A Complete Beginner! Need some help

I used the Ubuntu live CD, and it slowed my already not-exactly-speedy celeron laptop down to a sluggish crawl. Slower, actually. I couldn't do anything.

However, what distro you use depends on what you want to do. Right now there are several free distros for desktop users, Fedora Core, SuSE, Ubuntu-

some swear by one, some by the other. Many new users are happy with Ubuntu, and the extra plus for Ubuntu is that you can get it ready on the CD for free- no shipping either- from Ubuntu's website. They send a liveCD to try before you install.

your local library may have books on Linux. Doesn't matter if it is an older version, the basics will be the same. Also, many of the distros are similar. That will get you started, then you build from that. With Unix/Linux, the more you learn, the more CAN learn. It is a building process. chuck

there's a very lively linux community online. just google "linux forum" and you'll find halfa dozen. Everyone will be eager to tell you their favorite distro.
Unfortunately, they sometimes degenerate into quibbling over KDE versus GNOME- which is incomprehendible to the newby. (2 types of desktops, basically. Most distros come with both, and you can switch back and forth with a little trouble. Not that I know from experience, but a freindly Linux user finally explained it to me.)

I did this entire thing just a month ago.

the problem with library books- at least where I live- the CDS were taken out, and the books were usually outdated.

Also, it pays to pay for a CD to be mailed to you, if you choose SuSE or Mandrake or Red Hat (or anything but Ubuntu which ships free) because dowloading and burning the CD images takes a looong time and there's too much room for error. The last thing you need is to insert the third CD and discover that a component downloaded wrong.

If you want to partition a drive that already contains Windows, good luck. I still haven't gotten all the stuff about FAT drives straight. It may pay to spring for Partition Magic and not have to worry about complicated BIOS and partition formats.

Once you've got Linux installed, fool around with it. Try everything. Ask questions at friendly forums.

The command line user interface is more used in older and specialized linux distros. Recent desktop user distros dont rely on it so much.

At any rate, its not something to worry about. LInux books, linux people, linux literature (like Tux Magazine or the LInux journal) can help you along there.

Good luck!