this post was submitted on 24 Apr 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'm new to #Lemmy and making myself feel at home by posting a bit!

My first Linux distribution was elementary OS in early March 2020. Since then, I’ve tried Manjaro, Arch Linux, Fedora, went back to Manjaro, and since early January 2023, I’ve landed on Debian as my home in the #Linux world.

What was your first Linux distro?

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[–] sramder@lemmy.world 60 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (10 children)

Welcome to Lemmy stranger.

Slackware back in the early 90s on a Compaq 386/SX20 💾

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] sramder@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

Honestly it still feels like home. Because I was kind of a moron and figured it would mean less to figure out, I registered darkstar.org (the default domain Slackware came set up with).

I few years later I actually emailed Patrick Volkerding about something and he mentioned it… I felt this strange mix of pride and shame ;-)

[–] jhdeval@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Well shit you got me beat I ran Slackware from 3.5 disks in the 90s on a 486dx2. I sent away for those disks to be mailed to me. I even did something crazy with that machine I had lots of ram so I sent them off to a company to combine them together. I want to say it 8 or 16 megabytes. Bit I can't remember now.

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[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 9 points 2 months ago

Slackware 3.1 late 1996. Great fuckin' year that was.

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[–] the_visitor@sh.itjust.works 31 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Kali Linux. Because I was a kid who wanted to be a hackerman.

[–] midtsveen@lemmy.wtf 20 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

❤️ Ah yes, the hacker-man vibes!

[–] the_visitor@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

After that I used Ubuntu with XFCE for 2 years, Now settled in Fedora with Gnome for like 4 years straight.

[–] sramder@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Watching something compiling is kinda like the reward for getting it to compile in the first place…

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[–] nightmare786@leminal.space 24 points 2 months ago (2 children)

am a simple noob who started with Mint, and remain on Mint on my main gaming machine.

i have fun distro-hopping on my other old, cheap laptops though

[–] midtsveen@lemmy.wtf 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Mint is a favorite here too! It just works! ❤️

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[–] Spider89@lemm.ee 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Ubuntu > Mint > Manjaro > Arch > PopOS > Debian

(History, not ranking [Debian wins])

[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 10 points 2 months ago

Debian wins

Testify, brother.

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[–] Disgruntled@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Slackware 96 CD Case

Slackware96 from Walnut Creek purchased at Staples back when software came in boxes with manuals. Netscape Navigator 3.0 anyone?

[–] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 6 points 2 months ago

I got a T-shirt from Mozilla in the early 1990's and foolishly wore it to death. My Linux tie pin is somewhere, but I'm sure that my penguin tie has died, as have the Debian Potato CDs with boot disks for x86, PowerPC and SPARC.

[–] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I started with Mandrake 6 when the there were lots of 9's or 0's in the year

Then bounced from Slackware/opensuse/Red Hat/Debian/Gentoo/BSD

Now running Kde Neon and MacOS (Debian and BSD as server OSs)

[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Ubuntu in the mid 2000s, but it's PopOS that made me a fulltimer ~2 years ago. I don't use it anymore but I'll always be thankful for it.

[–] MOARbid1@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

My first Linux install was Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy. Got those wobbly windows going and felt like a fucking king.

[–] algernon@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 months ago (5 children)

SuSE in 1996. Then Debian between mid-1997 and late 2023, NixOS since.

I'm not a big distrohopper...

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[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 months ago

my first 'distro' was slackware, on floppy disks. then debian or a flavour of, mainly, ever since. i've never really strayed too far from debian and apt over the years but i have tried most everything.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

I guess technically, Raspbian.

[–] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 10 points 2 months ago

Debian Slink

Before that, Windows NT, A/UX, Solaris and VAX/VMS.

Before that, Vic 20 and Apple II

Still using Debian every day whilst navigating the perils of MacOS.

[–] crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyz 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Ubuntu, like a lot of people my age (2000s)

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[–] MessyEh@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Mandrake 6.0 in 1998. The kernel was still 2.2, and KDE 1.1.1.

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[–] muusemuuse@lemm.ee 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)
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[–] nibbler@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 2 months ago

I believe it was slackware. it was gifted to teenage me ca 1994, was on the CD of some magazine.

I wanted to try it, so went dual boot. it (or I?) partitioned my 800MB hard disk into a 300MB and an 800MB partition. stupid young me thought this was great and I just gained 300MB. when I noticed date corruption, stupid young me started to copy over important data to the assumed good partition. things didn't end well.

I took a two year break from Linux afterwards 🤣

[–] KindaABigDyl@programming.dev 9 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Ubuntu back in 2014. Followed by Elementary not long after

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[–] emb@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Ubuntu had a thing for a while where they would send you a CD if you asked for it. Friend of mine from school gave me one.

[–] forgetful_fox@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago
[–] Fijxu@programming.dev 7 points 2 months ago
[–] m0se5@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

The one I settled on back then was Mandrake.

[–] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 7 points 2 months ago

Slackware 3.1.

[–] EntenJaeger@lemm.ee 7 points 2 months ago

Whatever version of Red Hat there was in 1999. 6 point something if memory serves.

I was running Quake 3 servers a few PCs.

[–] j4yt33@feddit.org 7 points 2 months ago

Mint, then Ubuntu, then Kubuntu, elementaryOS, Manjaro, then I gave up Linux for a while because I needed remote desktop for my PC at work, now back on PopOS!

[–] darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Slackware, of course, but when Debian was first released two years later I obviously switched (and it's been Debian since then).

[–] st3ph3n@midwest.social 6 points 2 months ago

Some ancient version of SuSE Linux way back in like 2001. I did not stick with it back then.

[–] guy@piefed.social 6 points 2 months ago

Someone installed Fedora for me somewhere around 2006, then I switched between Ubuntu and Windows until permanently settling for Ubuntu a couple of years ago. But I'm thinking of switching to Debian..

[–] peterg75@discuss.online 6 points 2 months ago

I think it was Slackware sometime in the early 2000s

[–] Badabinski@kbin.earth 6 points 2 months ago

Arch Linux, on an old Compaq pizza box server when I was 16. It took me 3 months to install Arch because there was a DIP switch on the motherboard that somehow prevented you from updating the MBR or some shit.

I basically never used it and didn't touch Linux again until 7 years later, when I used SLES 11 SP2 at a job.

[–] ghewl@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

In the early 90’s I downloaded Slackware to floppy disks. It took me several days to make them. Slackware holds a special place in my heart.

To this day I still use Linux full time. Arch is my go to, but I like and recommend Endeavor often.

[–] monovergent@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 months ago

If just using the Live CD counts, Lubuntu 12.04, to copy files off a broken Windows machine

Then Ubuntu, followed by Deepin (looked cool), UbuntuDDE, Arch, Xubuntu, and finally settled on Debian in 2022.

[–] Labtec6@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago

My first was Slackware in the 90s after a friend introduced it to me. He set up a system to use it as a proxy for our network at home to use but would frequently redoing that system so we didn't have internet for sometimes days. It wasn't a good time. Took years to use Linux again.

[–] Nugscree@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

Red Hat 8.0, the Linux Starter 2003 double cd edition. From there I tried my first Ubuntu when they where still sending out free cd's which was version 6.06 LTS. After that I dabbled a bit jumping from distro to distro to try out different flavors, tinkering a bit for fun and even tried to build my own with Arch. All the while keeping my Windows (XP, 7, 10) daily driver as my main rig. Finally switched over to Pop_OS! a few years ago as my daily for work. I've been thinking about switching over my gaming rig to a Linux distro but haven't figured out which one is the best one and requires the least amount of tinkering.

[–] Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee 6 points 2 months ago

Zorin OS because they said it was windows like

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