I used it in a university course in '95, not sure what distro, but customising your shell prompt, and setting automatic timed updates for the wallpaper in tvwm certainly felt like the future. Different and electric.
We would play the linux shareware first release of quake in 12-16 player. Hiding the executable by renaming it ekauq… didn’t work, still got removed from our directories.
There were installfests at the local LUG, which were a fun way to share tips and help others.
One Linux support business existed in our town in the 90s, installing and fixing Linux boxen for businesses. Mostly home/hobby use though.
Slashdot.org was covering the majority of Linux news. Either MS FUD or the nonsense SCO lawsuit, amongst all the positive advances.
Linux conferences were a fun way to make it more real and see many of the big names behind the movement and technologies.
Installed RedHat 4 or 5.1 around 98 and then found the power of Debian. Currently running Trisquel GNU/Linux because it is a fully libre distro with no proprietary blobs or other obfuscated parts.
Many thanks to RMS and all FLOSS contributors, there is such an incredible spectrum of tools available for free use. It has been great to see the progression and expansion over the decades.
Trisquel is a fully ‘Free as in freedom’ distro.
Zero telemetry now or in the future.
Ubuntu based, so large FLOSS package repository.
Mate UI, simple user friendly layout.
* You will need hardware that works with fully free hardware drivers (for printer, WiFi, GPU etc). Drivers with binary-blobs are not included, due to potential security risks or spyware.
Test your hardware with a bootable USB.