Too long ago to remember exactly when, but I remember having to setup modelines in order to get X Windows working with my monitor.

Checking my bookshelves, I see that I have the 4th edition (1996)of Yggdrasil's Linux Bible, which is a massive hardcopy of the HOWTO's. It might have been a year or two old when I bought it, when I was first giving Linux a try, and late 90's sounds about right*.

Again, I don't remember exactly, but I think the first distro I tried was Slackware. SUSE was also an early favorite.

But as I mentioned in my intro here, it wasn't the first Unix-like system on my home desktop. That would be Interactive 386/ix (ca. 1985). I miss those days, using a dialup modem in the middle of the night to fetch software via uucp! The C Users Journal had a regular column back then, reviewing the cool free stuff that was available...

* 386/ix came on a bunch of 5.25-inch floppies, but I don't think I ever installed a Linux that didn't come on a CD. The first CD edition of Slackware was released in 1995, so that's the earliest possible date for me.