When I got into Linux I bought one of those thick Red Hat Linux Bible, and read it from cover to cover... well maybe not every word but skimming each section g

When I got into Linux I bought one of those thick Red Hat Linux Bible, and read it from cover to cover... well maybe not every word but skimming each section gave me a very good insight on what the file system was, key programs, how the OS works with daemons, popular services Linux can run, etc. With having that background of what is what, it was much easier to poke around and not be too afraid of it all. Also as a suggestion is set up Linux on a spare PC and beat on it... my first installs were usually the works, all the packages that sounded cool then filter down on subsequent re-installs as you get an Idea what you want. If you want quick answers to your questions stick with popular distros like Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse, Debian - with most of those you can get what you need to know with a well phrased google query.