If _money_ is the issue, http://aws.amazon.com/free/ http://aws.amazon.com/free/ could get you started without spending money on hosting or bandwidth. But the

If _money_ is the issue, http://aws.amazon.com/free/ http://aws.amazon.com/free/ could get you started without spending money on hosting or bandwidth. But the difference between free and $20/month for a linode should be dwarfed by the other costs, namely your time. But then again, time is only as expensive as your next best alternative usage: if you're learning enough by "wasting" time, it's probably a win!