There's a great article for those who want to take a look at how Linux and distributions started over at DistroWatch Weekly Newsletter. It gives a great snapshot of major milestones and a bit of history of the main 4 distributions.
It takes a look at how the kernel evolved and started supporting X Windows System as well as the first release of both Kool Desktop Environment (KDE) and GNOME.More Infromation
Read: Distrowatch Weekly
Discuss: Your first Linux Distro used
