I am interested in learning how to use Linux. Where should I start and with what type (red hat, SuSE, debian, etc...)? I am currently reading numerous books on the subject however its hard to understand without the hands on approach. I have an intel 266 celeron, 3GB hard drive, 32 mb ram, cdrom, and a winmodem (Is it true linux has problems with winmodems?). I only wish to use Linux on this pc-no MS windows. Thanks in advance.

If you never dealt with Linux or Unix in any way, best one for you to probably try out first is Mandrake, and or Redhat in my opinion. Probably won't get your winmodem to work, try going to http://www.linuxdoc.org and read the winmodem or modem howto's. But you have a machine that will most likely accept any distro, try a few different distro's, see which one you end up liking.