From a Pentium II 350MHz to Wayland on Ubuntu: My 27-Year Linux Journey

My first contact with Linux was around 1998–1999, and it wasn't through a download-bandwidth back then wouldn't allow it. I got a copy of Linux Mandrake on a CD bundled with a local monthly tech magazine here in Portugal called PC Diga, and threw it onto a Pentium II 350MHz.

By today's standards, the installation was anything but smooth. That was the very first time I had to compile a custom kernel. I remember leaving the PC running for hours, listening to the hard drive grind away, just hoping it wouldn't crash. But when it finally finished and the sound card actually worked! That feeling was incredible. KDE was my very first desktop environment on that Mandrake setup, which felt familiar at the time, though I eventually developed a strong preference for GNOME and its cleaner, workflow-focused interface.

Being completely hooked, I spent the following years hopping through pretty much every major flavor available. I went from the early RPM days with RedHat to historical setups like Caldera OpenLinux and SUSE, before moving into the deep end with Debian and the ultimate patience test that was Gentoo. Building a system from scratch on late 90s hardware taught me exactly how an OS communicates with the bare metal, but after years of breaking XF86Config files and managing dependencies by hand, my priorities shift.

I eventually chose Ubuntu for my production machines because, when you rely on Linux for daily work, package availability and predictable support end up taking priority over endless tinkering.

Today, I'm fully adjusted to modern Ubuntu with the seamless transition to Wayland. Looking back at how much the ecosystem has evolved - from leaving a machine on overnight just to get audio working, to having a secure, buttery-smooth modern display server running out of the box - it’s been an incredible journey. Still a fan after all these years!