My way into Linux was similar to yours. I got a Raspberry Pi for Christmas and used Raspbian (Debian) on it, to host local servers just for fun.
The structure of Linux made so much more sense to me. (e.g. Filessystem structure. Why are systemfiles in "system32" it's a 64-bit OS. Why is the Userdirectory in the Windows Directory)
It was just a breeze to use it. Everything was so easy to install and setup.
I started to watch Linux Videos on Youtube. One Youtuber showed how to install Linux Mint. I thought it looks so much better than Windows 7 at the time, so I installed it.
I started to use it, and now I use it as my main OS, since over one year. I'm just really happy.
Some YouTubers I can recommend are "The Linux Experiment" and "Gardiner Bryant".
And also, thanks for this article. ;)