I was only six at the time, so I don't have first hand knowledge, but from what I gather there was no really free kernel/operating system at that time. Minix was under license restrictions, the BSDs was tied up in legal battles, and GNU was still on it's endless search for the perfect kernel.
The other thing to remember was Windows was still 16 bit at the time. Linux started off as 32bit. Being free was great, but I would have also (and did) payed for a 32 bit operating system at the time. I actually used OS/2 in the mid-90s before moving to Linux.
I can't stress enough how basic it was. Getting the kernel up and running was only 1/2 the battle. Getting X to run was a significant undertaking, and probably more difficult.
Linux was sorely needed at the time!