Mandrake Linux 6.5. At the time I was drawn to it because they had a version that worked with the sims game.

Slackware and then SuSE 7.2, I think it was.

Red Hat Linux 6.2. I, too, got it out of a book, but I don't remember which one.

My first I used was Slackware back in 2002 on a 486 with a 250MB disk. Wasn't easy when you have to compile half the software and there's basically nor enough room for the build environment. This was on a small test and development PC I used whilst at uni.

When I went all in on my desktop and waved Windows goodbye I used Ubuntu as that's what I'd had good experience with on my headless VMs.

Now running EndeavourOS and love it.

Slackware, installed with floppies on a 486.I tried debian red hat suse coral linux but always came back to Slackware.There was a bunch more, that I cant remember the names of, one I do remember was Stampede linux, Daniel Robbins put it out, he then dumped it and made Gentoo, I used Gentoo for a year or so, on an original AMD Athlon, it was night and day different from un optimised Slackware. I saw an announcement for a new distro on the gentoo forums for Arch, 686 optimisations, no need to compile!. I installed that and used it for about 9 years. I got sick of all the breakages, the systemd adoption drama, briefly went back to Gentoo( or Funtoo, actually), then discovered Void. I have been using Void since 2010, I also use Openbsd, reminds me of the 'old days' of linux before the tech bros and corporations.

Ubuntu around 2006-2007, not sure the exact one I used.

#!

Linux Mint 20. I got my first computer and was choosing an operating system. I didn't even understand differences between Windows and GNU+Linux, but it was faster, UI was consistent, and the community was actually supportive. Most issues I had were already solved so I could find solutions online easily. r/linuxmint also led me to creating a Reddit account xD

Meanwhile support for Windows looked like: Turn it off and on again, run sfc /scannow, dism, chkdsk, you may need to reinstall Windows.
So I went with Mint.
Funny, but at first when I didn't know about "Distributions" I was searching for just pure Linux. Poor old me didn't know I was accidentally searching for the kernel.

Welp, the laptop broke after 2 months (hardware), but it was old. I definitely don't miss that Athlon 64.

Slackware here, and I still use it! Tried several alternatives but I just keep going back.

I didn't know about Linux until I was in my late teens, and even then didn't care because I was a "Gamer" (ugh). My first disto was Ubuntu. I have used many distros but like debain the most.

Mandrake Linux 6.5. At the time I was drawn to it because they had a version that worked with the sims game.

A PowerPC version of Ubuntu (I forget now the exact version or year but it was sometime around 2005ish) that I ran from a live CD on my G4 Mac Mini.

First I actually installed and used seriously was Ubuntu 12.04 on an old PC.

ubuntu around 2003

S.u.S.E. Linux 5.2 in 1998. Didn't use Linux full time then, but S.u.S.E. got me acquainted with my future OS.

I'm serious arch

As a daily driver, Manjaro. It was a lot more stable than people would have you believe.

When I was still dual-booting with Windows, I used Ubuntu Server 14.04 for university stuff - I SSH'd into my home PC for programming classes. Needless to say, I was the stereotypical Linux dickhead (and didn't even use Arch at the time, btw).

Linux Mint in like 2018. Now i use Debian.

Red hat Linux which was followed by slack sometime back in the 90s.

Slackware 3.0, so must have been late 1995 to early/mid 1996. It was included with the book Linux Unleashed, I believe.

I recall having to rebuild the kernel to get sound drivers working (voxware, if I recall). I can't remember if they were included with the kernel, or if I had to patch it. I followed the directions in the book, presumably including updating LILO, and it actually worked. I think that if I broke the kernel, there's a good chance I'd've given up on Linux at that point, so good thing it worked first try!

It was around 2001 and I started by dual booting Windows with Red Hat, don't remember which version. Eventually I dropped Windows and dropped the dual boot and switched from Red Hat to Ubuntu.

RedHat here in the late 90s, back when you could still find yourself writing a "modeline."

Then Debian in the early 00s when apt was still a major discriminator. Finally, Ubuntu around 2008 just so I was running the same thing I was recommending to family members for ease of use. (At the time, Ubuntu sported the same ease of installation and hardware detection I'd found with Knoppix.)

Now on Xubuntu, but seriously eyeing a return to Debian.

As a kid in 1998, I installed Slackware to one of the two family computers. My parents were less proud than you might possibly think.

Debian 3.0 for me in 96. I used the boot floppies version as my PC didn't have a CD-ROM in it. I think there was like 20-something floppies.

I also still have my CDs from that era for Slackware and Redhat 5.0 somewhere...

RedHat Linux, Straight outta magazine. Bought the boxed version shortly thereafter. hmm i wonder if i still have the box???

Ubuntu 09.04.. on my highschool days. :)
I'm still remember that I ends up quitting right away because I have no internet on my house to install codecs and other necessary software, thus made the ubuntu installation useless. lol

Ubuntu and Kali almost at the same time

My first distro was Manjaro. It was really cool, but also I remember having some trouble getting things to work on it without super extensive troubleshooting.

Ubuntu 8.04 in 2008, with its live CD.

Gentoo, fall 2004, first a stage 3, then a stage 1. Learned SO MUCH from doing that!

SLS in ‘94

Mandrake Linux 6.5. At the time I was drawn to it because they had a version that worked with the sims game.

OpenBSD on the Amiga in 95-96 or so.

Slackware, 1996. I had a hand-me-down 486 that didn't have a CD-ROM drive. It was cheaper for me to sit in a Uni computer lab with a case of 3.5" floppies, than it was to buy a drive. Slackware got me through my systems programming course at the time without me having to find time to get to the Unix lab (only open during regular classroom hours) or Telnet in (yes, really.) I was living on campus and the dorms only had time-limited dialup.