Sorry to say I didnt get into it earlier like some folks here, although I could have. My computing experience started with MSDOS and Windows 3.11, and didn’t start using Linux until I installed Mandrake Linux with KDE in college in 2002. Back then, shit was pretty rough though. Getting XFree86 running was an adventure in itself sometimes. What drew me to it was the ability to do things like quickly deploy a fully featured web server with scripting and database for next to no cost and using it like a developer’s playground. Things I’d be spending thousands in licensing fees for in Windows.
At first I was SSHing into my server from Windows to work on files, but eventually I just installed the full Linux GUI on my desktop as well, so I could use all the cool tools there too.
Bro no kidding… You’d install and hoped your keyboard worked by the end of it.
I stuck with it though… Well over 20 years for me now.
EDIT: I actually remember digging through dbus configs one time for HOURS because I couldn’t get my mouse working. No joke I realized at like 3am it wasn’t plugged in. Hahah… It was such a pain in the ass back then you just assumed it was something insane.
I first installed OG Red Hat 5.2 in 1998, but my computer had a Winmodem rather than a full hardware modem, so I never got it connected to the internet, which severely reduced how useful it was to me. I got broadband a year later, and that changed everything!
Sorry to say I didnt get into it earlier like some folks here, although I could have. My computing experience started with MSDOS and Windows 3.11, and didn’t start using Linux until I installed Mandrake Linux with KDE in college in 2002. Back then, shit was pretty rough though. Getting XFree86 running was an adventure in itself sometimes. What drew me to it was the ability to do things like quickly deploy a fully featured web server with scripting and database for next to no cost and using it like a developer’s playground. Things I’d be spending thousands in licensing fees for in Windows.
At first I was SSHing into my server from Windows to work on files, but eventually I just installed the full Linux GUI on my desktop as well, so I could use all the cool tools there too.
Bro no kidding… You’d install and hoped your keyboard worked by the end of it.
I stuck with it though… Well over 20 years for me now.
EDIT: I actually remember digging through dbus configs one time for HOURS because I couldn’t get my mouse working. No joke I realized at like 3am it wasn’t plugged in. Hahah… It was such a pain in the ass back then you just assumed it was something insane.
I first installed OG Red Hat 5.2 in 1998, but my computer had a Winmodem rather than a full hardware modem, so I never got it connected to the internet, which severely reduced how useful it was to me. I got broadband a year later, and that changed everything!
I fiddled with a winmodem wrapper, actually bought a hardware modem that connected via usb (???), until I got broadband. It does change everything.