I remember this era. It was Slackware, Caldera, TurboLinux, Mandrake and lots of hours with `./configure; make && make install` executions, reading Linux magazines and big fat books on getting it up and running (losing "precious" data in the process as well). Seeing scary fsck messages when booting up a PC that wasn't properly shutdown. I also remember that there was WinLinux 2000 for those who where scared having a real linux installed. I can't recall the real reason nor how I heard about Linux at the time, but I'm immensely grateful that I did and with time switched permanently to the open source side.
> if I'm going to have to compile some things why not all the things?
Time? Compiling the kernel took 10m on a reasonable fast workstation-like PC. It could easily take three times as long on a more budget-friendly PC. And the kernel wasn't the largest package by any means. gcc (wants to be compiled three times) or, shudder, TeX? Very little benefit of compiling that oneself over and over again while a quite substantial cost.
