I also kept the dual boots for several years as I was a completing my master degree and couldn't spend much time fixing all the newbie's f@#% up$. I think I single booted all my machines to slackware in 2009.
Gosh, what wonderful memories.
Thanks to whoever started this thread.

It doesn't sound like you had the lovely experience of creating root and boot disks or all of the distribution disks for early versions of Slackware. At one time, I had something like 27 1.44 MB floppy disks for a "complete" (binaries, not including sources) Slackware distro...roughly a 1.2.8 kernel in approximately 1994? A lot of water under the bridge since then...loved it when distros became available on CDROM(s). I used to purchase the InfoMagic "Developer's Resource" disk set that included several distros and a bunch of other stuff. I still have one from 1995 and another from 1999. Made life apart from floppies a reality.

MxB

lol, yes, I don't have those nightm... sorry memories!
(but, off topic, I do remember using 10+ 3.5" floppies to install the great 'msdos' and then the shitty 'windors' 3.0, 3.1 etc...)

It detected my main hard drive (at the time I had only two) as a "Picture CD". Go explain to the stupid distro that there's no such a thing as "500 GB CD" in existence. It took me almost a week to finally "catch" the idea that it's a plugin causing this, so I started installing different distros and comparing the programs they came with. Eventually I found out that all the distros with their "Picture CD" had Pix and Brasero pre-installed in them. So I uninstalled them both and the problem disappeared. Since back in the days I had chosen Mint for my first distro, I installed that (18.3 had just been released) and after removing Pix (Mint never had Brasero, fortunately) I was able to finally use Linux like everyone else. Since then Pix and Brasero are in my blacklist for programs. Because a stupid plugin in these programs decides that my hard disk is a picture CD, all because I have a directory named "Pictures" on it. Even nowadays I'm wondering what kind of an idiot programmed these plugins...

The first successful install was a Slackware install. I still reinstalled it several times because that was easier than monkeying around with the configuration after the install. I tried Debian but could never get it working. Redhat worked but I stuck to Slackware for several years. I forget what graphic interface it had but I only used that occasionally while on line. Off line I stuck to the terminal mode.

What a great thread. Glad I finally discovered it.

I had to go back and take a lookey at the past versions of Ubuntu to see which one I installed as my first install of Linux. For those of you that started off with Ubuntu and also need such help, here is a video URL of past Ubuntu versions: https://youtu.be/_tacUvncVz0

Before I forget. My Uncle had told me about Ubuntu and thus introduced me to the free operating system. He lent me his free copy of the Ubuntu CD to do an install on an old x86 Intel based PC - that I can't recall which one.

So Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope was my first install of Linux.

I was so impressed that the old machine that I installed it on, well it basically breathed new life into that old machine!
From then on out, for many years, when my ex-wife's law firm was chucking old computers, as to replace them with new machines for the lasest versions of Windows to work on, well I made sure they gave me one of their 4 year old systems that was targeted for the dumpster. For years, I had no need to buy a computer. I could install Ubuntu on a 4 year old computer and it simply "flew" with speed, in my opinion. Also, that was back in the day that Conical would mail you a free version of Ubuntu upon request - on CD.

Even though it's an old thread. If you're still around, thanks for the thread and bringing back memories for me!

I remember being afraid of something go wrong!

My first hard drive install on my own home build was... Lindows (I know, I know) later known as Linspire when ms took exception.

It was not what I was looking for at the time although it might have been had I been willing to pay for the premium packages in order to get various pretty common hardware going without rolling my own kernel. I almost ditched the linux at home effort but gave the knoppix live CD a go as they just came out with a script for hard drive install---oooh. I stuck with that for quite a while but I was building boxen like a maniac and for some reason was in love with nVidia cards. Even though my stuff was not cutting edge it was misery generating mode lines for X to get the right rez on my monitors, etc. I spent more time in console than I ever do today. Finally picked up a card that I needed to roll a kernel* to get an experimental driver into it for a TV tuner and I was utterly defeated. That is how I wound up a deb girl dating Sid. 20 years later I still have not ever rolled my own kernel. And don't have to. Probably never will. Will die happy.

*I had a good laugh a little while back when I stumbled upon some of my old posts trying to do so. Newbies thought I was a guru and there I was crying all night at my keyboard. I finally did get the tuner card working in Kanotix or Siddux forget which. It was precompiled in their kernel

When I first started using Linux, I was already triple booting DOS/Windows, Coherent, and Consensys SVR4.2 using Coherent's boot loader. It was a simple matter to add a second hard disk and load the version of Slackware that was included in Linux Unleashed. I remember being scared to death that trying to run XFree86 would fry my NEC monitor and it was some time before I was comfortable that I had the correct mode lines to fire up XFree86. Linux wound up replacing both Coherent (no X11) and Consensys (ooh, the $$$ they wanted for development libraries...). Windows only hung around on disk for a while to play some games but it scribbled on itself one time too many for me and its partition got repurposed. (I used to keep a pristine copy of Windows on DDS tape that I could restore via the Linux installation using 'dd' following Windows killing itself -- or to start from scratch with a new game w/o any garbage in the registry -- but tired of that after a while. Windows-free for at least 15 years now.)

Update: I eventually realized that I'd previously posted to this thread. Oh well...

I remember being really happy, that after downloading Slackware via phone, all the floppy disks worked and and I saw a login prompt .... Was a 'wahooo' moment back then. The next good feeling moment is when I convinced our company to move off the Windows NT server and build a Redhat Linux server. Maintenance went 'way way' down after that turn of events and so did the 'stack of user licenses'. From then on while was at that company Linux was Server(s) OS. And of course at home, I now run Linux on all systems. Never looked back. No regrets.

I had a Windows 10 Pro Lenovo Thinkpad T460, an Ubuntu 22.04 desktop bootable USB stick from eBay, knew current version was 22.04.3, that computer had nothing to lose and was also from eBay, I left that bootable USB inserted a while before I actually did an install. I then unplugged that bootable USB, turned off like my computer, plugged that USB stick in again, and booted with F12 presses, then proceeded to "Try or install Ubuntu". Like my first attempt to actually install almost succeeded but failed right after wipe computer and before fully install OS. I booted from USB again with a now no OS computer with a small Windows EFI partition. That time it worked and I installed Ubuntu 22.04.3 with Ubuntu Pro from that USB I found was 22.04.2. I remember being happy to have something boot and ready to try again. It had failed on last step of installer, pick a time zone before but now I could use it. I had to use another computer with Ubuntu one to manually enter like my Ubuntu Pro key. One hand for one computer, one for other. I had a good time installing many programming systems. That installed system ended with me purging python3 because I could not remove a python swift client. Never purge python3 from Ubuntu. X E.

After writing all that I realize, that was like my first computer install, not like my first install. Like my first install was an accident of trying to install Jolla Sailfish on a Nexus 7 Grouper and installing CyanogenMod instead. I then flashed stock Android on that and tried again, success that time. I did not even let CyanogenMod boot once fully. Suffice it to say like my actual first install was an accident. I am unsure if MultiROM counts as Linux but I had that installed first. When Jolla Sailfish booted I had trouble with getting past its tutorial. I had some almost useless data I lost in that first install. I did those installs without a computer attached. X E.

I think, around the late 90s early 20s, I installed first RedHat when it was still free & non-commercial. I remember playing with the console like a child plays with its first radio-controlled toy. Then I tried a few more: Mandrake (I believe it was changed to mandriva a few yrs after) and finally landed on installing Slackware (I don't remember if it was 8.0 or 9.0). There I fell in love with the text based installation and the absolute system-fitting, regardless of video drivers (although I remember I struggled a lot to get the wi-fi working).
I haven't changed distro since although, it was on dual boot for at least 6-7yrs before becoming my main & only distro in all my comupters.
I think, around slackware 11 or 12 i was using cd-rom and not floppy anymore )

I have been a Linux user since 1995, my very last windows was v3.1, after that, I did my research and I decided to use Linux as my ONLY Operating System. I distro-hopped for a while, and I decided that Debian was my official Linux install.

Then I had a stroke on 5 September 2011, and everything went to {heck}. But I still use Debian Linux.

2001/2 - Red Hat 7.2 from book. I'm was been scared .