduino boards with Atmega, Esp32/8266, and M0 chips on them for embedded projects. These $8 boards have more processing capability then my first desktop computer....
I know it's just nostalgia, but I sometimes really miss the days when you could memorize the entire memory layout of your computer. You knew that if you poked a value into a memory location, some pixels would flip at a certain place on the screen.
It was nice living in such a small, constrained world.
as a teenager somewhere between 1996 and 1998.
Me too, Slackware - we're getting old aren't we?
Right behind you by a few years
I started using Linux before you were born, but i also was 20, so you win😄
I started using linux Slackware in 1996. First time I was paid to install linux on a server in 1998. It was Red Hat 5.2 way before they switch to Enterprise Linux.
Been my desktop daily driver since 1999.
Yes, I'm old.
My first laptop was an Ubuntu machine with no battery when I was 4. I had no idea what Linux was, I just played the games my uncle had pre-loaded onto it.
In University. In the 90s we used commercial un*x (HP-UX, IRIX, AIX, Solaris/SunOS, SCO) and some others like SVR4, BSD, Minix. Then a guy on usenet talked about making is own kernel running on a 386. My first real full linux install was kernel 0.99 on a 486DX50, around 1993, came in multiple floppies, then to install X11 that was like 10 more floppies! Configuring things was a bit nighmarish.
I messed around trying to get Redhat 7.2 or 7.3 working but gave up (Q1 or Q2 2002). I later experimented with SuSe (or however it was stylised in Q1 2005), messed about with Knoppix and a few other distros, before properly going all-in on Ubuntu 5.04 when I was 18.
In 2006 my university used Ubuntu, I thought 'Wow, this is different!' Tried it out on my own computer but I was a heavy gamer so windows was the best option (hey, Win7 pretty alright anyway!)
Fast forward to about 2022, I try it again but it's not getting incorporated well with my program usage in school (as a teacher).
Fast forward to 2024, worked out that Tencent software is on AUR (teacher in Mainland China) and I figure I'm doing another dive. So far, so good. Little itty bitty glitches especially with Libreoffice but I'm getting by without touching Win10.
My college buddy first told me about Linux at around the start of 1998. After some research I decided I would make the switch at the end of the semester. For a couple years I had mac but I’ve always had a Linux box running.
i thought i was old for lemmy till i saw the dates in these comments.
I have known about Linux pretty early on, roughly the age of 10 (almost 29 now), but didn't get to have a lot of tech interactions. It wasn't until around 2022/3 that I got Cybersecurity / DevOps certs (still can't get a job) and switched to Linux. I have a couple Chromebooks that run Ubuntu Studio and Lubuntu, a tower that used to run Garuda (Arch) and an old Mac that runs CachyOS. I'm more into Arch distros, but the amount of space on each comp and some hardware quirks make it difficult to run my faves. I gave my wife the Strix but she doesn't want to let me convert it to something other than the Windows 11 it runs. I'm still working on convincing her. Lol
I first dipped my toes in when I was probably around 14, messed with Ubuntu and damn small Linux but that was about it. I stuck with Mac as I didn’t enjoy windows and needed something “mainstream” back then. It wasn’t until apple made hackintosh’s somewhat obsolete and Microsoft started cramming AI into windows that I made the switch. I now run NixOS on my gaming rig and personal laptop
My dad had a Knoppix boot CD in a case with all the games, of course I messed with it as a curious child, I have no idea how old I was, but it was my first foray into the wonderful world of not Windows.
I had a Linux beginners class at my HS in 10th grade but I've forgot about Linux, until 12th grade when 2 of my really nerdie friends started shilling Linux to me, especially pointing out that now you can play windows games on Linux, and not too long after I eventually did the jump when starting my comp sci uni (19 years old) with Manjaro as a first, but I have found happiness in EndevaorOS due to Manjaro being unstable.
I tried xubuntu when I was 14 on a live cd to get students admin access on our school laptops. Once I got my own machine, I kept it on windows 10 until it became unstable so I moved to Bunsenlabs, then Pop OS due to it's dgpu. (Intel igpu, amd dgpu)
I'd love to make Linux my daily driver, but there's an issue with 2d animations on any Linux distro I install on my laptop. Windows 10 does not have this issue. So that means like half the Internet is stuttery.
Until that is fixed, I cannot use it as my daily driver.
What kind of graphics hardware does your laptop have?
I have a Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (Ryzen 7 5800H + RTX 3060). This happens across EVERY distro I've tried (Debian 12, Fedora 42, Mint Cinnamon, EndeavourOS, Nobara, PopOS) and EVERY browser (Firefox, Brave, Chromium).
Key symptoms:
- 2D browser games stutter badly with low framerate
- 3D WebGL browser games actually run fine (???)
- Native games run perfectly (Captain Claw via Lutris works great)
- Same exact game runs perfectly on Windows 10 on the same laptop
Someone else with an RTX 3060 tested the exact same game, seeing the same ~20W power draw, but has zero stutter issues.
Here's everything I've tried so far:
- Graphics drivers: Both nouveau and NVIDIA proprietary drivers (570.133.07), both with open and proprietary kernels
- Display settings: Tested at both 60Hz and 160Hz refresh rates
- Hardware acceleration: Enabled and disabled in all browsers
- Power modes: BIOS set to both Dynamic and Discrete graphics
- BIOS tweaks: Disabled virtualization, no power management features available in BIOS apart from that
- Performance forcing: Locked GPU clocks manually (nvidia-smi -lgc 1200,2100 and -lmc 7000,7000). Enabled persistence mode
- Added kernel parameters for power management (pcie_aspm=off acpi_osi=Linux)
- Lenovo-specific: Installed the Lenovo Legion Linux drivers from johnfanv2/LenovoLegionLinux
- NVIDIA power management: Tried enabling Nvidia dynamic boost with nvidia-powerd.service
I've monitored GPU power draw during gameplay and it hovers at 20-25W even when the light is red (performance mode) and the card is locked at P0 performance state. This is considerably lower than the ~80W it should be able to draw under load. It might not need to draw much more, but right now it's not drawing any more.
When I run the Firefox profiler to see what's happening, I can see the frame drops but there's no clear cause. And the fact that 3D browser games work fine but 2D ones stutter makes no sense to me.
If you have any idea at all I'm listening, I'm all out of ideas :(
That's odd. I've been running OpensSUSE Tumbleweed with a Ryzen 9 5950X and RTX 3080 with no issues. I don't know what would be making yours, with similar hardware, function differently unless it's the laptop stuff for dynamically switching between onboard graphics and the GPU.
Even when I use the MUX switch and use only the dedicated card it stills stutters badly on 2d graphics only. It's really strange.
Back at the university, sometime around 1995 when I needed a Unix for the exams. Downloaded on 1.4 Mb floppies
I first experimented with Linux in 1999, but didn't stay with it for long as I never got X11 working. I started using it more seriously in 2001 / 2002 and by the time Windows XP was established, I was a full time Linux user. I was a lot older than you though being in my mid-thirties.
Debian and Mandrake in the late 1990s. And I was already almost three times as old as you were when you started. These days I'm happy with OpenSUSE Tumbleweed for daily use. I tried NixOS but it threatened to break my old brain.
Recently started learning Linux with ChatGPT..
And WOW! I love Linux!! It's so easy to deploy apps with Docker!
Started with Ubuntu at 12. Did a LAN boot to my mom’s laptop somehow, I couldn’t explain it if I tried. It was supposed to be on my PC. Didn’t work in the end and got grounded for “hacking” went back to it though a few years later at 16 and dived around Ubuntu and Gentoo. Never installed gentoo but I certainly kept trying.
I first tried Linux Mint when I was 12, eventually changed to Ubuntu when I was 13 or 14 because I saw the Windows 11 copilot button, installed
Can totally relate, lol. Except I first tried Ubuntu at around 12 (at the time it was considered the best for beginners), then nearly 20 years passed until I saw the same copilot button pop up, uninvited, in my task bar. That was the last straw for me.
Now I run OpenSUSE as a daily driver.
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