Your First Experience


Recommended Posts

I thought this would be an interested topic for here.

I started using computers when I was 10 years old (24 now) which was with Windows 95 I believe. I of course used each version of windows up till Windows 8. I used 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7. Once Windows 8 came around it was time to leave for good. Throughout the years I tried Linux many times, not sure why it interested me, but it did, and still does.

I am not really sure how old I was when I first tried it, but I know it was one of the first versions (or at least a very old version) of Red Hat Linux. Of course, that didn't last long, I was quite used to Windows. Then over the rest of the years up till now I tried Ubuntu, Mint, PCLInux and a few others. I now finally landed on Ubuntu as my main system, and plan to stay with it from now on.

So my first experience was Red Hat Linux around the age of 12 years old. How about your guys experiences?

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1134840-your-first-experience/
Share on other sites

Hmm, I think my first ever experience was with Mandrake. I would have been 11 or 12. I remember looking for longhorn leaks, and the website I found them on also had a Mandrake support section. So I checked it out, and tried it but the internet wouldn't work on it. After that I tried various distros and broke them all.

Currently Arch is my go-to Linux that I have running on a plethora of virtual machines (and primary on my PI) at home and work.

In 1998 when I was 11-12 I used various linux distributions as my primary OS over a period of two years (Mandrake 5-7, Red Hat 5, Slackware 3, SuSE 6, Debian 2) but then went back to Windows.

I now dual boot Windows 8 & Ubuntu 12.10 on my desktop (OSX on laptop) but rarely boot Ubuntu, the OS itself is great, but I always find myself missing decent software.

My first OS was Dos

1: Slackware

2: Debian

3: Redhat

(Windows for awhile)

4: Fedora Core

(Windows for awhile)

5: Ubuntu

6: Centos

7: Fedora Core

8: Gentoo

9: Arch

10: FreeBSD

11: Arch

12: Gentoo

13: Source Mage

14: Gentoo - Here I am today.

Hmm, I think my first ever experience was with Mandrake. I would have been 11 or 12. I remember looking for longhorn leaks, and the website I found them on also had a Mandrake support section. So I checked it out, and tried it but the internet wouldn't work on it. After that I tried various distros and broke them all.

Currently Arch is my go-to Linux that I have running on a plethora of virtual machines (and primary on my PI) at home and work.

Same here also mandrake and Redhat 6 as I can recall @ the same time around 2000.

I got out after I played with them with my cousin and let him sink into it.

Then came back to Ubuntu, Sabily, Mageia and Mint, and sticking to unity and sometimes KDE (Dual Setup).

I bought a (pirated, ironically) Red Hat 6 CD back in 2000, but it had a physical defect and I could never get it to run. Used only GeexBox a couple of times right up until Ubuntu 8.10, which was the first time I properly got to use Linux. It's been fun ever since, even though because of work and Adobe's programs I'm using Windows to run my stuff nowadays.

Even though I use Windows on a daily basis I still use Linux occasionally, my first distro was Ubuntu 6.04 I think.

I'm trying to get Ubuntu 12.04 running in Hyper-V, not an easy task because it runs but networking doesn't work.

Caldera Open Linux 3.1 along with Mandrake 8.2, BeOS in 2002, then various distros (also some BSDs) included with linux magazines prior to 2007 when ive found Ubuntu and ordered 7.10. Last july for first time, Ubuntu was present as main and only one OS on my pc. Now im testing everything in Virtualbox.

Have been messing with Unix since I was a kid, started with Microsoft Xenix. Think my first foray into Linux itself was with Red Hat and later Mandrake if I remember right. Nowadays for me it's FreeBSD and Ubuntu Server LTS for some servers, Windows on the desktops, occasional dabbling with Arch to experiment with the latest builds of the various desktops and such.

I bought a (pirated, ironically) Red Hat 6 CD back in 2000, but it had a physical defect and I could never get it to run. Used only GeexBox a couple of times right up until Ubuntu 8.10, which was the first time I properly got to use Linux. It's been fun ever since, even though because of work and Adobe's programs I'm using Windows to run my stuff nowadays.

I thought Adobe's software ran pretty good under Wine? Never thought of doing that?

I thought Adobe's software ran pretty good under Wine? Never thought of doing that?

Photoshop can be run somewhat successfully, depending on the version, but I mainly work in Illustrator and it doesn't work with Wine. I used to run it via VirtualBox, but that severely affects performance so I had to go back to Windows. Plus I'm about to dip my toes into editing with After Effects where stability and performance are crucial.

I actually met her at Church Camp in high school. She was a beautiful brunet and lived in the next town over from me. A bit of a trouble maker, but that made her a lot of fun. She came into town to visit me and one thing lead to another... oh wait, this is the Linux forum.

Shoot...let me think. That was a long time ago. I think I was around 12 or 13 and this was back in the 386 days where one of the steps for installation was compiling a kernel to support your hardware. That thing took the whole damn night to compile.

I played with a few Live CDs in the mid-2000s before I went to university. When I got to university I installed Fedora 4 (I think) and dual booted for a while. When I tried to update to Fedora 5 in early 2006 the installer broke and kindly corrupted my partition tables. Fortunately all my pending assignments were backed up, but I lost a fair bit of information and notes. Was not happy. I dumped Linux after that and went back to XP exclusively.

Fast forward to late 2008 and I opted to install Ubuntu to allow me to do some of my Linux assignments at home. This didn't last long since newbie programmer me couldn't get code to work on Ubuntu and Redhat (which is what the university used).

In 2010-ish, I chose to install Arch as a learning exercise (and something of a precursor to my current job which entails mostly Linux development now), and have had it installed ever since. I have a 1TB drive for my Linux stuff, and a 500GB disk for Windows (which mainly just contains my games). I use Linux mainly now, and boot into Windows basically just for a bit of fun.

my first linux experience was arround 2000 when i installed suse linux 5.x something ... actually i was pretty impressed that it installed without any trouble and - due to the lack of an internet connection - i used the integrated package manager to install some things. i kept it for 1 or 2 days then went back to windows because of gaming.

stayed with windows till 2009 when i decided to try ubuntu - i was so impressed (and my needs had changed, had an xbox360 for gaming) that i stayed with linux and never went back to windows ever since.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • They thought value of their goods would forever only drop like it used to and didn't account for sudden increase in price because of all the Ai hype. Tough luck Samsung, don't try to weasel this one out. Also American customer protection laws are a**. In Europe, you need to be compensated for a functioning product of same or better characteristics (not same price point as when it was originally bought!) if it can't be repaired and when you receive a replacement product your warranty starts from scratch because you received a different item than you previously had and old warranty thus cannot apply to it anymore. If your actual item was successfully repaired, warranty gets extended for the period the item was in service. If item is repaired to a significant extent, warranty also starts over from scratch because major part of it was replaced. Americans need to fight to get this kind of consumer protections because they are constantly getting screwed over.
    • Microsoft releases new Windows 11 Media Creation Tool with the latest updates by Taras Buria Patch Tuesday updates arrive every month, bringing users new features and security updates. To make sure customers have access to the most recent images, Microsoft also releases updates to the Media Creation Tool app, its official utility for Windows 11 installation. Today, the company pushed new ISOs to Media Creation Tool, allowing you to create images with the June 2026 Patch Tuesday updates. With the latest update, the Media Creation Tool now downloads KB5094126. It is Windows 11 version 25H2, build 26200.8655, which is also available via Windows Update. Note that the app itself remains on the previous version, which you can check in Properties > Details. The only change is that it now downloads a more recent Windows 11 build, so the only way to check is to download an ISO. The June 2026 Patch Tuesday update is a special release for Windows 11, as it brings a new performance profile to make the operating system more responsive and snappier when rendering various user interface surfaces, including the Start menu, quick settings, and more. It does so by spiking processor speeds for a brief moment, resulting in higher loads for a second or two. The so-called “Low latency profile” is rolling out gradually, but you can force-enable it with the ViVeTool app. Other changes include webcam improvements, Task Manager updates, shared audio support, and more. You can download the Media Creation Tool app from the official Microsoft website using this link. Besides MCT, Microsoft lets you download Windows 11 ISO as a file directly from the official Windows 11 website. However, you will need a third-party app to write it to your USB drive. Check out this guide if you want to know how to do that.
    • Louis Rossmann suing Samsung over "990 Pro SSD warranty scam" by Sayan Sen Back in 2023, if you recall, Neowin reviewer Robbie Khan had a dispute with Samsung over his 990 Pro SSD, which was rapidly losing its health. After significant back and forth, the tech giant had finally released firmware to "stop" the issue. Interestingly, its previous flagship at the time, the 980 Pro was also facing problems leading to two consecutive sets of firmware fixes. Three years later, it looks like a similar conflict has now broken out between tech repair entrepreneur YouTuber Louis Rossmann and Samsung, as it has escalated into a threatened lawsuit after the company allegedly refused to appropriately replace a failing 990 Pro SSD that remained under warranty. According to Rossmann, a 4TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD purchased for approximately $330 less than two years ago, began experiencing major hiccups and issues, even though he claims it had been operated under ideal cooling conditions. It was installed in a RAID 1 array and cooled by a heatsink and dual high-speed fans. However the drive reportedly started dropping out of the array, exhibiting controller-level failures that eventually became not useable in any meaningful way. Rossmann said Samsung’s support process was marked by delays and confusion from the very start. After initially contacting the wrong regional support channel, he was redirected to Samsung’s memory support division where he submitted detailed diagnostics, logs, and proof of purchase. Rossmann runs a repair company and owns an ACE Lab PC-3000 machine, which is a professional-grade data recovery equipment. As such, he had been confident in his diagnostics. Samsung even seemingly acknowledged that later. Regardless, Rossmann claims that his initial support ticket was automatically closed before a full 24-hour response window had elapsed, forcing him to reopen the case and resubmit documentation. The controversy however intensified further from here after Samsung accepted the drive for warranty evaluation but later returned it with a repair report stating that the drive had passed its testing and that the SSD had been verified as functional. Rossmann strongly disputed those claims citing that his own independent testing on PC-3000 showed write speeds reducing to as low as 40–60 MB/s before the drive failed entirely. Samsung subsequently informed him that the SSD had been reset and reflashed, passing internal stress tests. However, the company also stated that replacement units were unavailable due to an industry-wide memory shortage and suggested that a refund process could be initiated if further testing confirmed the fault. Thus, to settle, the company offered a refund of $330, the amount that was initially paid by him to make the purchase. Here, Rossmann pointed out the seeming hypocrisy of the tech giant as in how no Samsung drive was apparently allocated for warranty replacements, but they were abundantly available for retail sales especially when using business accounts. As you can see, Rossmann is indeed right, there are Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSDs on Amazon currently for $950 (shipped and sold by first-party Amazon US itself), and they are also available on Samsung's own store too, albeit for an even higher price of $1100. Thus Rossmann argues that Samsung’s inability or unwillingness to provide a replacement while the same model remains available for purchase at significantly higher market prices reflects a failure to honor its warranty obligations. He has issued a formal 60-day notice and says he intends to file suit in Texas small claims court, asserting that companies should face greater costs for denying legitimate warranty claims than for fulfilling them. You can check out the full video titled "Samsung's 990 Pro SSD warranty policy is a scam; I'm taking them to court," at the link below. Source and image: Louis Rossmann (YouTube) As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases
    • Was it too much to ask to show the icon in this article?
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      davidbazooked earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Jamswaz earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Jamswaz earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Rookie
      Marzoid went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Community Regular
      coch went up a rank
      Community Regular
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      509
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      185
    3. 3
      +Edouard
      158
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      83
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      75
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!