What is Linux?Linux is, in simplest terms, an operating system. It is the software on a computer that enables applications and the computer operator to access the devices on the computer to perform desired functions. As an open operating system, Linux is developed collaboratively, meaning no one company is solely responsible for its development or ongoing support. Companies participating in the Linux economy share research and development costs with their partners and competitors. This spreading of development burden amongst individuals and companies has resulted in a large and efficient ecosystem and unheralded software innovation.
What Distributions are there for Linux?There are a lot of different distros to choose from. Here I'll list some of the popular ones, along with what I think of them.
Ubuntu - Ubuntu is currently the most popular distro out there right now. If you want to get into Linux, I recommend starting here. Ubuntu comes by default with the Unity desktop environment. It's pretty slow and crappy, but you can install lots of other desktop environments or window managers that are a lot more customizable and faster. Ubuntu has a lot of hand-holding to it, so the community has pretty much every problem you could think of handled already.
Variants of Ubuntu:
Xubuntu - Xubuntu is a lightweight version of Ubuntu. Xubuntu comes with Xfce, which is a stable, light and configurable desktop environment. I'd recommend this for users who want to use the Ubuntu Software Center, but without a bloated OS.
Linux Mint - Linux Mint is a pretty good distro, in my opinion. It works well for both experienced users and beginning users, and happens to have a lot of DE variants. There's also LMDE if you want the Mint experience with official Debian repos. I haven't seen very much of the community for Mint, but from what I've heard they're very friendly and can help with just about any issue.
openSUSE - (this whole paragraph is copy/paste info because I have no experience with openSUSE) openSUSE is a global community promoting and developing a Linux distribution and related tools. The distribution focuses on stability and flexibility. openSUSE devs also have the
Open Build Service (packaging for 27 Linux distro's via a web interface),
Studio (build your own OS in a browser),
Tumbleweed (rolling release for openSUSE), and
WebYaST (control your OS remotely)
(pls dont hate me for this its really bad i know i just copypasted and edited from the openSUSE about page)
Debian - Debian is basically the vanilla Linux OS. Ubuntu, and all of Ubuntu's variants, stem from Debian. Debian has
a lot of packages and I haven't had a problem running any program on it. Debian comes with GNOME, and also comes with XFCE, both are good. But, you can always change the DE and WM if you want.
The Debian Wiki has a lot of info at your disposal on it.
Fedora - Fedora is developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and owned by Red Hat. The Fedora Project's mission is to lead the advancement of free and open source software and content as a collaborative community. I think I've used Fedora once or twice, and the only thing I can really say about it is that the package manager loving SUCKS. I couldn't really get any programs to work with it but I'm sure that's a problem on my end.
Elementary OS - Elementary OS has been in development for a very long time and its long awaited release has finally come in August. It runs a custom desktop environment (Pantheon) with lots of it's own programs made for it, it branches off of the Ubuntu 12.04 kernel.
Arch Linux - Arch Linux is probably the most difficult to use distro. I do not encourage new users to use this distro. If you still want to try it but don't have very much experience, I recommend
ArchBang. ArchBang is basically the same as Arch Linux, but it comes with the OpenBox WM and has a guided installer in terminal to walk you through the steps for installation. Also, you probably shouldn't ask the Arch community for help, they're probably the biggest group of starfishs who think they're above everyone I've ever seen.
Derivative of Arch: 
ArchBang - As I mentioned above, ArchBang is a simple GNU/Linux distribution which provides you with a lightweight Arch Linux system combined with the Openbox Window Manager. Installation with ArchBang is relatively easy, as it comes with a more graphical install, and Openbox is ready to use from the moment you boot.
Package ManagersPackage managers are what you use to manage software packages from your Linux installation, some have a GUI and are very user friendly while others are used with terminal. Here I'll put some of my favorites (and some of the stuffty ones) and what distro they are used on. First I'll list ones used in terminal, and below that will be GUI Package Managers.
Pacman - pacman is a package manager originally made for Arch Linux, but eventually adapted for Manjaro and ArchBang. It's name derives literally from the term "
Package
Manager."
Apt-get - This is probably the most widely used package manager I've seen. Debian, Ubuntu, Ubuntu derivatives, Debian derivatives, and lots of others use it.
Yum - Absolute stuff. Fedora Linux uses it and its half of the reason why I hate Fedora. Red Hat Linux uses it as well.
Emerge - Gentoo and Funtoo's own package manager. I've used it only once before so I can't offer much of an opinion, but it worked well when I used it.
GUI Package ManagersSynaptic - Synaptic is very popular with Debian and Debian derived distros. I don't use it but it's user friendly for newbies.
Ubuntu Software Center - Is a description for this even necessary? I think you all know what this is for...
Aptitude - This is a mix between terminal and GUI managers, it's run by typing
aptitude into a terminal and runs from that terminal, with an interface for you to work with
here's an image of it for you to understand what I'm saying.
What should I use Linux for?
Primarily, Linux is used for networking. So I recommend it's usage for people looking to host dedicated servers. Alternatively, Linux works really well on lower end computers. If you have a laptop that struggles to run Windows, then by all means try out Linux.
How do I install Linux?
Personally, I recommend trying out a distro on a virtual machine before even thinking about installing it. You can try them out with a program called VirtualBox, here.
You can install Linux to a CD or USB. Use unetbootin for installing a distro to a flash drive. You can use FreeISOBurner to install to a disc.
Where else can I get help?
ArchWiki, Debian Wiki. Both of these are great resources that you can look through yourself to read up on a lot of linux programs.
I'll be adding more here later on.
If you want a distro or something else added please PM me. 
