Beginner, soliciting input for where to begin.

[Jude DaShiell]

grml.  With software speech though you give up control from boot up to 
shutdown though.  http://www.grml.org/ is where to start.  You'll need to 
download and burn an iso disk on CD.  Once you've done that try booting 
with the CD in the drive and a few seconds in you'll hear the CDrom stop 
at the boot: prompt.  You want to type grml swspeak and hit enter.  After 
that wait.  If you hear another message speaking over your sound card it 
could be software speech is loaded and the next thing you'll hear is boot 
up is finished.  If so, type swspeak again and hit enter.  From that point 
on you'll be in a talking Linux.  To do the magic on the hard drive, type 
grml2hd and hit enter.  You'll have some questions to answer then your 
operating system will be installed.  Good luck, the hardest part is 
getting a good iso burn usually.  You might try getting a directory 
listing of the CD before you boot it.  If you did it right, you'll find 
several files and directories on the CD.  If you find only the iso file, 
congratulations you just made your first Linux coaster excellent for 
holding beer mugs and coffee cups.  If that happens, it'll be time to try 
again.  If possible when you get successful make more than one disk and 
put extras away in a safe place maybe in an envelope that's labeled.  If 
anything happens to your working disk, you have backups.