My first experience on Linux was on 1998 Before I join Sun Micro systems UK. I wanted to know something about Unix, and solaris was not on my budget. So I had bought a copy of redhat 5.0 that was sent it to me from the US. wow..
Installing that «thing» was a tedious task. I did like the fact that you could make you PC run faster by making a OS personalize for it. But I have to admit that always had trouble with Graphics cards and sometimes I could not hear Linus pronounce «Linux» because a misconfigured sound card.
Then I used Solaris and I had stopped using Linux on my personal PC, but I moved to mandrake on the laptop as it seems easier to configure.. Then I discover Debian, and I had stick with it. But most of the time I was not that happy as always was something that I was not working that right on the desktop.
This week I deployed 4 Barebones to a local library using Ubuntu, and the instalation was a matter of putting the CD and reply to a few questions.. It works with not issues… I am amaze. Old days seem to be gone for good. I am happy with pure Debian on the server and Ubuntu (which uses Debian) on the desktop. I am a happy man!