Hi From Damascus Oregon USA
Total noob to Linux.
Finally positioned (retired) to try to learn of it.
It seems as the mind block is the alternate language and definitions to internalize.
Glad this site is available.
Regards
Rick Benjamin
USA Oregon Damascus

well the first thing is install it

try a few , only you can decide it it is right for YOUR needs and likes

a lot of people like Linux Mint 14 for " new to linux" users
-- they do do a good job of making things a bit easier

or "Fuduntu"
http://www.fuduntu.org/

--- disclaimer ---
i have NOT used this so....

but it has some very good reviews
http://www.linuxadvocates.com/2013/0...s-gets-it.html

different distros are targeted at different user market

like
RHEL( not free ) or CentOS ( a free rebuild of RHEL )
is targeted at the server room and the office ( NOT home use )

SUSE enterprise Linux ( not free )
the server and the office

OpenSUSE 12.2 or 12.3
a bit bloated and NEEDS a computer with a LOT of " horse power "
4 to 8 gig ram and a i5 or i7 CPU
But good for home use -- and the new user that REALLY wants to learn something new .


Fedora 18 ( soon to be 19 )

not so good for the "New user" unless they really LIKE to tinker and fix things
PS. it is a "research and development " distro .


try a few
try a few different "Desktop Environments "
KDE4 , Gnome 3, or gnome 2 if using fuduntu or CentOS , xfce,...

find out what you like

have a look at " Distrowatch"
http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major
( warning "Arch Linux" is NOT new user friendly )

Welcome, welcome!!

May I cordially suggest that you buy a copy of VMWare (the commercial product) and use it to run Linux on a virtual machine in whatever system you now have. Don't futz-around with "dual booting" or anything like that.

Also: be prepared for what's sometimes referred to as "a sip from the firehose." No, I mean that. From time to time, and especially at first, you will absolutely feel like Linux is conspiring to make an absolute idiot out of you. Expect that. (I've been doing computer software and operating systems for thirty years, and it still made me and every now and then it still does.) Make heavy use of this website; it's the best resource you're likely to find anywhere.

John & Sun
Thanks for your encourigements!
The conspiracy already succeeded!
After 39 years at AT&T, where I worked on the 1A Processor changing out iron core memory modules,
using UNIX to get diagnostics of the failed area, I expected a seamless transition.
Repair a motherboard? I can do it.
DISTRO! KERNEL! Finally figured out those two words, and there's much more I'm missing.
I think the word meanings are tripping me up.
And the command strings are nothing like UNIX 5.0

It's as mind twisting as learning to manipulate CAD.
Vector vs Raster, embed, lock.

Retired now, only have a honey-do list and the grandson to keep me hoppin.
Thanks again!
Rick

well with a unix background , then the terminal is a "no-brainer" ,and not a stumbling block .

the basics are mostly the same
have a look at some document sites
--- this is OLD , but it still applies---
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/
http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-G...tml/index.html

a good online book
http://rute.2038bug.com/rute.html.gz

i have found that the Arch Linux documentation can be applied to other distros ( mostly )
and is a good source for reference ( though installing and configuring Arch can be a bit difficult )
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Main_Page

Hi
Me too. It's hard to figure out even what questions to ask. Still....we've got the rest of our lives.