What was your first GNU/Linux install?

Worztron · 16-06-2019 4:03pm #1

Hi.

What distro did you install first on physical hardware? I started with Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon back in 2008. I dual booted for a while with Windows XP before eventually wiping XP and solely using Linux on my PC. I now use Debian 9 (Stretch) Stable.

rayzercork · 16-06-2019 4:18pm

i played around with live cds for a while on a laptop i had but mint 9 i think was the first i installed. i switched to ubuntu 10.04 a few days later because mint wasnt very stable. on my main machine i waited until the 12.04 release and currently on debian buster xfce. i still like to mess about with other distros from time to time, currently bodhi peppermint mint netrunner and pclinuxos

Worztron · 16-06-2019 5:11pm

rayzercork wrote: »

i played around with live cds for a while on a laptop i had but mint 9 i think was the first i installed. i switched to ubuntu 10.04 a few days later because mint wasnt very stable. on my main machine i waited until the 12.04 release and currently on debian buster xfce. i still like to mess about with other distros from time to time, currently bodhi peppermint mint netrunner and pclinuxos

Hi rayzercork. Ah Ubuntu 10.04 - Lucid Lynx - perhaps my favorite of the Ubuntu codenames. Are you currently on Debian Sid? Peppermint is my goto when installing Linux on someone else's computer.

rayzercork · 16-06-2019 5:24pm

i upgraded from stretch to testing repos, then after a later upgrade it switched to the buster repos. working great so far. heres what it displays

debian@debian:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
Release: 10
Codename: buster

Worztron · 16-06-2019 5:27pm

rayzercork wrote: »
i upgraded from stretch to testing repos, then after a later upgrade it switched to the buster repos. working great so far. heres what it displays
debian@debian:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
Release: 10
Codename: buster

Nice!

rayzercork · 16-06-2019 5:34pm

i also was given a raspberry pi the other day which is running stretch 9.9, i must get around to fixing it as openbox is giving me some issues where i cant move or resize windows. think its an obconf setting or multiple desktops setting according to what ive been reading online. just need time to troubleshoot

tphase · 16-06-2019 5:40pm

first was probably Red Hat 4.something, 1996 or 1997

Johnboy1951 · 16-06-2019 5:48pm

Worztron wrote: »

Hi.

What distro did you install first on physical hardware? I started with Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon back in 2008. I dual booted for a while with Windows XP before eventually wiping XP and solely using Linux on my PC. I now use Debian 9 (Stretch) Stable.

My first was an early RedHat (1990s) ...... long before I knew enough to be safe doing anything!
I switched to Linux permanently late 2004/early 2005 having spent the previous year installing 10s of distros.
I recall getting some freely delivered Ubuntu CDs in the post but I did not get on well with it.
I installed and ran multiple boot distros ..... had some 24 installed across several drives at one time as I whittled down my preferences.
It came down to CentOS, Mandrake and PCLinuxOS.
In the end I plumbed for PCLinuxOS and have run it ever since.

I have of course tried many other distro releases in the intervening years, but found no particular reason to change.

onedmc · 16-06-2019 5:52pm

I certain remember installing AT&T unix from the mid '90's. I figure anything previous I installed was propriatary unix.

PropJoe10 · 16-06-2019 5:58pm

I was a bit of a late starter. Was probably Ubuntu 12.04 I'd say.

liamo · 17-06-2019 1:51pm

I started with Debian Potato and RedHat 6.1 (kernel was v2.2 back then) about the same time in or around 2000. I don't remember which I started with first.

I stayed with RedHat for a few years, tried a few other distros, then settled on Debian. Have been using Debian almost exclusively since then.

I have, of course, tried many other distros in the meantime but have preferred Debian over any of the others.

Tom Dunne · 17-06-2019 1:56pm

Pfffft, you young people.

I recall feeding 10+ floppy discs into my 486 PC to run Slackware back in the mid-90's.

Do I need to get started on SCO Unix?

Worztron · 17-06-2019 3:11pm

liamo wrote: »

I started with Debian Potato and RedHat 6.1 (kernel was v2.2 back then) about the same time in or around 2000. I don't remember which I started with first.

I stayed with RedHat for a few years, tried a few other distros, then settled on Debian. Have been using Debian almost exclusively since then.

I have, of course, tried many other distros in the meantime but have preferred Debian over any of the others.

Hi liamo. I too love Debian. It's rock solid.

CoBo55 · 17-06-2019 3:16pm

The F variant, feisty something I can't remember, haven't run a Linux distro in ages, might try one later.

jimgoose · 17-06-2019 3:27pm

MkLinux on a PowerMac 8500 back in 1997 or so.

Skrynesaver · 17-06-2019 3:28pm

10 floppies, you had it easy, 10 floppies would've been luxury,

A full source Debian release on 2 floppies, Bash, C compiler, vi and not a lot more in terms of user land tools.

Cheers AMcK it's been an educational journey

Worztron · 17-06-2019 4:12pm

jimgoose wrote: »

MkLinux on a PowerMac 8500 back in 1997 or so.

Hi jimgoose. MkLinux is a new one to me.

jimgoose · 17-06-2019 4:13pm

Worztron wrote: »

Hi jimgoose. MkLinux is a new one to me.

"Microkernel Linux", a port for PowerPC in conjunction with Apple. It has since gone the way of the blue suede shoe.

Worztron · 17-06-2019 5:01pm

jimgoose wrote: »

"Microkernel Linux", a port for PowerPC in conjunction with Apple. It has since gone the way of the blue suede shoe.

Ah yes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MkLinux.

17-06-2019 5:09pm

Linux Fedora on a work desktop tower in June 2008.
Still have a personal Asus laptop purchased 2014 which I installed Linux mint 18 on.

liamo · 18-06-2019 2:17pm

Hah! I'm feeling quite the teenager now.

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Pfffft, you young people.

I recall feeding 10+ floppy discs into my 486 PC to run Slackware back in the mid-90's.

Do I need to get started on SCO Unix?

Tom Dunne · 18-06-2019 3:00pm

liamo wrote: »

Hah! I'm feeling quite the teenager now.

Just don't get me started on Digital VAX/VMS.

source · 18-06-2019 3:30pm

Started with Ubuntu 8.04 after an xp laptop I had got a BSOD. Would not boot into windows no matter what I tried, was able to save my files through the live cd and I've been with Linux ever since. Mainly Ubuntu, but I've played around with Mint, Elementary and kubutu.

Now I'm running Solus 4, it's great. I was one of the 10 or so people who loved unity and hated the move to gnome 3.

PropJoe10 · 18-06-2019 11:04pm

source wrote: »

Started with Ubuntu 8.04 after an xp laptop I had got a BSOD. Would not boot into windows no matter what I tried, was able to save my files through the live cd and I've been with Linux ever since. Mainly Ubuntu, but I've played around with Mint, Elementary and kubutu.

Now I'm running Solus 4, it's great. I was one of the 10 or so people who loved unity and hated the move to gnome 3.

Unity is absolutely fine. Never really understood why people got so bent out of shape over it. I always found it functional to use.

mcmoustache · 19-06-2019 12:34pm

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Unity is absolutely fine.

Them's fighting words.

igCorcaigh · 19-06-2019 12:40pm

Just recently wiped an old XP machine and installed the latest Ubuntu.
No going back now.

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS
Release: 18.04
Codename: bionic

And I like the Gnome 3 desktop.

igCorcaigh · 19-06-2019 12:45pm

Started with Fedora 10 years ago but it was a pain.
So much easier now for new users.

croo · 20-06-2019 2:41pm

I think I have, in storage someplace, the circa 90 floppies I used to make my first linux install on a monster PC I'd built... intel 486 CPU with an absurd 4MB of ram. I think I had a CD in the PC but nobody had CD writers hence the floppies. I'd have to dig out the floppies but I think it was called SLS. We're talking around 1993. There was no GUI after the install, you had to first manually write the X Window configuration files before you could start X and I think twm was the window manager. It was very basic... by today's standards. Back then it was brilliant!

chonix · 24-06-2019 4:37pm

First install: Debian Woody/Sarge.
I had 3 disk drives, so I didn't do dual boot until I was 100% sure I was going to do the right thing, so I played along until I got the idea of dual boot correctly.
Can't recall much of that PC... It was a P II 300, 64 or 256Mb of ram? oh god

Johnboy1951 · 24-06-2019 5:06pm

Just a note to point out that using 'names' in place of dates does not help those unfamiliar with a particular distro determine a time frame.

For instance I would have no idea that
Codename: bionic
was released in April 2018 unless it was specified in the post by igCorcaigh (thanks).

Worztron · 24-06-2019 6:07pm

chonix wrote: »

First install: Debian Woody/Sarge.
I had 3 disk drives, so I didn't do dual boot until I was 100% sure I was going to do the right thing, so I played along until I got the idea of dual boot correctly.
Can't recall much of that PC... It was a P II 300, 64 or 256Mb of ram? oh god

Hi chonix. Debian Woody/Sarge? That's going back a while (early 2000s?). You must be a Linux pro then?

What was your first GNU/Linux install?

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