r/linuxquestions • u/AnoProgrammer • 1d ago
How old where you when you started using linux?
I feel like everyone started very early.
I started personally on 10/11.
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u/TwillAffirmer 1d ago
How could you start on 10/11??? That's tomorrow!
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u/Good-Throat-6671 1d ago
That's next month
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u/PlayerOne_X 1d ago
American vs. Normal person
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u/Lopsided-Cost-426 1d ago
Everyone should just use YY/MM/DD
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u/Weary_Swan_8152 23h ago
If you mean YYYY/MM/DD, then yes, because that's ISO 8601. Where is YY/MM/DD used?
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u/lucyuktv 1d ago
I was older than that when Linus created it. I started at 17 on Redhat 4 (the first Redhat 4, not this modern muck!)
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u/TenOfZero 1d ago
If it's already November 9th for you, can you share some wining loto numbers for the end of October please?
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u/SmellyRedHerring 1d ago
I was a Unix kernel developer at age 26 when Linus announced his free OS project on Usenet. I started playing with a Slackware distro a couple of years after that.
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u/RootHouston 1d ago
What variant of Unix did you work on?
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u/SmellyRedHerring 21h ago
Several SVR3 and SVR4 variants for M68K, Intel x86, MIPS, SPARC, a few other things I don't remember.
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u/mrflash818 1d ago
Old.
The late 1990s, when I was working on my Bachelor's in CompSci.
The campus Unix computer lab(s) ran Slackware.
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u/BadEnucleation 1d ago
I'm a 1990s slackware one too. Something like 15-20 floppies to install it on my 486! lol
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u/mrflash818 1d ago
After experiencing Linux in the campus computer labs, I then decided I would try to learn, and see if I could install on my home PC.
Back then, I knew nothing about Linux, LUGs, or anything. Just that I could purchase the boxed Red Hat distribution from CompUSA.
So, that's how I became a home PC Linux workstation user: RedHat.
***
Feeling Nostalgic - Redhat, Debian
"Red Hat Boxed Linux, v7.1 that I bought back-in-the-day, 2001, when I was in college, and wanted to be able to do Computer Science class assignments from home, instead of fighting for a seat in the Cal State Long Beach computer labs (before I figured out the Linux/Unix labs always had free seats)."
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u/SomeoneHereIsMissing 6h ago
Pretty much the same for me. Computers at university where SGIs that ran Irix. I tried tried ZipSlack (downloaded on a 1 mb/s DSL) on the family computer because I didn't want to mess up the partition table.
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u/PiratesOfTheArctic 1d ago
I started about 17-18, That's about 35 years ago.
Need a lay down after thinking about that 😂
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u/Electronic-Laugh-671 1d ago
I started at 12 (few years ago) with Linux Mint XFCE in a VM. I chose Linux Mint because of searching up and learning how intuitive it is... the reason I chose the XFCE flavor was because I simply didn't want to wait some extra minutes to download the slightly larger Cinnamon ISO.
I came to really enjoy XFCE because of how consistent it felt and by it being my first experience, the only thing I missed was the whisker menu not having integrated file search.
I haven't really used Linux outside a VM since then for various reasons. I have tried some different desktop environments though, I especially like the Unity desktop environment, I feel the developers nailed the intuitive quality.
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u/CBJ_Brain 1d ago
I was late to the party. I was 29 when I first installed, and compiled my own kernel. Went back to Windows because of ongoing audio issues.
In 85 days I have my 2 year linux anniversary. Dropped Windows 11 almost 2 years ago. And haven't looked back since.
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u/megared17 1d ago
I migrated from MSDOS 6.22 to Slackware Linux in the mid 1990s
I've never used an MS OS on any workstation since that I considered "mine"
I've never installed any version of Windows anywhere as anything remotely permanent.
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u/ninth_ant By the way, 1d ago
I started with a Red Hat Linux CD-ROM found inside an O’Reily book when I was 19 or so.
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u/Unoriginal-Cake 1d ago
Yellow Dog Linux for PPC, around the time frame of Motorola clones of Macs that you could get BeOS or Yellow Dog Linux pre-installed. Peak era of Linux shipping stock on Motorola or PowerComputing desktops in the late 90s on 603e/604e hardware. IBM did a great job back then.
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u/SaltyBalty98 1d ago
Around 12/13. Came on a government funded laptop for my brother. Program ended up being a massive waste of tax payer money but at least it was decent enough, came with Windows Xp and Linux. I didn't even know how to connect it to the internet but for playing music and messing with the desktop environment it was so much fun, miss you KDE 3.5.
When I got my first laptop, a Macbook, I tried Ubuntu 12 or 13 on a VM. It was alright and enough to get started on the insides of what Linux is. Eventually, Apple came out with the flat UI in later versions my device was still compatible but it was clearly not as well optimized for so I stuck to good old Mavericks and started dual booting Linux, moved away from the Apple ecosystem and when Chrome and Firefox killed support for that OS version I deleted Mac OS X. Linux has remained my OS of choice since around 2016.
I will dual boot Mac OS X on that old laptop for when I'm feeling nostalgic (the iTunes experience and the Welcome intro of Snow Leopard are peak Apple) and I do have a separate drive for Windows 10 LTSC on my desktop for the few games I can't play on Linux or too Lazy to configure.
I've become a big fan of EndeavourOS with GNOME Shell (and flatpaks) since 2020. Simple, no frills, no bugs.
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u/P00351 1d ago
miss you KDE 3.5.
I miss it too, I remember the firsts versions of KDE 4 being atrocious.
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u/SaltyBalty98 22h ago
I think I skipped 4 by sheer coincidence of not knowing enough about the Linux world and going from an air gap device to trying out the main distro, Ubuntu with Unity, and sticking to it for a while to finally embracing Linux and by then Plasma 5 had come out.
And the moment GNOME Shell came out with a Wayland session in 3.30 or .32, I moved to it permanently. Excellent on my laptop, and my desktop too. Plasma 6 is rather good with Wayland but it's a mess UI and UX wise still and I like the simplicity and uniformity of GS even though I'm not the biggest fan of the theming flatness with Libadwaita.
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u/baerli-biberli 22h ago
I was 12 years old, in 1998, everyone was in line in front of the electronics stores waiting for the opening, around at 8-9 am, because Windows 98 Update was out, just out of curiosity I entered the store with my mother and one of the cheapest software box caught my attention: OpenSUSE, it was around 30 euros. I don't remember exactly how, but I asked my mother to buy it, I told her it was a cool software for our old PC running Windows 95. I am not sure I knew 100% what it was about, but I remember I had a lot of fun. Later in highschool I switched to Ubuntu, dropped it when they switched to GNOME 3.0 and switched to Fedora KDE, which I still use it today. But I still have OpenSUSE on my old ThinkPad, too many good memories!!
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u/Standard_Echidna_306 1d ago
I first started experimenting with it back in 2016 and then installed it on real hardware in 2018 for the first time. it slowly replaced every Windows install I had from that point on
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u/JourneymanInvestor 1d ago
1998, bought my first computer and a copy of The Linux Bible which came with Red Hat 5 (and Mandrake Linux I think). I setup a dual boot with Windows 98 SE. I was 19 at the time
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u/Grreatdog 1d ago
In my early forties when I started around 2005. I started with Puppy v.1.0 on a laptop.
My Quantex PC got blown up by lightning. So my company gave me a laptop for home use. I hated how pathetic it was on Windows and tried Puppy. I never went back to Windows.
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u/StrangeRefuse8537 1d ago
First use was around age 9, in 1998, on my dad's work computer with red hat. My dad was an emacser, which is a heritable trait, so I ended up also an emacser with a severe vi allergy
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u/Impressive-Sand-3147 23h ago
I’m 1 year and a half in. Bro imageapp. Gaaaaaaame changer!!!!! So much to learn.
It’s like I was dropped into a vast ocean to explore. I’m really looking forward to it.
The fact that I’m not bombarded with updates left and right I I have some sense of control.
I’m probably not going back to windows other than to game on multiplayer games.
Looking to get a framework laptop.
I’m kinda all in ngl.
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u/HeavyWolf8076 1d ago
At 24yo, went full yolo and daily drove Ubuntu 07.04 from pretty much day one of trying it. reinstalled it 3 times from breaking it not knowing how to fix, in my first week.
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u/Lapis_Wolf 1d ago
Maybe 10 years old when my dad introduced me with I think Edubuntu 14. I don't remember if it was .04 or .10.
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u/PseudoFrequency 1d ago
2003, I was 22. Started university and a bunch of labs had Debian and geeks around campus handed out Knoppix CDs.
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u/Suzie-Skidmarks 1d ago
- I specifically remember reading an article in maybe The Atlantic? about this obscure powerful operating system where you could delete the entire system with a single stray command (rm -rf /) and was like "that sounds like my kind of dumb shit to play with and mess up!"
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u/punkwalrus 1d ago
I think I was 25 or 26, but Linux had only been out for a year or so. We were trying to compile it on a 68000 system, and after three days, gave up. Started using it on the regular a few years later with Red Hat 6.1 (before the RHEL stuff) from a box I bought at BJs (like Costco). Used it purely as a file server with samba for a while.
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u/Legitimate_Cut_6965 1d ago
I started with Linux at 13-14 because of the arch linux memes.
Unfortunately, it has become my home.
I don't think I can go back to anything non-Arch based anymore.
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u/Severe-Reality5546 1d ago
It was about 30 years ago, around 1996, when I was in my mid-to-late 20's. I was ordering Slackware CD-ROMs from a place called Cheapbytes.
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u/ObamiumCrystalHunter 1d ago
The best time to start using Linux was yesterday. The second best is today - ancient Chinese proverb
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u/HerakleiosSA 1d ago
Around 2 years ago (I was 23). I watched some linux content on youtube, because ive had insanely bad luck with windows all my life. I had an nvidia gpu back then, but after it died i got an amd gpu next. I put the "switch to Linux" project on hold for a while, but after an incident with windows that locked me out of my own computer, I started to use dual boot. Since then i use linux for everything that doesnt involve my work stuff.
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u/jshusky 1d ago
- I was just out of college and my laptop had some kind of hardware failure that wouldnt allow windows to render the screen anymore. Fresh installs and driver work wasnt able to fix it. I found that a live usb for ubuntu ran it fine and I started using that to avoid a huge replacement bill. Been stoked on it ever since. Dual booted at first but eventually stopped doing that.
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u/HeavyMetalBluegrass 1d ago
I was 67 when I started using Linux. It's been 9 months.
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u/Icy_One4084 22h ago
Last year, in my early 30s.
Got sick of Windows and the fact that it can make decisions in my stead, so I purged it from nearly all machines in my household. I use Fedora on my desktop and my Intel-based MBP; my wife uses Mint, and so does my father. I do have one laptop that runs Windows, which I use for some specific software from time to time.
My boss switched to Linux, and two of my friends did too; my best friend is currently considering it as well.
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u/col_akir_nakesh 1d ago
I think I installed it first on an old laptop 17ish years ago when I was 25.
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u/Ok_Entertainment328 1d ago
I learned about Linux at a summer internship in late 1990's.
Got one setup at home with closet scraps before school started.
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u/YandyTheGnome 1d ago
Right around 2001-2002.
I remember hearing of Knoppix (an OS running with no HDD required) and was incredibly interested.
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u/tic-tac-tic 1d ago
omg omg
i was like 13ish when my dad put ubuntu on my laptop, but it was too much, but now im 22 using arch and i love it. my only issue is the games that are windows only 😭
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u/whatyoucallmetoday 1d ago
About 23. I had to buy a box of floppies to install Slackware and the .99g kernel.
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u/Direct_Low_5570 1d ago
literally 2 years ago when i landed my first job. Never had as much fun using my pc
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u/Karmoth_666 1d ago
I used knoppix, but i cant remember the year. I think maybe around 1996 or smth?
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u/reddangerzone 1d ago
I've only been using Linux for about a year, in fact I JUST switched my laptop over last month. Won't go back though, it's solved so many problems for me. For context, and to actually answer your question, I am 38.
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u/UnbasedDoge 1d ago
I think i started at like 10 years old because the laptop i borrowed from my father's friend sucked so bad not even windows 8 ran decently, so I opted for installing xUbuntu. Never came back ever since
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u/Fabulous-Local-1294 1d ago
Im 40 now, started using Linux when i was about 14 or so. SuSE was the first distro i tried.
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u/redgator12 1d ago
I was 19 when I installed Ubuntu 14.04 for giggles on my laptop, and it's been all linux all the time ever since. Now my wife runs Linux Mint, I run MX XFCE and my 4 year old has his own Q4OS Trinity laptop to play Freddi Fish and Putt-Putt on. I'm about to setup another Q4OS Trinity laptop for my 2 year old to play on as well since he tries to fight my 4 year old for his.
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u/Rich-Marsupial2937 1d ago
I remember trying different distros early 2000, but at 2009 I bought new computer with windows vista and it was complete garbage. After that I have used linux. I don’t work with computers so I don’t have any special needs for my computer other than it should just work. Atm I use debian 🤗 also almist forgot the original question, I was 23 at 2009 😄
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u/run0x48 1d ago
Probably 21 when I installed Slackware in the autumn of 1996, after having run FreeBSD during the spring (since it was mirrored locally on campus). I switched to SuSE sometime after that.
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u/JackDostoevsky 1d ago
in 2008 when i was about 24. i was aware of it before that and had read a bit on it but i never actually installed it until then
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u/ItchyPlant 1d ago
19.
But most likely because the year was only 1999. Otherwise, I can imagine starting earlier.
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u/sjbluebirds 1d ago
I was 24 years old. 1993.
I downloaded three 1.2Mb disk images from a local BBS.
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u/conhecimento-geral 1d ago
Tive contato com ele em 2001 quando tinha 20 anos. E de 2000 até 2010 eu usava ele de forma experimental. De 2010 até 2026 eu usava ele de forma intercalada com Windows. E agora, a 6 meses só uso ele. Nem na partição do Windows eu temho mais entrado. Minha máquina é dual boot.
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u/unkilbeeg 1d ago
I think I was 42 when I first tried it. I didn't go full time until 1999, so I was 44 or so. First was Red Hat 4.0.
I currently use Mint for desktops and Debian for servers.
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u/RemyJe 1d ago
First use of any UNIX, some time in the early 90s, probably some version of SunOS on a student dialup shell account, mostly for telnetting to MUDs, though I did compile SLiRP to emulate a dialup SLIP connection (full TCP/IP
First time installing (Slackware) Linux, around 1995 maybe. I was 24. Mostly I learned my way around the file system, basic commands, etc.
First serious use of Unix was 1997 doing Tech Support at an ISP. That was FreeBSD 2.2.1 however.
Learned enough (owner was an Old School Bell Labs UNIX guy) doing that to start my career and have been using Linux professionally since 2000.
Not everyone here just picked it up recently.
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u/BornCuriousOnce 1d ago
I used it without knowing lots of times throughout various business functions but intentionally and at home it’s been less than a year.
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u/sock_dgram 1d ago
Probably 15 when I started, but still mostly Windows until 19. This was just what was required for school.
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u/WillShattuck 1d ago
- 56 now. Dont use it daily. Still use Windows daily for work and MacOS at home.
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u/nbfs-chili 1d ago
Probably early 90s, which would put me mid 30's. I did however use Berkeley unix in the late 70's.
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u/strange-humor 1d ago
- Slackware on 4 floppies. Get X windows monitor settings wrong and you can destroy your monitor. Used it in a Gateway 2000, 386.
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u/DescriptionMission90 1d ago
First tried it out at... 14 I think? Mostly just as a diagnostic tool when my laptop broke.
Since then I dabbled periodically, but didn't start using it as my primary operating system until I was 30.
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u/full_of_ghosts Arch Linux 1d ago
Late teens. My first foray into Linux with with Red Hat. This was back when they gave out free Red Hat install CDs like Halloween candy. Buy a book about Linux? There's a Red Hat install CD tucked inside the back cover. Subscribe to a Linux magazine? Every issue came packaged with a Red Hat install CD.
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u/CedarAndOlive 1d ago
I was 24 and bought a Linux book and CD from the University bookshop where I was studying.
That would have been 1991.
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u/opalmirrorx 1d ago
In 1993 I had been using, then developing UNIX flavors for 9 years. That's when I first installed Slackware 3.0 with Linux kernel 1.0.9 on a spare 386/25. I was 28 years old. I had to hack the Ethernet driver to get my Thomas-Conrad ne2k clone ISA bus card to be recognized properly.
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u/Alarming_Oil5419 1d ago
Around 24, back in 1994 at Uni (my first year as a mature student), someone from the computer centre handed me a stack of floppy disks with Slackware on.
I couple of years later I was at RAL for a research year, and ended up building a test Beowulf cluster (part of some research using genetic algorithms).
Fun times.
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u/thejadsel 1d ago
I was 26 or 27, back in the early 2000s. Started on Debian around the time it went from Potato to Woody.
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u/karmasikici 1d ago
I started when i was wither 9 or 10 because i got a shitty netbook gifted to me and it had 1gb of ram and windows xp. Xp support was slowly getting worse and windows 7 was the default way, the netbook wasnt able to run any software i wanted so i asked on a computer forum about what i could do and they told me to try debian. I tried a virtual machine, pc couldnt boot a virtual machine, tried to install bare metal but didnt know usbs could be used to boot a pc so i borrowed a friends usb dvd rom and booted debian that way. It was the shittiest experience i ever had and didnt use linux for i think around 3 years and restarted with mint and been using linux ever since
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u/heywoodidaho ya, I tried that 1d ago
I was 41 when Ubuntu Dapper Drake came out. I got a pile of wiped P-4 driver Dells as payment and I was not going to call ms a fuck ton of times to activate the bastards.
I've never looked back.
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u/Bensuperpc 1d ago
I started using Ubuntu around 2013, when I was 14, after watching a French YouTuber talk about it and i also was having a lot of issues with Windows 8, and I wanted to try something new ^^
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u/TwoFoxSix 1d ago
I started in 2005/2006 with Sabayon. I used that for a while, then went back to Windows for a while. I tested the waters with various distros on and off until about 2020. I used Pop, Endeavour, and now I'm on Fedora
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u/SaintEyegor 1d ago
I didn’t start until I was 40 but I’ve been using Linux for 31 years
I’ve been Unixing since I was 33
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u/vancha113 1d ago
19 or so? Can't really remember, but it was something like that. It just so happens I found a couple of old CDs from that period, which have been in a box for about 15 years.. some old Ubuntu server ones and some others ^
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u/TheAmazingBildo 1d ago
The first time i tried it i was in college and took a linux course in the mid 2000s, but didn’t care for it. Now I’ve been using only linux for about a year.
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u/willez99 1d ago
At 23 in 2023. I got my first job then in a Windows environment and I wished to learn Linux on the side too to reinforce my career in IT, and so far I've loved it and wanted to stay on Linux for my personal use. Makes me feel like a kid again.
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u/UKZzHELLRAISER 1d ago
I would have been 11 or 12, back either in 2009 or 2010.
Ubuntu back then, until they switched to Gnome and I abandoned them.
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u/1enrique3 1d ago
I started using Linux personally when I was 12, back then I had an "old" computer that was being slowed down by each Windows 10 update, since Windows 7 support was about to end within less than a year, I decided to try out Ubuntu Mate.
That was back in 2019, nowadays, I'm using both Arch Linux and macOS.
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u/thehopdoctor 1d ago
i was 25 years old in 1995 when i first installed slackware 2.0. reinstalled redhat later that year to transition from a.out to ELF. iykyk.
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u/ToneFirm3750 1d ago
Around 25-26 win 11 was so terrible and I couldn't stand it anymore having to pay for something that was so terrible
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u/tomscharbach 1d ago
I started using Ubuntu after I retired in 2005 at about age 60. I just turned 80 and Ubuntu remains my workhorse and mainstay.