I started in 1998 with SUSE Linux, I tried Redhat. When SUSE was bought by Novell in 2004,I switched to Gentoo Linux. With Gentoo I became hardcore on Linux. My best experience ever. Steep learning curve, a rocky road. I meher regretted it. If I had not had a growing family at that time, I would have stayed on Gentoo. I love that concept. I never had a leaner Linux installation, everything compiled fitting my notebooks hardware. No extra stuff.

In 2009 I tried Ubuntu. We needed Computers for the kids abd I did not want to admin several Gentoo installations (I had already two of them) felt beamed back in a Windows running under Linux. It felt like loosing my freedom and I hated the advertising.

I found Linux Mint (Ubuntu-based). Here we go. It fitted our needs. With the upcoming of Linux Mint Debian 2 in 2015 I switched again, getting closer to Debian. (debian-arm was already running on our QNAP NAS since 2010.)
In 2022 we moved all our hardware to Linux Debian.
Our children have never seen a Windows PC in our home. It is with some regret that the oldest two now bought themselves Macbooks.
The other four still only use Linux Debian. (They have no choice :-) )

While keeping the family on Debian, my next Linux will be Qubes.

I can’t believe it is already 28 years that I run Linux. My only regret is not having been as early with bitcoin-adaption as I was with Linux.

I am still not a developer. I vibe-code if I need something. I tested and fed back in the past. I help interested people getting on Linux. Before all I enjoy running Linux as a free user not as a slave to a company.