I started following and using linux when linux Mint 13 came out My first linux installs were on a '98 Compaq presario 5280. I used Puppy linux & Peppermint One, they brought life back to the before seen Windows 98 machine. Getting used to how things worked I then installed Mint 13 on my '03 Compaq Presario and fell in love with it. Since then I have been using Mint and Ubuntu on my machines dual booted with Windows 7 or XP. I have had to learn how to force install things on windows that weren't meant to go together. Ie: an XP graphics card on ME and an XP graphics card on 7. I am currently anticipating the release of Valve's Steam OS and hope that we can get away from Microsoft and Mac for the most part or all together. I'm currently using Ubuntu 12.04 (precise) 64 bit LTE, Linux Mint 16 32 bit, Peppermint One, and Windows 7 OSes. My current Rig specs: AMD Phenom X4 965 3.4, Radeon HD 7750, MSI 970A-G43 Mainboard, 8GB DDR3 Gskill Ripjaws (for Ubuntu my graphics card uses current beta driver and dual monitors work)