what version/type of linux should i use - I'm totally new and green

I'd go with Fedora (probably with KDE or Cinnamon spin - not a fan of Gnome). It's easy, pleasant looking, has a huge software repository, and isn't *buntu (personal bias against Ubuntu).

I'd suggest you take a look at the site below, on the lower right the Page Hit Ranking has a list with links to all the major Linux distributions so you can get detailed info on them.

http://distrowatch.com/

If you have the latest hardware, Fedora might be good but if you are new to Linux, not so much as it is basically a test bed for Red Hat and by design not stable. On the other hand, Fedora is and has been one of the most popular distributions of Linux for years.

How old is this laptop? What hardware specs? Knowing this will help folks make decent recommendations. Without knowing this info, I'd recommend MX-14 as it runs on most anything and has a great support community - which will be important to you as you're new to Linux.

http://www.mepiscommunity.org/mx

MX-15 Beta is out but you can still get MX-14 on that page...

I dual boot a Toshiba Satellite laptop with Windows & Fedora 22

Since your new to Linux I recommend giving Linux Mint or Fedora a try.

Mint is very easy to run.-
It's supported until April of 2019.

http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/20

Fedora on the other hand has a life cycle of about 13 months until the Fedora Team release the next version of Fedora. At that point you would have to perform a fresh installation of Fedora. <OR> Upgrade:-

Another thing to keep in mind about Fedora is that it is the test bed for Red Hat.-
https://fedoramagazine.org/upgrading...-to-fedora-23/
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedor...ase_Life_Cycle

Fedora
https://spins.fedoraproject.org/
https://torrents.fedoraproject.org/

-::-Anyway whichever distribution that you decide to install on your pc I strongly suggest that you read the documentation about it.-::-

-::- Before you install any distro you could try it first in Virtual Box to see if you like it-:-
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

Good Luck to you BEAUGIE and Welcome to Linux.

I recommend LiveCDs until you find something that you like, or appeals to you.

Linux has lots of choices, unlike that other OS.

Linux Mint and Zorin are popular choices for beginners.
For a beginner, try Korora (based on Fedora). It is a bit more beginner-friendly than straight Fedora.
I tried Korora with the Cinnamon Desktop and it is very nice.

I'd second the warning about Fedora. It's very fast-changing, often ships things that are not entirely ready, and the versions are not supported for long. I used it from versions 1 to 14, but eventually felt too much like a rat in a maze!

Have a look at the live disks (or usb sticks) for Mint (Mate's plainer, Cinnamon's fancier) and PCLinuxOS. They have very different styles but are both reliable and beginner-friendly. Try the live versions for a few weeks: look at the software, check that all your peripherals work properly, and generally experiment.
http://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php
http://www.pclinuxos.com/about/

Incidentally, as a guide to just how much software exists for Linux, see this
http://linuxappfinder.com

I would suggest trying at least Fedora and Mint and paying a lot of attention during install, making notes if that's how you learn, and expect to install at least three or four times before having things set up as you like. My experience of Fedora is that it can be a little problematic due to being cutting edge but that also goes in its favour. With Mint if it works it's great and there are virtually no issues but if there's a compatibility problem with hardware of similar it may get more complicated.
The above is deliberately highlighting some issues -- once you've used Linux a while and realised the frustrations are only fleeting the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Seeing that your OS icon indicates that you are running Windows XP I think it is reasonable to assume that you are asking for a distribution for an older machine. In that case it really would help to know the specs of that machine (CPU and amount of RAM would be very helpful).