My first computer experience was on the family's TRS-80 Color Computer model 1. My mom bought it at the local weekend outdoor flea market on North Federal north of Denver. (The flea market is long gone and now I-76 runs through the property.) I remember writing some of the programs from the "Learning Color Basic" book that came with the computer but I just could not seem to find a use for any of it. If only I had heard about ham radio back then. It would have provided many problems that I could have solved with that computer but instead of computers and radios I focused on what was around. Cars. I loved working on them and I was good enough at it that my repairs usually worked the first time around.
15 years or so later, I realized how cool computers could be. I had a roommate, Dan, who showed me the World Wide Web and all of the information that could be found on it. It was around 1997 and his guidance led me to buy a used Pentium 133 with a 28.8k modem. Dan also showed me how these machines could be upgraded, motherboards swapped out, RAM upgraded, and fast 33.6k modems installed and configured. It was just like working on cars except computers were smaller and less dirty! It was an easy transition for me to make and I found that the software side of computers could be as fun as the hardware. In those days it was Windows 98 and later XP and I remember having to reinstall both about every year or so to keep them going.
I had a brother-in-law, Kirk, that was a computer guy and he introduced me to Linux. At some point I acquired a Red Hat 5.0 CD and tried to install it using some directions he had given me. For whatever reason (hardware perhaps), I could not get it going. A few years later in 2006, while running up to Casper, WY as a UPS tractor trailer driver, I ran into a guy on the CB and we somehow got onto the topic of computers. Chili Bill the Bread Boy was my name for Bill who drove the Rainbo bread truck from Denver to Casper during those years. Almost everyone who runs up that way at night stops at the Wheatland Travel Plaza because no matter what time it is they have something hot to eat. Bill would stand back by the chili pot and fill up a cup, eat his chili while talking to the other drivers, and fill it up again before going to the checkout to pay for his 'one' cup of chili. He is quite a character and he re-introduced me to Linux. Bill had a fast internet connection and burned me a copy of Ubuntu and a hacked version of Windows called Windows XP Lite. At some point, I was only using the Windows for tax preparation software and once that went online I ditched Windows for good.
I currently (March 2020) run Debian on a Dell Latitude D630 laptop that were originally released in 2007. I love the keyboard and paid $35 for the computer and around $20 for a solid-state 120GB hard-drive from Micro Center. The machine works great for my ham radio projects and is all I currently need. Linux also does everything I need it to and in fact is used on every machine in the house. My 5 kids and wife all use Linux everyday and not just for web and email. I used Linux to draw up my plans for my basement finish project using open-source software called LibreCAD. KiCAD is great for designing schematics and pcbs. My kids use LightWorks for making home movies and Cura for 3d-printing. All of us use Audacity for audio editing. The list goes on.....
On the ham radio side of things, Linux is great. FLDigi for the HF digital modes, Chirp for radio programming, GPredict for satellites, QTel for Echolink, CQRLog for logging, and Xastir for APRS. It also has all of the tools I need to manage my local club's website. I use Bluefish to edit code and gFTP to upload files to the server. fotoxx and GIMP are my goto apps for getting photos ready for the web (cropping, resizing, etc.). I use Scribus to create the club's monthly newsletter. Dia is an app that will create nice diagrams for articles. I have even converted a font into a slashed-zero font with FontForge. gscan2pdf will convert printed manuals into pdfs quickly (it will also do OCR). You get the point.
And just to clarify, I am not trying to convert anyone. There is a learning curve and I realize that Linux is not for everyone. If you are comfortable with what you are using and it does not cause you too many headaches than why change?
One last anecdote.... My mother-in-law was a long-time Windows user and eventually got extremely frustrated with her computer being slow or down due to upgrade troubles, viruses, etc. She uses the computer for mainly web and email. My son suggested she try Linux and she agreed. She could not be happier with the decision and her laptop no longer has the problems it used to.
73, Rich k0eb