I've assembled links to a few sites that people new to Linux should consider exploring.
About Knoppix
Knoppix is a special distro of Linux that focuses on being able to run on and manipulate all hardware. Knoppix was the first (or one of the first) "live CD's" A live CD is a cd you can boot from. If you put a Linux live CD in your computer and boot from it, you have a linux computer. This is actually not a totally dumb way to run Linux. Anyway, you can then use that Linux running on your system to fix or diagnose problems with your computer.
Klaus Knoppe, the inventor of Knoppix, has a column in one of the more popular Linux mags, in which he answers (usually quite effectively) the most esoteric questions one can imagine about hardware.
Running Linux on a Laptop
Look up your laptop and find out what has worked for other people.
The vi Lover's home page
I don't know why you would want to visit this site, but whatever...
BSD v Linux
If you are a BSD user, you know what Linux is, but if you are a Linux user you may be fairly ignorant of what BSD is and why people use it. (BSD is an operating system a lot like Linux). Here you can find out about BSD.
wine
At some point, wine comes up in an conversation about Linux. Here's the wine page. Wine stands for "wine is not an emulator." Wine is a set of tools that cause Windows software to run on a Linux machine.
Debian
Of the major flavors of Linux, Debian is the One True Flavor. According to some. This is the Debian site. All Linux users must browse through the Debian site at least once.
Knoppix is one of the things that convinced me that Linux is really a good thing. Live CDs/DVDs in general can be very good for disaster recovery, even for Windows users. Windows makes this process unnecessarily difficult, whereas it is a snap with Linux. I've often thought that any medical software (or other mission-critical application) should have a similar capability. If the OS itself it hopelessly screwed up and you need to get your data or otherwise use your computer NOW, a bootable CD is pretty nice to have.
i agree with joseph..he is right.
sp: "Klaus Knopper"
You're an emacs user? I'm done with this blog.
One link I think you missed is distrowatch.com . Perhaps a bit overwhelming to someone completely new to Linux, but if you've dipped your toe and are looking for just the right distro, this is the site to start with.
I'd also (with hesitation) suggest the "Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition". It's complicated, technical, hideously out of date, and very nerdy. But a lot of it is still perfectly valid and puts it all together in one place that acts as a worthy reference to keep returning to. But keep it away from the beginners until they start actually asking the sort of questions that this resource answers.
Years ago I used to use Knoppix to show people what Linux can do - on their own computer. Klaus Knopper only intended it as a "Live CD" and often protested when people installed it to a hard disk because he crafted it specifically to work from CD. Installations on a hard disk have always been Debian though.
Rather than use Knoppix to fix up your Winduhs machine (which you can do, but you really have to know what you're doing), you can use a distribution like the "Trinity Rescue Disk" instead (yes, the TRD) which has many things scripted for you and you just have to select 'yes/no/iknowwhati'mdoing'. Hmm... my info seems to be outdated, it is now the "Trinity Rescue Kit) at trinityhome . org.
The TRK is good for fixing up Linux systems too. :)
BSD v. Linux: Debian also has a BSD branch - in fact two - Net BSD and FreeBSD:
www . debian . org/ports/
I'm a vi user from way back. I sneer at EMACS users.
That said, I'm also a big Debian fan.
Since the LiveCD is a dying product (small laptops don't have a drive), you should also point to Universal Netboot Installer (http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/), which can create a bootable USB stick from a bootable CD image.
Bootable sticks are easier to handle than disks, but as an extra bonus, the stick isn't read-only. You can copy files to the stick you booted from, which is very handy when you are trying to rescue files from a corrupt system.
How to rescue data is worthy of a separate mail. You can always start with SystemRescue (http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page).