Here are some things to help you get started and comfortable using Linux as fast and as painless as possible, this is not a detailed explanation of what to do, but some pointers of what helped me along. Read all these before doing anything.

Also I heartily recommend getting a good book on beginning with Linux, make sure it is geared to what distribution you choose (or that has a distribution included) make sure before buying any book that you are comfortable with how it is presenting help and that it will indeed answer your questions, read some of the nitty-gritty part in the book store to make sure it will help you. There are now Dummies books for Linux, such as Ubuntu Linux for Dummies, which is a great start for those not to up on disk usage and installing programs in the first place.

There are over a hundred Linux Distributions out there, if you are a newbie to Linux (AKA a noob), start with something that will not overwhelm you when you start out

Going Commercial
- The major commercial linux distributions usually have an easy to run/install user interface in their packages. The ones I am familiar with are Mandriva (formerly Mandrake), Suse, Fedora Care (AKA Red Hat), and Linspire. These are sold commercially but are also available in free versions (without support and some of the proprietary features of the commercial versions) to download and burn one your own CDs.

Popular Free Distributions - There as been a lot of work done on improving many of the free distributions, where the ease of use for the new user can rival the commercial counterparts. Some of the popular and easy free distributions are Ubuntu (Which is what I'm using currently), Knoppix, Simply Mepis. While there is not paid support (except from third party vendors), many of these distributions have a very active, helpful community of users constantly sharing information about solving problems.

Where to Get Linux Distributions - If you have high speed internet and a CD/DVD burner on your computer you can download a distribution off of the internet. The place to find links to all the distributions (as well as more info on their differences) is Distro Watch which keeps tracks of all the popular distributions as well as proving links to the sites where you can download the disc images directly.

If you don't have a high speed connection you can also get distributions from:

• Some Large Tech & Book Stores have Linux on the shelves - Tech stores such as Frys Electronics has a Linux, section. Many Linux beginners books (such as Linux for Dummies, or the Linux Bible books mentioned below) include the distribution glued into the inside cover.
• Magazine CDs - There are some Linux Magazines that have "Cover Disks" and have full distributions regularly (titles include Linux Format, Linux User and Developer) These magazines are about $10-14 but worth the price for the readily available software (NOTE: Some magazines offer cover DVD ROMs instead of CDs, if you don't have a DVD player, you may want to make sure the cover discs are CDs, if you do have a DVD, you may prefer the DVD ROM discs as they usually offer more software)
• Shop on eBay - and find someone who is offering burned CDs from distribution downloads, which will cost you probably about under $10 with shipping

Tip: If your computer does not boot the live CD the computer probably needs to be setup to boot from the CD drive first in your system's BIOS (you see a mention of it when your computer first starts up, such as 'press [F2] for BIOS settings' look for your 'boot device order' in the settings and make sure your CD-ROM is checked before your HDD. Make sure not to mess with other BIOS settings at they can greatly affect the operation of your computer.)

• Graphics Cards - I would say most of my problems when starting out were with graphics cards, nowadays Linux will run with just about any graphics card, but if you have the right graphics card using advanced features like 3D is soo much easier.
  
  From what I've read the two best supported cards (with all the bells and whistles) are nVidia and ATI. It looks like more ATI cards will work right out of the box, where nVidia you may have to tweak or manually add drivers. On a recent search a few low-cost no-brainier high performance cards are ATI Radeon 9200/9200SE, and the 9250, they aren't the newest but they are well supported by the Linux community.
  
  
• Newer Isn't Always Better - Linux is a fledgling operating system though it runs about half of the internet's webservers it does not yet have a big home appearance, so many chip manufacturers don't release specs or drivers to the Linux community (yet!) Running last years (or older) PC or device is OK, as you may avoid some hardships as some of the operational bugs that come with new and untested hardware.

INSTALLATION

• Before you Install - Stuff to have Ready - You will need a user name and one or two passwords. You need a username and password for your account (and each family member can have their own account with their own username and password. And you may need a 'root' password, this is the account that lets you change OS settings, and add programs (this is so you don't accidentally do bad things on the system) In Ubuntu you don't have a root password, the account you first setup on Ubuntu is considered a special account (called a SUDOer) that can do root level stuff (when the password is supplied)
  
  
• Pick a username and stick with it. The username is how you are identified by Linux on your own computer (on Linux every member of the family can have their own environment, which is filed under a user name), many people just use their first name. Having a consistent username is very important if you backup and restore your settings from a previous installation to the next, keeping the usernames the same relieves the hassle of fixing program configurations because the previous username's directory could not be located. (I found this the case with Mozilla mail settings).
  
  
• Passwords - Since this s your home system you don't want to get too creative with your passwords its best to have letters and numbers in it so bad programs can't guess your password, Examples of passwords: 2good4me i8worms, lucky4u, etc. (don't use those, badguys might know them now).
  
  
• Backup of your current data - Yeah, I keep mentioning it, it's important. Happiness is: when your computer has problems and you know you have a good recent backup.
  
  
• Be careful when installing linux as a 'dual boot' system - Linux can live on the same hard drive with your Windows most installers will guide you through adjusting your disk size to use some of the free space to install linux along side Windows without much of a hassle. As this does affect the hard drive setup you should backup first and be sober and/or lucid when performing this measure. It's not hard, but you want to be sure you make the right decisions when it asks you to re-partition or reformat your hard disk ('repartition' or 'use free space' if you want to keep your old stuff) I stress again, backup, just to make sure you have a safety if something goes wrong..
  
  
• Expect to install Linux at least a couple times (don't worry it installs over the old installation really easily) before you have a configuration you are comfortable with. In Windows and Mac OS the features are already decided for you. In Linux there are several different options and also many choices to make, some of which you won't yet know which will work for you until you have tried them out for yourself. And when you reinstall it is better to 'erase your previous linux installation' (not the 'whole drive' if you also have Mac OS or Windows installed!) Also learn to backup and restore your documents!
  
  
• If you have the hard drive space, install everything off the distribution disk and try stuff out I strongly suggest having a second hard drive for your Linux installation - to save having to re-partition your existing OS. Try stuff out, don't just take people's recommendations that "program X is better than program Y," some of these guys are really techies, and prefer not having user friendliness clutter up their desktop. Check the apps out for yourself (it's ok! experiment! you won't have to call to get a key to reinstall). Most of the time the reviews are helpful though. During the installation most Linux installers will locate your second drive and/or free non-partition space and offer to automatically set them up and use it, take their suggestions (they are pretty safe) also carefully read dialogs and warnings so that you don't accidentally erase your current OS.
  
  
• ALT-mouse-button will let you grab and drag a window on the desktop! Especially useful if you are in a low-resolution screen with high-res sized windows (Where you need to drag the window up to get to the controls on the bottom which are off-screen.) click on a part of the screen without a button or other control and hold down ALT, you will then be able to move the window without having to click the edges.
  
  
• Servers Linux is also designed to "serve" programs and documents and information to networks and the internet, if you are just checking things out, you probably would not want to install such things as Apache (Web Server), LDAP, IMAP, Samba Server, DHCP Server, etc. Note there are also sometimes 'clients' of these programs, which do help if you connect through a local network or the internet.
  
  

USING LINUX

If everything is running ok and you now have menus full of stuff to explore and learn, as you do don't try to cram it in all at once! Remember to take breaks from nose-to-the grindstone learning and explore. Even if you are a pro at MacOS or Windows, a lot of this will be very foreign territory for you now so stop now and again and play a game or try out some of the programs let Linux entertain you and get yourself more acclimated to some of the cool stuff that your computer can do now. Get up from the keyboard and take a walk, eat, etc. Once you are ready to continue, there is more to learn:

• Learn how to back up & restore your important files (I suggest you get a CD-RW drive!)  Happiness is knowing you have a recent backup.  As you start with Linux you may be reinstalling or switching distributions a few times.  Sometimes when moving up to a newer version of a distribution you are using it makes more sense to install the new distro fresh instead of just upgrading.
  
  Linux has great support for CD and DVD writers to back up your data, XCDRoast was popular in earlier distributions and now K3B is the CD creation utility of choice for many Linux Users.
  
  
• Settings and Documents - All the settings for the programs you use are in your user directory (i.e. if your user name in Linux is 'jbob' your files would be in /home/jbob/) including your documents folder.  (some of the folders and files in your user directory are hidden, but can be made visible by using your file tools to 'show hidden files'.)  As mentioned above if you keep with the same user name you will be able to replace many of the settings files/folders back without much problems (save for a major application version upgrades).
  
  
• Local Web development files - If you have been working on web-site/web applications using your machine configured like a web server with Apache, remember to back up any directories where your web-files live Example of the "web root" directory in Mandrake: /home/[username] web server directory in mandrake: /var/www/html/ You will feel more inclined to explore/experiment if you have your safety-net backup already recorded.
  
  
• Databases too - If you use MySQL or PostgreSQL, also remember to export your data into something that can be backed up too.
  
  If you are using MySQL or Postgre SQL there is a great tool which will help you to manage and back up your database, PHPMyAdmin and PHPpgAdmin both are similar in what they do, from setting up and modifying DBs, backing up and restoring DB structure and data.
  
  
• Note on Restoring from CD - I've discovered that files backed up to CD usually have their permissions set to Read only (which is rightfully so since data on CDs aren't modifiable).  But when you copy the files back to the hard drive, the permissions may still be set as "Read Only" (and cause problems when applications cannot adjust their settings, or you can't edit any of your files.)  One solution is to copy all the files you wish to restore into a new folder in your new user directory, next get the information for that new folder and adjust the permissions - check the "change all enclosed folders and their content" box and then adjust the permissions to read & modify for the user and/or group. and apply the settings.  This will unlock all those restored files and then you can move them to wherever they need to go.
  

• Have a notes log, and use it. A notes log is to write down any other passwords, setup procedures, commands, etc that you need to enter along the way (i,e. you will have a password for root access, for your standard user account, and if you use MySQL a root password for that too!) If you have to install some program manually or make some special config file change, make sure to write down the steps if you have to reinstall. As you explore you will find some times you may need to type some obscure command in the terminal, write it down if it's important).
  
  
• Start by learning the basics, the key basics for getting comfortable linux is:

1. looking for answers
   There is sooo much help for the Linux beginner it is so mind-numbingly staggering, and is now a case of literally not being able to see the trees through the forest. You will find some folks are not very nice when you ask a starting out question, mainly because that question is answered in so many other places. Besides a good beginners book (mentioned above). Learn about Linux's MAN command, also the Linux newsgroups - use the Usenet newsgroups archive Google Groups to search the 20+ years of newsgroup discussions, include "linux" (and possibly your distribution name) as part of the search words when looking for linux specific information.
   
   
2. navigating your Linux OS (knowing what information goes where, and how to get there) Learn the directories of where your data is stored, and how to locate important files, how to edit files (this will be a place where you have to use the terminal and Root level access to change some things. Terminal commands you should now are: CP, LS, CD UPDATEDB, LOCATE, SU, EXIT. If you are familiar with windows, directories are separated with '/' instead of '\' the lowest directory (root) is just /
   
   
3. modifying configuration files (through the GUI and editing text files).
   locate your text editors and lean how they work, it is a necessity also to how to use a terminal based text editor such as Pico, VI or EMACS (Pico looks the easiest) this is in case you have to do some reconfiguring without the aid of the graphical interface or to work faster.
   
   
4. installing programs/upgrades.
   The last bit is necessary in order for you to keep your distribution up-to-date, installing programs and updating Linux is not just the 'let the updater handle it' and 'click on the setup.exe' icon, Parts of it are becoming a bit easier, but others will never be just point and click (which is good, because those bits keep linux free from viruses and malicious/ignorant users from harming your system). Some packages/updates are easier to install as they are 'packages' designed by the linux distributor to make the process as painless as possible. Others may require a bit more work like compiling programs from source code (it sounds a lot more scarier then it actually is, usually it entails editing a text file to adjust some settings, and entering a couple extra commands).

• Don't toss those cheap Windows Clipart & Font CDS! - A lot of that stuff can still be used with Linux, in fact Linux is presently shy in the font and clipart categories and those thosands of font and clipart CDs will help you get a better appearance from many of the programs. If there is a font choice between Truetype and Postscript some programs are more inclined to use Postscript than Truetype fonts. Adding fonts is really easy theough the KDE Desktop, just open the file browser on the CD and all the icons of the fonts will be samp-les of their shapes, moving over the fonts give you a larger sample, and by right-clicking you can get to the KDE font utility to add them to the system.
• A BIG LINUX NO-NO
  Don't run Linux as "Root" - Root level access gives the user access to everything you can modify or delete any file on the OS, it also gives applications you start (while running as root) the ability to do the same too (as applications you run are given your access rights while you are using them).  The main reason that Windows has had a lot of virus problems and such as because most of the operating system runs like root access, where Outlook, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer and other programs can do anything to your system.  Root access is for administrative tasks only like editing configurations, installing/upgrading programs, or repairing system problems. It is always suggested to do root-level work through a text-based terminal running as Root instead of the whole GUI running as root (in fact most distributions make it really hard to log in as root at the GUI level for this reason!)  But if you are just starting out - go ahead and check it out (I have), but don't go whining about it on help forums if something bad happens as a result.  Yeah, I know it's hard, but that's the price of having your system really secure.
  In Ubuntu they've given the user a middle ground, where you run administrator commands one at a time through SUDO This gives you root access for one command, such as to edit a protected file you would in terminal use: sudo vi myfile.config it will ask for your password and once verified let you edit it as root level, but you still are as a normal user for everything else. Once done editing you are back to normal access at the shell terminal.

  Sudo is available for most other OSs and depending on its security settings it may bot be as powerful as root (again, one of those good security things.)

  
  
  
• SOME LINUX BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
  If you are not born in the 80s or later, you probably don't want to learn all the time in front of a CRT, and fortunately the availability of good (paper-based) books on the workings of Linux are not in short supply.  Over the past year I have quite a few feet of various Linux related books and offer you a short list of the ones that I have found informative to me:
  

  Linux for Dummies Yep there are those popular yellow books for Linux as well. Not very deep but does get you over the hurdles of installtion and basic configuration.

  Linux in Easy Steps by Barnes & Nobel Books - geared for the beginner this thin but informative book is a good place to start, uses Mandrake, Red Hat and Suse as example distributions.

  xx Linux xx Bible by Wiley Publishing (i.e. "Red Hat Linux 9 Bible", "Ubuntu Linux Bible")- This really thick book series (many over a 1000 pages) includes at least one ready to install distribution CD set on the inside cover and everything in the distribution is covered in the book, if you want to learn the ins and outs of linux administration and configuration this is a great start (worked for me), though it may not work as well suited for the casual user.
  

  Linux Administration- A Beginner's Guide by Osborne Books - This one concentrates on just administering Linux and is really good at covering all the aspects and concepts of administering a system for your home or office. This edition may be a tad dated but it is still pertinent.
  




• PRINTING
  One of Linux's emerging technologies is printing, when you set up your printer make sure to browse the settings and print the test page and adjust if it is not right. While the Various Linux drivers support most printers there are some that are not well supported, mainly due to the printer manufacturer not releasing any specifications or drivers for the printers on Linux. (Lexmark is one of the companies that does not provide much help to the linux community). Many distributions provide a wide range of drivers, sometimes there are multiple for popular printers, if you are having problems go down the list.
  • Page Size - When setting up your printer check your page size, many distributions are not created in the US and use the international standard of A4 paper, if you require "letter size" check the default paper size and ensure it is set to letter.
  • Output Quality - Depending on the exact model of your printer your print quality may vary, Linux printer drivers let you make a many adjustments to correct your printout look. As an example on my Epson 740 with SuSe 9.2 the pages were printing with the colors really washed out, this was because the gamma was set too high (1.6) and it was much improved with a 1.0 gamma. If your printout has too much ink on the paper you want to reduce the density value (which controls how much ink the printer sprays when printing.) Also you may notice more then one driver for your printer available, don't always go just for the reccomend, some of the other drivers may be better suited to your tastes.