Okay.. so what got you into linux?

[Just_Another_Guy]

Hey guys, decided to make a thread lol.... so. What got you into linux?

for me it was because well I like new things, and I run servers, my first server was linux... oh that was fun having had no expirence with linux before that.. lol.

But after about 10 minutes of playing with the linux server getting it ready for the web I literally fell in love with linux and then after a week, i installed it along side xp.. heck back then XP was NEW. and been using it ever since

And you?

**Note: Spelling and grammar may be broken due to my spell checker is checking in another language their for every word is wrong, and it suggests non-english words LOL.

[techieMoe]

I can't say much more than I've already said here:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/cof...ted-linux.html

To make a long story short: I was looking for a cheap C++ compiler.

[Just_Another_Guy]

Popular question huh? lol. my bad.

I've done a fair bit of programming my self... however i got bored of it.

As for changing parts of pcs... I can't keep my hands off... partly why I have about 20 comps either stripped out or broken around in my room lol... But I tend to keep this 1 custom pc in one peace as its got the most data on it :o.. on externals though, as i know i'm good at breaking stuff and end up fixing it, then loosing track of files LOL

[oz]

Okay.. so what got you into linux?

lol... I don't fool with Windows all that much anymore except for the workplace, where it's required.

However, I had to install XP and Win2K on a couple of computers the other day and then clone an XP drive, and all I can say is, what a total nightmare trying to get it all accomplished! Windows whined constantly about not being able to find drivers for devices, or wanting registration codes, and then there were plenty of system freezes that kept me scratching my head. Oh, and just for the record, I consider Win2K and XP to be Microsoft's best Windows versions. Anyway, mission finally accomplished.

After all that, I found myself wondering why it took me so long to get into Linux.

[hazel]

I was "volunteered" by my local computer club. We were all Windows users but we felt that someone ought to investigate Linux and report back. I fell in love with Linux and that was it.

[kingtermite]

You can see a bit of my rants regarding windows/linux in my intro post, but let's bullet a few points that made Linux happen "for real" this time.

- Started trying to move toward open source recently
- Vista pissed me he hell off
- I missed the power of the command line in Unix I had years ago at the university.

[kveldulf980]

For me it was just curiosity coupled with a desire to set up a web server. After that I kept with it and picked up programming and haven't really looked back. The last time I actually owned a computer that ran windows it was win95

[Debian Linux Geek]

I heard about it on the radio one day and checked it out and never turned back.

[SagaciousKJB]

Well, one night, the most mysterious thing happened to me...

I had been experimenting with Linux, mostly because I was getting sick and tired of Windows crashing on me all the time, and the hassle of reinstalling. I ran tons and tons of hardware tests and diagnostics every time I would get a BSOD, but never found any errors.

Basically, the big crash occurred. Windows BSOD'd once again, wiped out the entire OS, and then when I tried to put the only install disc I had in it, it could not read it. So I got tired of that, but in Ubuntu, and managed to use it somewhat, off and on. Despite erratic stalls and kernel panics.

The key difference however is that I was easily able to tell that it was a hardware problem when Linux would completely crash, instead of just stalling. In fact, it was no so much the wonderful logs it delivers, but the lack thereof. The fact that mine would crash without leaving a trace at some points was a big indicator that I needed to replace my hardware.

So that's what I did, got a nice dual-core Athlon 64 X2, 2 gigs of ram, a couple of terrabytes of hard-drive space, and Linux only. In a year and a half of running it, I've had one system crash, and that was followed by a power outage in my house, so I doubt it had anything to do with the system.

Then, I made the coolest discovery ever a guy with a fancy new dual-core CPU and a ton of RAM could make. VirtualBox. With the ability to basically run Windows inside of Linux, and of course the marginal ability of WINE to run games, I haven't felt the need to reinstall Windows since then. In fact, I look at it as more of a troublesome burden, given the fact that it's going to write itself over GRUB.

[IsaacKuo]

When I used Windows, I had grown accustomed to an annoying process trying to install. I had so much "fun" hunting down and installing drivers. But hey, I was used to it, and didn't know anything better.

When I used Windows, it was a real pain trying to keep up with codecs for playing video files. Codec packs would often interfere with each other, and configuring the codecs was mysterious...

And one day I tried out Knoppix. It worked with all of my hardware, auto-detecting and auto-configuring everything without me going and hunting/installing drivers. That was a shock.

And then I clicked on a video file. Knoppix played my video files out-of-box. That REALLY got my attention. I began to salivate at the prospect of terminating my endless struggles with Windows codecs.

And then after I started using Knoppix as a Debian style hard drive install. That was when I discovered the joys of apt. That really blew my mind. All this time I thought it was normal for me to go and hunt down and install applications individually. But with Debian's apt, the computer went and did it for me! Not only that, but the Debian package management system actually MANAGED the software for me.

At that point, I was hooked for good. Even though I was still a total Linux newbie and had little/no idea how to install or fix anything, already Linux was less effort to deal with than Windows (which I was plenty familiar with). Best of all, all of this software was truly free--as in free of shareware nag popups, free of crippleware restrictions, free of registration keys...free of all this crud that I just grudgingly put up with in Windows.

Linux was able to do more (much more), with less effort, and with less annoyances.