I first saw Red Hat at my workplace around the turn of the millennium, which functioned as a gateway machine, operating strictly in console mode, of course. Later I tried Suse and used Debian for a long time with command line. I remember it was a great experience when I first managed to install X.
I´m a Linux user since 2008: First of all i began with Ubuntu (when Unity comes, we weren´t friends anymore 
), later i am at Linux Mint, then Manjaro, and now to EndeavourOS.
I started using Linux sometime in 1995 with the release of the first version of Red Hat Linux. During that early time frame, I switched back and forth between Red Hat, Mandrake, and SuSE. I switched to Ubuntu when it first came out, and later on switched to Linux Mint. It was in the last year that I switched to Arch Based distributions — first Manjaro, then EndeavourOS – my current home.
(Edit: I forgot. I’ve used Gentoo for a while, and even gave LFS as shot.)
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Well. My first taste of Linux? Back in 1996, with Slackware 3.0, on my 486DX2 66Mhz. So, I still have a sweet spot for this ancestor.
After, I swapped a lot of distributions between 1996 and 2006 (Mandrake, Linux Kheops, Red Hat Linux then Fedora,) and MS-Windows 95/98/2000 and XP.
2006 - 2009: Ubuntu
Since 2009: Archlinux
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started in 1991 with my first PC , Msdos 6.22 with windows 3.11 , i really love that 
but after 1996 pc became somewhere i didnt use since 2001 i reused that old thing but was ripe for the scrapyard. after a old second hand pc with XP i made a mess out of that thing so after i bought a new with xp… reinstall of that thing i cannot count… also login screen i didnt ask for. 2005 i got a taste of linux with just a debian based livecd, 2006 started with suse was not so succes but later on ubuntu, but short after xubuntu and it was good til 2012 i switched to Mint then LMDe then Manjaro 2016 Antergos after arco now endeavouros im not so in to theming and conky’s… did install arch in a vbox but im so lazy to do archlinux straight… i just use what works for install generaly, issues most of time i can find…
had removed a package funny is could not login haha but fixed somehowe in the end
I start in 2010 with Ubuntu and at 2011 Mint Cinnamon. Sins 2014 I use Arch with Plasma and the last two years with Gnome - current ENOS Gnome
I don’t know if this counts or not. I started on Unix back in the early seventies when I worked for AT&T. My first work station was an old teletype machine. Teletypes didn’t have a monitor, just a big box of paper behind the teletype that tractor fed into it. What you typed was clear to the left of the page, the computer’s response was indented slightly so you could differentiate between input and output. This was not a PC, but was hooked up to some type of main frame computer if I remember correctly.
Then we got actual workstations that had a black background and either an amber or green fore ground. The resolution was so low that only 40 characters fit on the screen horizontally.
My first home computer was a Sinclair ZX80, then a TI99A. My first x286 computer was a Packard Bell 286 PC clone. After that I started building my own computers, mostly with AMD components.
The first real linux was Mandrake (a Red Hat clone), then Red Hat 7.something. Kept using Red Hat products thru Fedora Core 3. Switched to Arch Linux and ran that exclusively for about 8 years, then bounced back between Fedora and Arch. So basically my mainstay was always Gnome on either Fedora or Arch.
Pudge
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DOS was the first I do use I loved it in a way … writing fun programs and stuff like this printed with a needle printer:
First Linux was Debian as far as I do remember then Aurox for a long time, followed by slackware and up from 2007 Archlinux …then Antergos
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I think it was SuSE in 2001. Was it Version 8 or something… just a ncurse installer and no “open” before the SuSE.
Then it was Slackware… no packagemanager… let’s call it an adventure. I distrohopped a lot. Ubuntu as it came out, Mandrake, RedHat, some Slackware-derivat… “Zenwalk” or so? Arch of course and Judd was still onboard at that time. I always liked the KISS-Principle…
I started using Linux as a true OS after being a beta tester for Windows 7 - need I say more?
My first distribution was Ubuntu. From there I’ve tried just about every major Linux distro out there. My last distro before this one was ArcoLinux. However after reading about this OS I decided to give it a try. I have been very satisfied with this OS and it’s KISS Principle ever since. It was a learning curve to use I have to say; but a learning curve that is very welcomed. I’ve never been afraid of the terminal - just leery of making a big mistake in typing commands and having the OS crash (ie: MS-DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.11). Which is probably why I read tutorials quite thoroughly before using the commands included (plus making sure I’m awake and paying attention!). Coffee/expresso is a good thing - so is black tea! 
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After a desastrous run in with Redhat in -98, I stayed as far away from Linux as I could for almost twenty years.
Then came Windows 8, and I wasn’t happy. After that Win10 came and I got more and more disgruntled untill I couldn’t take it any more. I ran Ubuntu for several minutes in a VR-Box and then I canned it, then Mint for a week. After that I read up more and came to the conclusion that Arch was the one that would suit me best, but setteled for trying Zen-Installer. Ok, Arch was right up my ally, but Zen-Installer wasn’t as it crached without me fiddeling with the system.
A really rough mancold hit me as a ton of bricks, and I was in bed for a week. Day three I got bored out of my scull, and tried a vanilla Arch install in a VR-Box… and to my surprice it ran like a clock. Then I slightly overconfident did a bare metal install, and it ran even better.
Everything just worked for a month or so… untill I read up even more, and decided that LVM and LUKS-Encryption was a must have. Cocky, overconfident, and without any prior Linux experience I really hit a wall. Hard!
So I looked around for a slightly easier alternative. I decided against Manjaro, and looked through some more alternatives and found Antergos. Voila! “Do you want LVM” - Check. “Do you want LUKS-Encryption” - Check!
I was happy as a pup for more than a year untill the demice of Antergos was announced. Then I fiddled about a bit with some distros and installers, untill the EneavourOS was anounced.
And here we are. I have learned so much during my Antergos time, and actually even more since the Endeavour forum came about. I look forward to keep on learning from this eminent forum.
I do run an Arch installation aswell (and a Deepin install for my gf (Debian is strange 
), that has benefitted greatly from what I have picked up here.
Thank you!
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1998: SuSE 5.3
2000: Caldera 2.4
2002: Red Hat 7.3
2003: Mepis & Mandriva
2005-2017: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, & Xubuntu
2017-2019: Debian
Present: Debian & Arch
Plus hundreds of distros along the way. Those listed are just the main ones I spent most of my time using day in and day out. I dual booted until 2005 and when I switched to Ubuntu in that year, I dropped Windows completely. Family, friends, and at work I had to use Windows (and still do, as this message is sent from a Windows machine).
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Have no idea about the actual year - I tried it several times while I was using Mac. Mandrake was my first try - I didn’t like the look of it (had no idea back then what KDE even was)
When Apple decided they would go with Intel I stayed with them for a couple of Macbooks before I finally switched to Linux Mint. I think it was around 2005.
Been using it exclusively since then. I refuse to even touch windows . Mac is ok for certain things but I usually end up in a terminal there too 
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I think my first experience with Linux was back about 1998. I worked at a company that had Red Hat 4 connected to a dual-ISDN modem as a 'net gateway that required a lot of TLC. That got me curious, so I grabbed Red Hat 5 for use at home (dual-boot with W95, then W98).
Kept distro-hopping until about 2010 or so when I mostly stayed with various Debian-based distros (while occasionally dipping my toes into openSUSE, Fedora and CentOS) until I found Antergos a couple of years ago.
My servers and media box are now running Debian 10, and I’m in the process of migrating my laptop and my Antergos workstations to EOS. I still need at least one Windows box, and I’m waiting until Jan 13 to finally go from Win7 to Win10.
God, I don’t want to do that…
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I started using Linux in 2000 or so. I tried a bunch of smaller sizes distros but was unsuccessful at getting them to boot until I landed on Mandrake. I really had a soft spot in my heart for Gentoo and that evolved into a love for Sabayon. I’m currently sticking it out with EndeavourOS and don’t see myself leaving anytime soon.
Bought a new PC without an OS in 2008, an IT worker friend said he would install windows on it for me. The new PC got delivered, that friend didn’t have any time to put windows on it so I decided to try linux.
Downloaded Ubuntu 8.04, installed it and haven’t used windows anymore ever since.
Stayed with ubuntu until unity ruined it, moved to debian for a while, until they decided to remove the ia32-libs, ran manjaro after debian and nowadays I’m on an Antergos install on pure arch repos.
J.
Let’s see. Had been curious for awhile and decided to buy a documented copy of Suse 2005. (As in you pay for the 300 page printed manual and get a CD with the distro for free).
Got it off the ground w dual boot no issue, decided I hated KDE, switched to Gnome and lived happily until .rpm packages do what they do and end up in an neverending dependency loop.
Next stop Ubuntu, which was new and hot then.
Then Debian, Debian testing and then Mint, which was arriving at the time (now 2006, I believe?)
Then I got a new gaming pc and never got around to dual boot.
Fast forward to may 2018 when I had the house to myself for 10 days and felt like trying something new.
Quickly downloaded Antergos, dual boot with Windows and starting once again with kde (now Plasma).
Ended up hating it again, played around with a lot of DEs and then decided to try Arch.
Went well enough and (tho it took about 3 hours to do it).
Then got a dead HDD. This time starting over with Windows and Manjaro.
Long story short, wanted closer to Arch, so was hanging on the lock here when the first release came out…
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I have tried to remember, when I first started with Linux, but I have failed! ;-).
In 1996 or 1997 I have made my first experiments with SuSE Linux 4 or 6. But that was not successful.
In 2005 or 2006 I have started with OpenSuSE 10.3. In the end, I havr had several services, I have not been able to run with OpenSuSE. In 2008 or 2009 I switched to Ubuntu. By that time I had four PCs running with. At the beginning I updated to every new version of Ubuntu.
By 2010 or 2012 I only installed the LTS versions.
In 2018 I have had a lot of trouble when I tried to switch to 18.04 LTS. Two of my then 5 PCs were not able to update to 18.04 LTS, because some hardware did not work any more after the update. In the end I made a frist try with Antergos. My kids were all happy about the much fresher design. I then have installed Antergos on three PCs.
After the end of Antergos was announced I was very happy to see the start of EndeavourOS. By now, three PCs are successfully installed with EOS. The next three will follow in the next weeks.
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openSUSE 10.2 or .3 ran on a Pentium M Banias with mRadeon 9700 (equivalent to a Radeon 9600)…until you gave in to the pressure of the package manager (!) to install fglrx. What a garbage (incompatible to this X version). Later fglxr with Breezy it was no problem.
Btw., I also have an original box of S.u.S.E. Linux 5.3 from July 1998. 
As desktop system? God, how boring!
Long Term Sleeping distupgrades are so far apart that they very often go wrong (e.g. Trusty to Xenial - upstart to systemd, Xenial to Bionic - Unity to Gnome Shell), distupgrades in general if you have several PPAs thrown into the system.
“Small” distupgrades are far less dangerous. Even better is not to use Ubuntu but one of the flavors Xubuntu or Lubuntu (who still wants to drive Ubuntu-based). However, there has also been a break from LBionic to LCosmic (LXDE to LXQt), a clean new installation is better.
But let us forget the Ubuntu universe at this point! And Suse more than ever.
[for what is worth]
dabbled with Fortran and IBM APL in 1970
played with TI-99 4/A in '80’s
landed on Mac OS in 1984
got a free Ubuntu CD in 2000’s
started in earnest on openSUSE (maybe 2010)
distro-hopped and focused on Antergos about a year before it ended
and happily saw the discussion of a soon to be new distro on the Antergos forum, saw the name suggestions for what came to be EndeavourOS
p.s. long thought Macintosh to be superior to Windows and so fervently avoided WIN OS
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