I had become aware of the existence of Linux in the early 2000s (my sports car-obsessed instructor had mentioned it).

For years, I had been using Windows Millennium Edition, XP, and Vista, with heavily-modified configurations (supposedly-critical services were forcibly-disabled through regedit, as services.msc had grayed out certain options, with a small subset of system programs running upon log-in). It was not until 2012 that I had finally installed a Linux distribution (Ubuntu-based Bodhi Linux), which I had used on occasion. During the mid-portion of 2016, I had finally decided to completely abandon Windows in favor of the aforementioned distribution.

By the latter portion of 2016, I had yearned for something that catered to my minimalistic nature; luckily, after testing Gentoo (I was not fond of waiting for the compilation of Firefox and other large programs), I had found Arch Linux to meet my requirements (with which I had begun using JWM, rather than a full desktop environment). However, I did not stay long, as I had felt that its default init system (systemd) was a bit too over-engineered for my tastes.

Late-2016, after encountering a web site dedicated to promoting systemd-free Linux distributions, I had begun using Arch-OpenRC (as the name suggests, it was simply Arch Linux, with systemd replaced with OpenRC). In September of 2017, I had learned that Arch-OpenRC was being discontinued by its creators, in favor of Artix Linux. It was still Arch Linux-based, but, over a period of time, its packages (including the Linux kernel itself) had begun to be compiled by Artix maintainers with certain options disabled, rather than being directly-sourced from Arch. After a brief period of transition (and, after replacing JWM with the combination of dwm and dmenu), I had fully-migrated all of my desktop systems to Artix Linux.

In late-2018, after using Artix Linux for almost a year, I had gradually begun to replace OpenRC with sinit. This had involved adapting (and properly-ordering) the contents of all vital OpenRC initialization-related scripts, so that each command would be run within a single script. Afterwards, in my perpetual quest to reduce complexity (and acquire additional practical knowledge), I had begun replacing core programs with stripped-down alternatives. I had replaced bash with mksh; then, mksh with dash (compiled with --with-libedit configuration flag for arrow key history).

My single-board computers use the musl C library-based Alpine Linux. For years, on some of my older machines, from time to time, I have enjoyed experimenting with OpenBSD. However, my x86_64 systems will be running Artix Linux for the foreseeable future.

A number of years ago (while comparing shells), I had read about ksh. Mostly, this was out of eagerness to understand how mksh ultimately sprang from it, as, at the time, I had been considering the replacement of bash with mksh (which itself is derived from pdksh of OpenBSD).

Until just now (after learning a little about it), I had been completely unfamiliar with Motif. I suppose that I simply have not had much interest in graphical user interfaces ('legacy', or otherwise). Most of my computer work involves the usage of terminal emulators, framebuffer virtual terminals, and serial communication interfaces. With slmenu (inspired by dmenu), mc (Midnight Commander file manager), and dvtm (a virtual terminal window manager), it is quite comfortable, whether administrating a remote server (or single-user computer), or performing routine local maintenance.

Regardless of the age of a given project, I am always receptive to any useful software in which I deem suitable for my needs, as long as it is simple (and sane), and preferably, with cleanly-written C language source files.

Is there a specific area (or component) of Linux in which you are personally drawn towards? In addition, for you, personally, has the utilization of Unix-like operating systems (or individual programs) fostered a deeper appreciation for the near-limitless freedom in which they are often perceived as encouraging?

My first real contact with Linux was when my recently bought Android phone at the time had bizarre battery issues. Instead of replacing it, I decided to learn how the system worked and why it was draining so much battery.

Factory Google applications that couldn't be disabled or uninstalled were the culprit in this case.
I researched on how to 'hack' the phone or disable them forcibly.

That's how I learned about Android Device Bridge (ADB) and Termux.

The result is that I enjoyed Termux and ADB so much after removing all Google applications and installing custom applications using F-Droid that I decided to try Linux and learn even more.

"Linux main" for around *3 years* now thanks to this.
Yeah... Thanks Google! :P

Edit:
Not 4 years, actually around 3 years.

Found my initial questions before switching as I asked about it back then in this forum:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/windows_users_learning_linux/page1

Yes, and this is also why I don't jive with some distros.
A) The freedom. I can remove the bootloader (A crazy idea that might just work.)

B) The ability to shut up exact things, services, and messages. Don't want the Nvidia provided suspend service because it freaks out on restore? Kick it out and put the old suspend service back in.

C) The proliferation of free software, instead of SAAS or paid software.

D) Things like TWM which allow you to really understand and appreciate how nice it is to have things like menu generators and other automations.

I'd love to go this deep, but it's a bit of a roulette with how open a phone is going to let it's user be. If I'm buying a phone in the near future and it has Android 14, I'm definitely going to see if I can shoot the service that provides most of the "AI" hogwash.

When did I hear about Linux for the first time? Well - For those "in the know" I only have to mention a certain Linux "distro" that I had to download using a telephone connection with 2400 Baud downstream. It took me several day's, because I only could use that line a few hours a day. Yep - I am talking about Slackware that needed a LOT of floppy's. Sure - I did run some even older "prototype" Linux, but that was mostly a pure kernel with UNIX-like commands, and no graphical interface (and BSD of course).

I dabbled a bit with Debian, but finally bought a box with S.U.S.E. Linux to dive deeper into a more complete distro (It came with a thick book that was a great guide). At the end Mandrake was my most used distro.

Fast forward now. I have experimented enough, so I went for Linux Mint Cinnamon. As a user of NVIDIA graphic cards the driver installation could not be more easy. Just open the drivers application and click install - done.

I can run the majority of programs I need. For music creation and production I use Bitwig Studio, that runs natively on Linux. For CAD design I use FreeCAD, and I use the Prusa Slicer to use my 3D printer. For 3D graphic design I use Blender, and for vector graphics I use Inkscape and Krita. For that little bit of video editing I do OpenShot, DaVinci Resolve or Kdenlive.
For PCB design and emulation I use KiCAD. I also dabble around a bit with GIMP and think it's a useful program. All those programs run, of course, natively on Linux. There are a few VST's that I use that are Windows only, but there are good work-around solutions for that.

Most games are perfectly playable on LInux using the Steam installer, and the games I have on GOG also run well using the wine variants and available installers.

I still dual boot with Windows for those few games and applications that not (yet) run perfect on Linux, but I think that's only a matter of time.

So - There you have it. From the very first humble a crude pile of floppy's, to the very slack and refined Linux Mint Cinnamon now. Linux sure has come a long way.

I don't think this is that deep though, really.

You guys that used Linux for years could do it really easily.
ADB is easy enough to understand as it is just like a simple Linux program through CLI which has its own shell to access your phone files through any terminal and force uninstall or disable (if phone is not rooted) annoying factory apps or do anything else that Google lets you through "official means".

Termux, though, is literally a glorified terminal emulator with its custom package manager (which is 'pkg', but you can use 'apt' too, for example if you're a Debian/Ubuntu/Mint user).
The amount of things you can do with your phone using Termux is absurd because you can use Android's Linux "distro" to do what Linux can do. Even install PC Linux distros on Android. (Yes.)
In my opinion all Android users should learn how to use Termux to personalize their phones.

If you are a long time Linux user, Android/ADB/Termux will be easy to understand.
Because I was not, it took me a while to discover things, which is why I ended up switching from Windows to Linux in the end as a main system.