What did you use before?

luismw · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 04 Jan 2010 Posts: 91

I started with DOS back in 1990, then Windows 95, Windows 98, Debian Potato, dual booting with Windows 98. Later, XP and Ubuntu. Then, I skipped Vista and got fed up with Ubuntu's bloat and the mandatory full OS reinstall every six months.

That's when I discovered Gentoo, and I haven't looked back ever since. I occasionally boot Windows 7, which is a pretty decent OS, but it simply doesn't compare.

evoweiss · Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:41 am Post subject:

Oh joy, a thread for old fogies such as myself. For me it went:

TRS-80 Microsoft Basic -> TRS-DOS (same computer) -> NewDos/80 (same computer) and whatever my TRS-80 Color Computer ran -> GEM on an Atari 520 ST -> MS-DOS 5 and later 6.22/Windows 3.1 -> Windows 95 -> Mandrake Linux -> Gentoo.

I now run Kubuntu on my work desktop and Gentoo on a work server and at home. I really regret installing Kubuntu, though. I wanted something up and running now and a binary distribution. I'll likely change over to something better eventually.

Best,

Alex

ryao · Retired Dev Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 132

I used Windows before I switched to Gentoo.

dmpogo · Advocate Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Posts: 3425 Location: Canada

In Linux world - Redhat 5.1 to Fedora, then Gentoo since 2004. Before that - different flavours of Unix starting with some BSD in 1985. But I did not care at the time to learn what exactly version we had. Never used Windows nor DOS on more than occassional basis.

destroyedlolo · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:11 am Post subject:

OSes I had on my mains desktop machines was :

AmigaOS 1.3 then 2.1 and 3.0 (since 1987 ... I still use and love them )
Solaris 7 and 10 (1995 -> 2007)
Ubuntu 2007 -> 2011
Gentoo (since 2011)

On my server, I used :

NetBSD spark classic (1.1 -> 3.1)
Ubuntu since 2007)
I'm planning to move to Gentoo soon ...

At work, I unfortunately used m$-win 3.11, 95, NT4 and XP : no comment :evil:

Professionally, I had also to play with OpenVMS, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, OS2 ...

I tried also several small distrib, especially TinyCoreLinux which wasn't so bad ...

Catanduva · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:46 am Post subject:

Don't remember everything. First i tried Mandrake and it was a horrible experience. Switched back to Windows, but i couldn't let that stop me. Tried Red Hat and quit again.
So i decided to try something more hardcore. Got Slackware and this time used it for years and forgot Windows completely. Then i found Gentoo and never looked back.

Spark25x · n00b Joined: 26 Feb 2012 Posts: 23

gemarcano · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:40 pm Post subject:

Hehe, I can barely recall those early months when I started to experiment with Linux distros. That having been said, this is the best I can remember:

Windows 3.1
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows ME (I wish I didn't remember this failure)
Windows 2000
Windows XP (Heck, this one is still in my current system as dual boot-- not that I go there often, though)
Mandriva Linux
Ubuntu Linux (some early version that wasn't stable at all-- it almost scared me away from Linux!)
Mandriva Linux
Slackware Linux (Really nice, until I got tired of keeping track of everything myself, although I did find some package management stuff for Slackware later...)
Gentoo Linux, as of 2006-ish?

I've run into a lot of problems with Gentoo, but none that were unsolvable

. I've since worked with Ubuntu and Mint, but I still prefer Gentoo, even if that means having my trusty Pentium 4 roaring overnight while trying to compile LibreOffice! :lol:

LiamOS · n00b Joined: 06 Jun 2012 Posts: 67 Location: Ireland

I feel so young...

For me it was
1) Windows 98
2) Windows XP
3) Ubuntu 8.04, dual booted with XP. I loved it, but it couldn't last due to being unable to use my USB modem. I was too inept to manage that at the time.
4) Windows 7
5) Ubuntu 10.04; I was getting sick of Windows and remember how nice Ubuntu was.
6) Ubuntu 12.04 minimal install; built up my system from the repos. Thought that was hardcore at the time. :oops:

7) Now I run(Or try to) Gentoo and Lubuntu. I'm not yet competent enough to have Gentoo working fully, so I have Lubuntu on hand when I need to do something on a deadline.
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Dominique_71 · Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 8:57 am Post subject:

DOS
Amiga OS
Suse from a very old one to recent ones
windows 3, 3.11, 95 (I don't even want to know which version is installed at my work)
Debian
Icaros

At home and for every day work, it is many years ago than I only use linux, but I am still missing the simplicity of use and administration of the Amiga OS. It is why I am giving a try at Icaros.

At work, I am using a mix of windows and Unix. The windows part really sucks in almost every aspects: terrifically slow, absolutely non-efficient work-flow, buggy, ..., even the anti virus is not up-to-date :lol:

EDIT: With gentoo, we don't have to fight with broken deps on some external repository. It is just to install an overlay or an ebuild, and it work.
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yellowhat · Guru Joined: 10 Sep 2008 Posts: 528

I started using Knoppix because was the only distro that worked for my ex-ex-ex pc, then I used Ubuntu -> Debian -> Slackware -> Gentoo (Since 2009)

destroyedlolo · Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 4:13 pm Post subject:

Dominique_71 · Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 4:33 pm Post subject:

NotQuiteSane · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 3:05 am Post subject: Re: What did you use before?

4g33k · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:13 pm Post subject:

DOS, Windows, PC-BSD, FreeBSD, Fedora, ( Gentoo, Arch ). The later 2 I use now.

Ahenobarbi · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:46 pm Post subject:

Dos (no idea which), Windows 3.11, Windows 97, Red Hat, Gentoo

Ignatius881 · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:37 pm Post subject:

1) Windows 95
2) Windows Vista (I was using Win95 from 1996, I think, until 2007)
3) Ubuntu 8.10 (via Wubi, wifi didn't work)
4) Debian 5 (same problem with wifi)
5) openSUSE 11.2 (same as before).
6) Linux Mint 10 (wifi worked since then, and I definitely freed myself from Windows).
7) Arch Linux

I switched many times my distro, so I can't remember much from those times.

8 ) Linux Mint 13
9) Arch Linux
10) Gentoo (since two days ago)

And I hope I can stay here much time

forrestfunk81 · Guru Joined: 07 Feb 2006 Posts: 567 Location: münchen.de

Commodore Basic V2
Dos 6.22
Windows (3.11, 95, 98SE, 2000, XP)
Knoppix (only two month)
Gentoo (since 2005)

In the meantime I tried many linux distributions, BSDs and solaris but never used any of them longer then one week.
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Hypnos · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 11:58 am Post subject:

Many people seem to use Gentoo, then try another Linux/BSD distribution, then come back to Gentoo.

Why the temptation? Dependency hell on Red Hat 4.2 is still burned in my memory ...
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Thistled · Guru Joined: 06 Jan 2011 Posts: 572 Location: Scotland

Started out as a teen in 1984 I think with Commodore 64 (Basic) before it blew up.
Turned my hand to work and booze, and sex and drugs and rock n roll at the age of 16.
It wasn't until college in 1992 or thereabouts that I returned to puters.
I do remember dabbling in Win95 and 98 in the late 90's, and also seem to recall a lot of people
asking me "to have a look" at their computer because it was acting "weird". :roll:

In time I realise this acting "weird" is just a windoze thing, alongside an incompetent user.
Then:
2000 - onwards Winblows XP (The best they ever did. Still installed and sometimes dual-boot today for the purpose of Cool Edit)
2005 Fedora. Can't remember the version. It was early days. Updated kernel and broke the system. Didn't have a clue what I was doing.
2007 Fedora. As above. Never bothered to read any documentation or look for support. So gave up. :lol:

2009 - onwards. Gentoo. Yeehaaa! Only had to install it once. Love it. My main day to day PC since Feb 2009. No turning back to winblows now. :twisted:

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forrestfunk81 · Guru Joined: 07 Feb 2006 Posts: 567 Location: münchen.de

disi · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 3:43 pm Post subject:

Randy Andy · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 6:23 pm Post subject:

Basic>DOS>GEM> until windows was good enough, so i switched at Windows 3.0, using every Windows Version which came out since then.
OS/2 and Warp when it came out.
Fli4Lan (Linux) in 2003.
Completely switched over to Linux in 06/2006, since this time I tried Windows only for testing purposes when it was pre-installed on a new PC and at work.

Starting my Linux trip with Suse, Ubuntu, Knoppix, Debian, Gentoo (to hard for me at first trial) going on with Mandriva, PC-OS, Puppy, Tiny Core, Dreamlinux, dyne:bolic, Arch, Slitaz, Antix, Papuglinux, Mephis,Nova, Sabayon, Lunar, Finnix, Absolute, Sourcerer, Litrix, Kanotix, Video-Linux, Mint, Toorox, StartCom, IP-Cop, ArtisX, Sidux and lots more I forget, especially the sequence I tried out.

Some colleagues called me "Distro-junkie", cause I tried about 30-40 distros for about one year, before I settled down on Gentoo.
Now they call me "the compilator" :wink:

Here my endless search came to an happy end, cause I found in Gentoo the best Distro (at least for me, If you don't agree).

Regards to all, Andy
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Yamakuzure · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 4:43 pm Post subject:

Woah! All those lists! Here is mine:

1986 Commodore C16
1988 Commodore C64
1989 Commodore Amiga 500
1994 Commodore Amiga 4000
1997 Amiga 4000/Phase 5 PowerPC
1999 Windows ME (Amiga was dead... )
2000 Windows 2000
2000 SUSE Linux 6.4
2001 SUSE Linux 7.2
2002 Windows XP
2004 Gentoo Linux and never looked back!

Of course there is still Windows around. At work I have several VMs I need (windows 2000 x 1, Windows XP x 2) and at home I have Windows 7 Pro installed for ... well ... Gaming.

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tclover · Guru Joined: 10 Apr 2011 Posts: 516

Windows(TM) then... Gentoo GNU/Linux! I did remember that I installed Mandrake[-8?] in the Windows(TM) XP times... and removed it completely after a week.
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