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cm0002 @piefed.world

What was your first distro?

Mine was Knoppix because back in the day Libraries used to let you borrow all sorts of computer software and games and that's what they had and I was stuck on dialup lol

88 comments

  • BeOS ;)

    I know, not Linux. But it was my first OS other than the one that came pre-installed.

    Can't remember exactly which was my very first Linux distro but probably Knoppix or another early live one.

    My first "wipe Windows and install on bare metal" was PC-BSD. I know, again, not Linux.

    And again, can't remember exactly the very first "wipe Windows and install on bare metal" Linux, probably Puppy or Ubuntu.

  • Linux Mint

    ... or maybe it was Ubuntu, but it didn't last long so I don't really count it. Linux Mint stuck for a number of years.

  • My first "test" was Conectiva. I lasted a few days with it, then ditched it. (I think this was in 2002? Conectiva would eventually merge with Mandrake.)

    Then a few years later I went for Kurumin. It was a local Knoppix derivative, focusing on ease of use. Eventually Ubuntu became popular enough that Kurumin's maintainer saw no reason to continue the project.

  • It was probably Ubuntu Hoary Hedgehog, though it didn't stick. I tried other versions of Ubuntu and even gentoo again over the following years, but none of them would stick. I would eventually tinker with something I couldn't repair, and rather than re-installing and starting again, I'd just return to windows.

    Linux finally stuck for me last year, and Linux (Arch and then CachyOS) has been my full time OS for about the last 18 months

    • The Ubuntu story is exactly what happened to me.

      OpenSUSE Table weed is what got Linux to stick for me though. Once I learnt enough with that to get started and my OS needed a reinstall, I ended up going with CachyOS too eventually.

  • Slackware, to get away from the pink boys! Also there were only two or three distributions at the time.
    Too many to remember since then.

    (Hail Eris!)

  • Tried ubunto with mint about 10 years back. My first actual daily driver was endeavoros about 1.5 years ago and it has stuck!

  • Ubuntu 18.04 (2018) -> Manjaro (2019-2021)-> Arch (2021-2022) ->EndeavourOS (2022-present on my desktop) ->NixOS (2024-present on my laptop)

  • It was Fedora. Most of the recommendations for beginners at the time were for Ubuntu or derivatives and I was being contrary just because I could.

  • Damn Small Linux (Knoppix-based) which was the gateway drug to Fedora Core 4 on an old Pentium III that was lying arouind.

  • Raspbian Bullseye ARM32 -> Ubuntu 18.04/22.04 LTS -> Kubtuntu 22.04/24.04/25.04 (--minimal-install to avoid snap)

  • My first ever distro was Xubuntu. (I did install Lubuntu before it, but found it too "ugly" so switched to Xubuntu after about 30 mins.)

    I was still in high school, around 2014-15. My pc was getting old, and I read online that Linux can make your pc run faster. So, I decided to give it a try. I also read online that Xubuntu (and Lubuntu) is among the lightest of distros, so decided to install that. It was worthwhile, to say the least.

    I currently use mostly EndeavourOS and AlmaLinux for my personal machines, depending on the type of the device. I have installed Fedora on my sister's laptop, and Debian Stable on my parents' PC, so I have to maintain those as well. Also, I have a few Pi zero2s for various things, so I use PiOS (or whatever it's called these days) from time to time.

  • Ubuntu, I was drawn in with the 3D cube and the ability to play games. The only game I had compatible then was TF2. So I left.

    Back to it full time now, almost all games work, and on Mint

  • First was technically knoppix because it had a live boot cd function. That didn't go well. There was some kind of bug where it murdered the bios on my pentium2 and I was unable to recover the system, bricking the computer.

    First time I was able to fully install and use was ubuntu warthog... So that's what... 4.10? I think so.

  • Tried Ubuntu 20.04 in a VM, then screwed around with a couple other distros in Vbox. Eventually dailied Ubuntu MATE, then Mint after my MATE install borked. Got a new laptop, installed FerenOS, installed ZorinOS after I couldn't figure out how to bind the start menu to Meta (for some reason it was unbound), then eventually moved to EndeavourOS (where I am now). Might try Aurora on my main laptop eventually.

  • I installed Ubuntu decades ago, then moved and never used it again. The first distro I actually used was Peppermint. Loved it.

  • Raspbian Wheezy. I remember learning how to use apt-get because I wanted to see a Pi 1B run Minecraft. Minecraft Pi Edition was the first apt-get install I ever did.

88 comments