What brought you to Linux?

[psufootball]

I got a new computer and was having issues with my old one (a relatively new computer as well). It was running Windows Vista and randomly freezing and crap. I decided, hell, let's try Linux. And I've switched around with different versions of it and stuff, but it has been Linux ever since.

[Rob]

In 96ish I got a tech support job for a local isp (remember dialup?!)

I was drawn into the shell accounts we sold and the admin would let me borrow his Linux books.

I then loaded up red hat 3.0.3 (like a dozen floppies) on a newish packard bell pc w/ a 540mb hard drive.. it was awesome.

With it ever since!

[scotty]

In 96ish I got a tech support job for a local isp (remember dialup?!)

I was drawn into the shell accounts we sold and the admin would let me borrow his Linux books.

I then loaded up red hat 3.0.3 (like a dozen floppies) on a newish packard bell pc w/ a 540mb hard drive.. it was awesome.

With it ever since!

Old school! I used to enjoy the little song dial up would play as I would come online. I was online so much, the phone would ring, and I would always scream to my mum DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE! I am glad that has changed!

[berks]

I can easily say this is the hardest part of making the final decision to become a Linux user, especially full time. There are so many distributions out there and many of them offer more benefits than anything. I definitely say to continue testing and check out Distro Watch - it is a valuable site to find a plethora of distributions. Plus, it allows you to see just how up-to-date distributions. When I become interested in a distro that was not familiar to me, I try to check it out on Distro Watch to see if it is still updating in any way, which is very important. The decision can be hard to make and you might even become a distro hopper - I can admit that I have been guilty of it at times, haha. Good luck!

Thanks a lot for that website, never heard of it before. I have been looking at it and so far I am impressed, there are so many distros that I have never heard of and they all sound interesting.

[Sinister_Diagram]

Thanks a lot for that website, never heard of it before. I have been looking at it and so far I am impressed, there are so many distros that I have never heard of and they all sound interesting.

I am glad that website could be of help to you! It is a great resource to have available at all times while exploring Linux. You are able to keep up-to-date with the newest releases in the Linux world on the main page, even down to beta releases, which is something that I check frequently. Once you begin to see just how many distributions are available, it can seem quite overwhelming to most people and scares them away from Linux in general. I think it is great to take your time, unless you are in a rush to get a computer up and running again, and simply explore. Try as many live cds of distros that you found the most interesting and go from there. I can happily say I keep a stack of burnable dvd/cds simply to test out a distro I have never used or to try out the newest version of a distro that I am a fan of!

[DaReaper]

There are three things that brought me into linux intentionally and i wasn't planning to try out Linux without them.

1) My Friend who introduced me to Linux and gave me Ubuntu's free CD kit which made me want to give it a try.
2) My Mobile tablet which i purchased in 2010, came built in with Maemo(Now MeeGo) - Nokia N900, supported lots of tweaks, Very highly modifiable, Supported dual,triple,quad boot with Nitdroid- custom rom(Android Gingerbread). I've tried the following OS's on the device - Maemo, Debian(LXDE), Android Froyo,Gingerbreak, [Windows 3.11,Windows 95, Windows 98 NT 4.0, with DosBox], Mer/OpenMoko, MeeGo- developers edition, Kubuntu, SHR. The phone also runs Mac OS 10.3 which i've not tried.

3) My Virtual Private server with CentOS and i've learnt a lot from it.

[Victor Leigh]

I migrated to Linux when my Windows died. Now I use Linux for everything. Except games. To play WoW, I use Windows 7. Test-driving Windows 8 atm.

[fox1562]

ive just got myself a satellite dreambox, and would like to know more about linux, as i would like to write some software for these units, im hoping linux is simaller to "dos " if anyone can put me in the right direction please let me know. many thanks

[linbgs]

i still use windows mostly honestly

HOWEVER

I use linux a lot because what i can do in linux just isnt possible in windows without some serious hacking at it... lol not to mention, the productivity inside a linux CLI verses the productivity of doing something through a GUI in windows is off the charts

being that i have a major interest in security as well i do have a lot of cracking tools in windows that i can use very well but some of them just dont compare to the linux versions, even from the same devs... the level of hardware access and sophistication of drivers is just too different between the two operating systems

linux IS a better os, the way it handles everything is just better... the only issue is lack of support

[Darwin]

I think I am more or less a convert, if I didn't have to use the Windows OS for certain things I use for work then certainly all my units would be fored up with Linux. Linux just presents a few challenges and is much safer. I await the Linux web with anticipation, somewhere the snoops, hacks and corporations can't squeeze us dry.