Well done!
When was this?

My introduction to linux was in a computer class in 1999. It was Redhat 5.1 running fvwm. It definitely gave a plain jane impression.
I found a Redhat copy at Bestbuy but I wasn't going to pay $50 for it. I then found Slackware and installed it but then I found Mandrake 6.0 and installed it much easier and it had eye candy compared to fvwm. I used it until Ubuntu 6.0. I hopped a bit until Slackware 14.1.
After switching to Slackware I remained with Stable branch until 14.2 was about 3 years old. i3wm wouldn't upgrade so I switched to Current branch until Slackware 15.0 released. Once Current jumped to 5.10 kernel I started compiling my kernel to stay on 5.4 due to a clocksource issue that made booting take too long (for my liking). It did boot ok and system was still rock solid but I didn't know how to work around it.
I kept hearing that Slackware was the most BSD-like linux distro and after seeing Robonuggie vids on Freebsd, I switched to Freebsd to see for myself. Sure enough I understand that comparison. I've learned a few "lessons" so far and it makes me appreciate Slackware even more for sticking to the old-school.

Freebsd has a linux-browser-installer (via github) so I can stream DRM content; however, only chrome works. The Brave browser will install but no working Widevine. And Vivaldi doesn't install . I miss Vivaldi streaming . Once Slackbuilds upgrades to 15.0 or 15.1 i'll switch back to Slackware. I just wish I could configure it so the boot wouldn't be delayed.

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I was about 14 yo, and it was backtrack super hacky 5. I didn't have internet at home back then, so i resorted to just head out to cyber cafe download the iso file and stealthy move it on my hideous pen drive. I kept commuting back and forth couple kilometers multiple times to debug consecutive issues. the thing is that i couldn't virtually read or understand what others used to say on forums or anything, i was just a copycat of what is on the screen of yt casts back then. When i say copycat, i mean if a prompt popped up that wasn't already included in the video, i would just stare it having no clue what to do at all, and probably start the process all over again (prompt free). I kept doing that till i encountered the last issue during boot time, and so i kept handwriting the error logs on a piece of paper, then head out to the cybercafe, looked it up, gathered some solutions, and wrote them down on yet another piece of paper. That day i returned home late, and my did didn't wouldn't allow me to open up the computer, and so i took advantage of him going somewhere remote at the home, then fired up the computer, entered the grub boot loader menu, append flags in one of the solutions that i had on the paperclip, at the first kernel entry and voila i was greated with a lovely lean dragon.

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That is just awesome A+++ for perseverance and I bet you learned a lot over time

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Interesting. I had never heard of "Backtrack" linux, and now see that it was the forerunner of Kali, focused on security & forensics. Nice to see another Debian-based distro being popular. Good for you.

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Sorry i've forgot to include the forum domain at my gmail filter for linux, and so the reply got lost somewhere at my email pile. back to it, i've indeed managed to learn more about it. What's different this time is that that i'm trying to learn it systematically, rather than plain old rote learning from youtube as i used to. Unreleated, but i want to also mention that i paid a visit about a week ago to roam around the same internet cafe after a long time of absence, and found it completely vacant as the availability of the internet&smartphones just outbrook.

In 1996, my job at work involved using Sun Microsystems Solaris OS, "SunOS 2.x" on a daily basis.

"Unix OS"

Reading at the time a Linux mag, it included a Slackware Linux ISO CD (Can't remember the revisions).

So, I took the plunge, and installed it on my x86 Dx2/66 Intel PC!

I convinced a co-worker to install it also. We both had dial-up Internet at the time through Memorial University (MUN) in St. John's NF.

We both coordinated a log-on time, sent each other our IP address, and we managed an 'NFS' mount over the phone line!

It worked!

Mind you, an 'ls -l' was a little time getting the listing across the dial-up connection! lol

After that, I was hooked / as I type this post up in Ubuntu 20.04

KNOPPIX - Live Linux Filesystem On CD

Recommended by teachers in college classrooms

Ah, Knoppix! I remember using it as a rescue disc. I believe it was the only live distro that existed in those days.

NOT being able to login !!!
because I did'nt know my only user account was named root
and had no user name to give login

FEAR, of messing up everything on my pc and not having any operating system on it at all!

That it worked.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...-1540-dm-1388/

Several members of our computer club installed Ubuntu with the help of a nonmember who had been using Linux for some time. That was in 2007-8 time frame. I continued with Ubuntu and I attended the Phoenix Linux User Group at monthly meetings. Since early in 2010 I have hosted a SLUG (Sunland Linux User Group) meeting monthly continuing through the current time. We have stayed with Ubuntu and are now on 21.04. Our group varies from 4 to 10 members meeting monthly all year round. We also use ZOOM beginning in 2022 for those who go North in the summer.
Boyd Tong (boyd85209@gmail.com)

I am not sure about the year exactly (I think it was around the beginning of the new millennium) as I remember I was discovering first RedHat (before it went commercial), then Mandrake (changed to Mandriva a few yrs after) and finally I learned about Slackware and was love-at-first-sight.
Haven't rolled back or regretted since.

My first linux installation was a Debian Woody with kernel 2.4 in 2002. I spent three months installing and learning linux at the same time. I had dual boot for few months untill I uninstalled Windows and never used it again at home.