I think it was RedHat.

I had tried Debian first but switched to RedHat pretty quickly afterwards.

(Back then, RedHat had nothing to do with "enterprise", it was just the most polished Linux distro around. Ubuntu didn't exist yet.)

(These days FWIW I use boring old Debian, and I'm not a zealot about it. It works for me. Use what works for you, I don't care. I have a separate machine for gaming and it runs Windows. I know Steam works pretty well on Linux these days but Windows is still less hassle for games.)

Back when Redhat was the name of the enterprise releases and the open source releases.

I think there was no separate enterprise release at the time. But could be misremembering.

Red Hat Linux 6.2E was the first "enterprise" release they made. Basically just standard RHL 6.2 but with long-term support. This release can be retroactively thought of as "RHEL 1"; The proper distribution that debuted as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2 was based on Red Hat Linux 9, with the similar promise of long-term support. Future RHEL releases are carved out of Fedora releases, the spiritual successor to RHL.

No you’re right. If memory serves me well, I used to switch between Slackware 3, redhat 2 and Debian 1.2(?) at about that time. I never liked redhat, enjoyed Slackware but ended up not enjoying the lack of a package manager, so Debian did the trick a few years later. There was a single redhat release. These days, just like you, I use Debian.

I ran Mandrake back then but also toyed with RH and Slackware. Back when all the leets ran enlightenment or fluxbox!

I’d bet RedHat 5.2.

That was my first. Then Slackware 3.6. Both as cover CD:s of computer magazines because that download was too much to handle on 56k.

I used to love slackware, by far the best linux experience. It just worked well.

Probably. I just remember installing from a dozen+ 3.5" floppies onto my pizzabox '386 and breathing a sigh of relief when it booted.

I think I needed 17 floppies ... and I could only scrounge up about 8, so I assumed it wouldn't need the earlier ones again and reused them for later parts. It worked! I didn't use Slackware much though, as I had no way to connect that machine to the internet, so it was really hard to learn how to do stuff.

I think I actually still have an "Introduction to Slackware Linux" book.

I started with Slackware and was happy with it, but must admit that is entirely because my Linux book from B&N came with Slackware on a CD.

I still do. It still does...

I admit, I stopped using linux on desktop approx 2007. Since then, its just been macos and servers.

I've been considering going back to it though, but I know that I need to do it in measured steps.

Care to share any more about your slackware experience?

Ooooh that brought me memories. At the time testing (around '98) all the nerdy rage was on testing the different distros such as Caldera, Debian, Corel, Mandrake. I remember at the same time compiling my first kernel in FreeBSD (ordered the CDs from WalnutCreek website! what a time). My parents where not amused that I broke the home PC several times installing this thing over Windows