First server was Debian in 2002 or so. First desktop was the first version of Ubuntu (4.10). Back then, they'd send you a free CD upon request, anywhere in the world. Dial-up was still pretty common in Australia at the time, so not having to download it was very useful. That was one of the things that really drove adoption of Ubuntu.

Slackware. Horrible experience.

Then Ubuntu.

Now Debian.

Slackware 4. Nothing like having to compile your kernel depending on the hardware you hand-selected for compatibility. Then entering your monitor specs in the config files by hand to get WindowMaker to run correctly.

Using on a computer, Debian back in 2011. On my own machine I first went with an Ubuntu dual boot, then later switched to Linux Mint and haven't switched to anything else since. I just love how Mint was able to give new life to the same old trooper laptop I had since 2013.

I am an old timer. I started with BSD before there was even a Linux. NetBSD on an Amiga 3000 before the AT&T law suite against NetBSD, then heared about Linux which was twice as clean as NetBSD and without legal issues - Later NetBSD removed all legal issues nonetheless.

First Linux was a Watch-Tower Distribution, basically a big RAM-Disk with a rudimentary Linux system which you copied to HD. No package manager, nothing. tar, make was the way to do installations. Shortly after Slackware and SuSE which basically was the same back then. Then a lot of SuSE then Debian, then Ubuntu. Don't care much about the distribution nowadays as long as it is DEB-based.

But now something to scare all of you: Today my most used POSIX environment is... Cygwin. Well, I got a Windows-Notebook for development and a VM is really clunky in comparison to a fully integrated POSIX-layer like Cygwin. For developing Stuff it actually matters very little if you use BSD, Linux, Cygwin or even Solaris.

Technically zorin, but kubuntu is why I stuck with it. It's what made me like linux...

Slackware back in '97.

CorelLinux

Ubuntu, specifically the netbook edition.

That little guy struggled with Windows 7 Starter, but it got some pep in it's step when Linux was installed!

My first was Suse Enterpise Linux. Bought from Best Buy in the late 90s.

Ubuntu -> Xubuntu -> Linux Mint XFCE

Kubuntu 5.10 that breezy badger release was the best

Seems appropriate that he’s about to snap her neck.

Pretty sure Linux Mint back in 2009-2010 that my brother forced all of our family PC's to use. Now over 14 years later I have made it back to Linux Mint and oh how I've missed it.

Mandrake 8.2

I have fond memories of it, as it weaned me off Windows.

Edit: Actually, Knoppix was my first foray into Linux, but Mandrake was the first Linux distro that I actually installed.

Some form of Novell-era Suse Linux when I was in college… 20 years ago. I didn’t get it back then. Mint is my daily driver today.

Pop OS. I honestly feel like it was a great transitional OS for me as a lifelong Windows user. Kind of like riding a bike with training wheels.

SimplyMepis (RIP)

OpenSUSE Tumbleweed

My first distro was Ubuntu 8.04, but my first experience with Linux was Damn Small Linux.

Funny enough, Damn Small Linux just had an update after all these years.

Xubuntu just because it was the first one I found when looking for something that worked with a really old computer I had

Linux Mit, im still loving cinnamon

Biolinux so ubuntu based... Now still on ubunut but considering moving to debian.

The year was 2002, and the distro was Caldera Open Linux 2.2

edit to add: Currently running KDE Neon. KDE 6 is pretty great so far.

Actual first was I think knopix or whatever it was called. My friend had a bootable floppy and we booted it on a school computer.

First real daily use was Ubuntu somewhere around 2006.

I bounced around a few different distros about twenty years ago. OpenSuse, Mint, and Ubuntu. I settled on Ubuntu (6.0X I think) because the others had a lot of trouble with hardware in my Korean laptop at the time. Ubuntu was the only one that had the track pad working right away, and also the only one I managed to get Korean keyboard input working in. I never did get the webcam working in any of them. I used Ubuntu in some form or another up until a few months ago when I switched to Mint. Largely because of Lemmy.

Conectiva Linux. Don’t remember the version, bought a CD together with a manual a news stand.

My first distro was Xubuntu. It was 2014-15. I was still in high school. My pc was getting old, and I read online that Linux can make your pc run faster. Since it wasn't my gaming machine, I decided to give it a try. I also read online that Xubuntu is among the lightest of distros, so decided to install that. It really was a night and day difference in performance.

I've switched distros a few times (Xubuntu -> Ubuntu Gnome -> Manjaro KDE -> EndeavourOS KDE, also run AlmaLinux on a few headless server machines) since then, but never went back to Windows ever again.

RedHat back when it was just RedHat. No RHEL. No Fedora. Late 90s.

Tried MythTV for a HTPC and had some issue with a log file filling up the the whole drive. Didn't have the skill yet to fix the issue. Does messing around with the terminal in OS X count? It certainly made me more comfortable for the next time tried. I think the next major attempt was another HTPC, but this time, I just used Ubuntu + XBMC and setup it up to also be a headless torrent box. Using OS X as my main desktop still made things easier then it would have been going from Windows to Linux as the file naming and system directories were compatible.

I've been using Mint as my laptop OS for a while now and just recently switched from Mac to Mint on my desktop machine. I made an effort to never get trapped in property file types or an "eco system", so all the apps I was using were available in Linux already and the Majove Hackintosh was becoming less and less viable.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Knoppix I think

I tried Puppy with a persistent live USB first, then I used Ubuntu through WUBI for a while until it borked my MBR.

Manjaro GNOME Edition,
But am now on NixOS 😸❄️🐈✨

First Debian, then Ubuntu because people said it was better, then back to Debian because it wasn't (snaps really suck and break things), then to Pop OS (bc new laptop preinstalled with it). I also got a SteamDeck semi-recently if that counts (still use the Pop OS laptop).

Suse

Mint was my first main. Before that there were some projects on raspbian.

FreeBSD 3.3