I got to know about Linux quite early in 1996 during my first year in the university. It was due to a free CD set one of my classmates obtained. I can still remember there were 6 CDs containing a full distribution of Slackware Linux (but I've forgotten its version) together with thousands of open source applications. I did a bit envy that guy because I had never seen such free distribution of CDs before.
Luckily I borrowed the CD set and installed my built up my first Linux box on my newly bought Pentium PC. It was astonishing that I didn't found many difficulties in the installation as complaint in so many articles and discussions later on to even now. (It's possibly because of the components I had were all usual ones.)
It was from that time I started to learn basic concepts of Unix, some shell commands and got to know a GUI other than M$ Windows. What was most impressing was that Slackware even had a graphical display configuration program that allowed me to subtlely adjust the refresh rate of my monitor. I know for sure there must be similar (or, even, same) applications available in other distros, but I've never found one later.
