#Linux
because I like to hear this kind of thing from others, and since it has sort-of
gotten to "be a thing" Linux people do...
the following is the tale of my journey to using Linux...

I finished University before the dawn of the current millenium.
I saw fewer than a half-dozen laptops on-campus ever in that 4 years,
some classes required hand-written work, even having access to a computer required
a scheduled appointment at the schools computer-lab for many students of that day.
I wanted to learn, but the only classes beyond keyboarding were computer science
classes which required more extensive math than I am capable of.

for the next few years, computer labs and the machines of acquaintances were my
only exposure... I was unaware of bbc boards and have always found the chat format
to be an unacceptably infuriating mockery of useful communication...
so I missed much of the early internet's major networking and information sharing channels. 

since I knew no one else with the same type of interests in this as me, 
the one accessible option visable to me at the time, -just to be exposed to this stuff,
was in spending time just window shopping the newly appearing home-computer-tech
related aisles at big-box electronics stores and reading packaging and later
searching for terms, products or subjects back at the apt. 
One of the things which caught my eye had been Linux CD installation sets...
both Redhat and Mandrake software boxes I had read, then researched and I was amazed
and excited to hear what Linux was,  and I wanted a piece of it.

I would eventually take out a loan for $1500 and buy a new Compaq laptop running Windows ME.
it sucked... but it was my first computer.
I decided to buy the Mandrake Linux 8.0 5CD/Book box set (on sale for $80)  mostly for...

1- the monetary support to the developers
2- the telephone support advertized on the packaging since I was a noob
3- the reference book that came with the installation discs
4- manufactured CDs since consumer CD burners were just getting to be a thing.

my first installation attempts got me as far as clicking "Install" and then
the screen would hang at blinking cursor on black with no change or response in 24hrs.

I tried it a handful of times with the same result and so I set out to call on the telephone 
support, and caught some unsuspecting developer totally off gurd, likely
at some bizarre hour, and his first question was "How did you get this number!?"
He had obiously not gotten that memo.
after realizing I had bought 8.0 after 8.1 was coming out (and 8.0 was no longer supported)
I mentioned my interest in a dual-boot setup... and with that all hint of a customer
service tone was gone from his voice and it was obvious our conversation was over.

without any leads, input or assistance and without a speck of info to be found about this online
my ONLY option... despite its seeming futility and insanity, was to continue to try the install.
I spent the next 2 days repeatedly re-attempting to install with the same hang as a result, 
again and again and over and over.

for reasons that exceed reason... after 2 days of this, it finally ticked-past the 
point in the install where it had hung, and proceeded to install flawlessly over the
course of the next hour with numerous and repeated swap-outs of the installation CDs.
even the hardware suppport was great for such early days, and lousy hardware on my end.

I have used Linux as my primary desktop OS ever since.

internet, office, photo/graphics, music player, printing, cd and dvd burning/ripping... 
Ive done all of these things in Linux from the beginning. one place however, where it was
somewhat more lagging behind other OSs of that time was in the audio/music production department.

I kept a keen eye on this over time, as this was one of my larger interests regarding technology
in general, so by 2004 I had devised a way to use Hydrogen Drum Machine more like a sample/loop-based DAW.
I made a couple dozen tracks between 2004 and 2010 using this method entirely.
I've always used Audacity, as it has been a strong contender for a long time.
Now, having learned to use Pure Data to my satisfaction, this will be where all my sound
production effors will stay for some time.

It took me until joining SDF to really have MADE myself need to use the command line, so I was
real slow on the uptake with that for many years, something Ive since corrected.
I currently run Kali, Mint and Lubuntu and Im running a Zoneminder/LAMP server for surveilance cameras.
never going back!