Well, I finallly had it with microsoft, and I had heard so much good stuff about Linux that I decided to give it a try. I guess my first question would be how to install programs on this thing. I'm running Fedora Core 1 (is it different for different distributions?) and I can't really figure that part out. I have heard there is a "syntax" for something called "Terminal," which is supposed to be like the command prompt for windows. If so, were can I find this "Terminal?"

you can access the terminal by right clicking your desktop and selecting the "open new terminal" option, or something similarly named. it can also be accessed from the fedora menu (the little red hat). i encourage you to play around in that menu (not as root, of course), and see everything it has to offer, you'll be impressed. and as far as installing programs, the best way to do it from fedora is to use rpms go to rpmfind.com (or rpmfinder or something similar, not a red hat man, myself :P ) and check out freshmeat.org as well. Welcome to the linux world.

hi turtle_lover,

i'll second czarherr and say welcome to linux - it *rocks*!

with regard to installing programs, if you've got your fedora cd's, you should find loads of stuff already there. i'm not familiar with fedora, but i use suse, which is also an rpm (red hat package manager) based distribution, and you should find that fedora has a nice software installation utility built in.

the alternative to installing rpm packages is to compile software from source code, which is nowhere near as difficult as it sounds, and gives you extra choice - and remember, there's a huge linux community out here, so if you run into trouble, help is just a few mouse clicks away.... i ditched microsoft just over a year ago - haven't looked back..!

have fun and enjoy.

the best thing you can do is go to www.tldp.org
(the linux documentation project).it is packed
with guides, howtos, and other helpful documents.
try the linux getting started guide, and maybe the
RPM HOWTO. if you like learning like I do, you
will spend countless hours downloading, printing,
and reading that stuff.