Getting into Linx - Any help / advice would be appreciated

OK, so after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I have decided to try to move away from windows entirely (or as entirely as one can get) into Linux.

This decision comes after trying to get a version of windows 7 to work that was legit, could not get to work, called Microsquish, to get help but found out that no help was offered to someone with a copy as old as mine. I then turned to the dark side as I found a pirated version of Windows, tried to get that to work (twice) and could not get it to do so.

At this point I threw my arms to the heavens and screamed in feral fury "DAMN YOU MICROSQUISH, DAMN YOU TO HELL FOR CHARGING WAY TO MUCH FOR AN INFERIOR OPERATING SYSTEM"

Then almost as in response to my frustrated screams I get a pop from the lower right portion of my monitor that said (almost mockingly) "This copy of Windows is not Genuine - click here to find out how to make it genuine".

I wont lie - I am scared. Mostly because I am afraid that there might be something that I can't do on Linux that I really really want to do.

I am a gamer (World of Warcraft, Fallout, Old School Games like emulators) and while I know that there are programs out there like Wine to help run Windows native programs and there are some versions of programs that run natively on Linux, the concept still frightens me with all the what ifs and unknowns ... however a wise man once said "the best way to learn a thing is to do a thing" - actually I am not sure if a wise man did say that but if he didn't I'd like to claim it because it seems like the right thing to do.

Now I am no stranger to Linux - I did graduate with two Associates degrees - one in Network Technology, and one in Information Systems, and I passed my Linux class with high marks ... however I have only gotten a few chances to put my Linux knowledge to use and like any good muscle if a knowledge lies dormant for long periods of time, it will grow weak.

However I believe my future to be bright as I have recently been looking more and more into Linux, have installed it before to work with it and recently have worked with the knowledge of Kevin the Computer Guy (from this site) to build a Linux server (Kevin if you read this - thank you again).

So now, here I am - looking at all the different flavors of Linux, contemplating, wondering ...

1) Any suggestions on which version of Linux I should use? Please keep in mind that I am going to starting a server based on Kevin the computer guys tutorial (based on Debian I think). Also, i have tried Ubuntu, and just recently I have tried Knoppix (the latest version) and let me tell you it was nifty - bells and whistles galore ... why my computer even said "Initiating Startup Sequence" in a very sexy female voice - Yes I know it's just a matter of changing the bootup sound but still - made me happy.
2) Does anyone have any refreshers, tutorials, how to's, step by steps, hand holding guides, dummies guides, or anything along those lines to help me wade back into the welcoming waters of Linux? A walkthough? Anything at all? All of the Above?
3) Does anyone have any information on using Winehq or other programs to help me with getting my windows programs to run on Linux?
4) Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated

Thanks for listening to my long drawn out story, and thank you in advance for any help / advice.

Chris.

Hello and Welcome

1. Post your hardware specifications.
2. There are tutorials available but it depends on distribution and version.
3. Wine HQ ratings. http://appdb.winehq.org/help/?sTopic=maintainer_ratings

I'm not sure what type of advice you are seeking except what version of Linux to run. Since you already have a basic knowledge of Linux why not start with the latest release, 12.10.