getting and learning RH
 

I'M a little confused. I would like to learn RH so I'd like to download a copy(CLI only) for learning purposes. But as I understand it RH has a price and a license. Is there now way to get RH for an individuals learning needs with all that. Also, how is this possible, I thought Linux was under GPL?

Well, as far as I'm aware, CentOS is designed to be a free version of RH, so this would be a good choice for your purposes.

I'm not sure of the licensing, but this thread mentions it, and I'm sure there are more threads/pages you can find which talk about it.

Use CentOS. See the link below for information on it. Just google "download CentOS" to get a download site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CentOS

You can also buy a one year subscription of RHEL without support for 49$. If you don't want to spend money then go for CentOS.

Regarding GPL, there is nothing in the GPL that forces you to give away software for free, just because it is open source, you are allowed to charge money for it. But in reality RH is not charging for the software, they are charging the money for support and letting you access their repositories.
Actually, just because Linux is open source (and Red Hat publishes their software as open source) it is possible to have a RHEL clone like CentOS, which is RHEL with RH's branding stripped out.

one year subscription
 

When you say one year subscription does that mean one year of support & access to updated and upgrades or that after one year the OS will stop working without continueing the subscription?

If you get the subscription for 49$ you will get one year updates and access to the software repositories. If you don't renew that subscription your system will work further, but with no access to the repositories.
Subscriptions with support are more expensive, just check the Red Hat website for more info.

CentOS 6
 

I bought the 49$ and to be honest i stopped using it first of all its a desktop edition. i went and downloaded the CentOS 6 release and compared to the RHEL 5 that i have at work its identical so your better off with a CentOS 6 copy for free.

meh, for learning purposes i would go with centos, though to all intents and purposes the 'desktop edition' vs 'cli only' edition is largely irrelevant as the desktop CAN be disabled, or completely removed leaving a CLI only environment,

the only difference between 'server editions' and 'desktop editions' is what is included by default on the install media (or more precisely, what is installed by default)

functionally, however once the distribution is installed, both 'editions' have access to the same repositories and once installed, the system can be configured to whatever end necessary

for instance

if you start with a (CLI)server disk and want a desktop, the desktop can be manually installed and any server software(daemons) can be removed

conversely

if you start with a desktop and want a server(CLI), the desktop can to be removed and any server software(daemons) can be installed manually from the repositories

or even yet you can have a desktop install with server software

that is the beauty of the Linux distribution, mix-and-match freedom to tailor systems to whatever specs are required for the job.

as for redhat vs centos, I would go with centos as it's free, and don't fret whether you end up with a 'desktop' disk or a 'server' disk, the install media is just a starting point from which you can do almost anything.

the only time the difference means anything is if the system in question doesn't have access to the Internet, even then, you can burn the necessary packages to an optical disk or use some other form of removable media to transfer said packages onto the machine.

Actually, Centos5 = RHEL5, Centos6 = RHEL6, just in case anyone wondered.
Centos6 != RHEL5 :)

RHEL = Centos
 

I would use Centos 6, it is free, very stable and the codebase is identical to RHEL. You can install it quickly using a netinstall image with or without a desktop environment.

A quick tutorial on it can be found at http://minimallinux.blogspot.co.uk/2...l-install.html