Technically Raspbian Jessie, I think- I was gifted a Pi 3 in ~2016 and fiddled around with it for a while. I also made some cursed choices, at one point running Windows 10 IoT Core on that thing… though luckily not for long.

In 2017 or so, I started toying around with Ubuntu in VMs. It wasn’t really until 2020 or so that I started trying other distros; Debian Buster was probably the first non-Ubuntu distro I’d tried (excluding RPi stuff), and I mostly stucked to Debian besides one Arch install.

At a certain point in 2022, I found myself using Unix tools so much I was starting to wonder if I should just use Linux instead of Windows. It was at this time that I tried NixOS in a VM for the first time and thought, “Wow, this is cool… I’m sticking with Debian, though.”

Around that time, I threw Debian Testing (then Bookworm) on a second 256GB drive, ostensibly as a “test run” for daily driving Linux, and by “test run”, I mean I de facto quit using Windows; a few months later, I opted to use dd and copy that “test install” over my Windows install on my bigger 1TB drive (of course with sufficient backups so I could copy my Windows files over). That install is still the one I use on my desktop today and has just transitioned into Debian Testing/Forky*

*A name I quite honestly hate, mostly due to the fact that Forky represents everything wrong with America today the Forky Asks a Question shorts beat out Steven Universe Future for an animation Emmy, though honestly, I don’t know else what I was expecting to happen.

Fedora Core 6. Package manager kept failing so I couldn’t update or install software. So I tried Ubuntu 7.04. That one worked. Had a bunch of animations and stuff that made windows xp look like a child’s toy. Been using Linux as my daily ever since

Slackware. In 1993.

Slackware on a whole lot of lettered floppy disks.

Debian Woody > SuSE > gentoo

Still running gentoo on my main desktop and tumbleweed on my htpc

Slackware.

That was 25+ years ago. So don’t judge me.

It was Ubuntu. Can’t remember which version but at the time they would mail you a cd if you requested one.

My first ever distro was Xubuntu. (I did install Lubuntu before it, but found it too “ugly” so switched to Xubuntu after about 30 mins.)

I was still in high school, around 2014-15. My pc was getting old, and I read online that Linux can make your pc run faster. So, I decided to give it a try. I also read online that Xubuntu (and Lubuntu) is among the lightest of distros, so decided to install that. It was worthwhile, to say the least.

I currently use mostly EndeavourOS and AlmaLinux for my personal machines, depending on the type of the device. I have installed Fedora on my sister’s laptop, and Debian Stable on my parents’ PC, so I have to maintain those as well. Also, I have a few Pi zero2s for various things, so I use PiOS (or whatever it’s called these days) from time to time.

Slackware

Ubuntu, I was drawn in with the 3D cube and the ability to play games. The only game I had compatible then was TF2. So I left.

Back to it full time now, almost all games work, and on Mint

my friend (who was the it manager at one of my first jobs) had a fedora machine in 2007ish? and i loved using it. i only used linux for servers and websites for the longest time before i took the plunge into personal use though so my first personal distro was linux mint earlier this year.

BeOS ;)

I know, not Linux. But it was my first OS other than the one that came pre-installed.

Can’t remember exactly which was my very first Linux distro but probably Knoppix or another early live one.

My first “wipe Windows and install on bare metal” was PC-BSD. I know, again, not Linux.

And again, can’t remember exactly the very first “wipe Windows and install on bare metal” Linux, probably Puppy or Ubuntu.

Ubuntu->Manjaro->Tumbleweed

Ubuntu; I tend towards Debian Mint, if I’m choosing something more mainstream these days, but I main Guix, now.

Slackware, in 1999.