I like Ubuntu or Mint.. Super stable. I have a dedicated Linux box Currently running Ubuntu. Older computers will run it great,
Training: Go to Edex,
https://www.edx.org/course/int…inuxfoundationx-lfs101x-2
Great Free Linux course. , You can opt to pay and get certified.
Here is a good list of Linux distributions... Personally I would start with Ubuntu and then explore others.
Grab a Raspberry Pi...$35 for a full functioning linux (or windows if you get bored with it) machine.
http://www.raspberrypi.org/
I'd suggest picking a goal like creating a LAMP server or something else. Just setting up a linux box is one thing but you'll learn more by trying to build (and then inevitably breaking) "something". I've considered picking up a Pi and setting up a bunch of cameras under the jeep for wheeling.
Ian (clendanial) on here knows UNIX extremely well so I bet he has some insight into Linux.
I've only ever used LINUX on my wife's laptop that she had a partition dedicated to that OS. IMO, it was really good and rock solid as far as reliability.
Most popular with home users are usually your redhat-based distros (fedora, centos, etc) and debian-based stuff (ubuntu, mint, etc)...the differences between each 'sub-flavor' is typically the installer, package sets, and UI. The biggest differences between the distros comes down to mostly package management method and init system (systemd and sysvinit typically being the main ones)...at their core they all run the same kernel. Personal preference really comes into play as far as which you decide to use and one thing to keep in mind is that in linux basically ANYTHING is configurable and don't necessarily make your choice on 'look' as all of the gui stuff is in which window manager is chosen, most of which are available for any flavor (for example look at the fedora 'spins' offering defaults other than gnome). I used to run all kinds but variants but tend to stick with fedora anymore as I work in a shop with almost exclusively redhat and solaris. If you're looking at learning this for professional use the most common ones used in enterprises are redhat, debian, and suse....usually in that order. Most flavors have livecd media that you can download and run w/o installing if you just want to get a feel for that variant...probably a good idea just to get your feet wet. Good luck. 
--Ian
Kali's a good choice for system/network security stuff. I'll warn you, though, it's going to be a steep learning curve as it's geared towards seasoned linux users and given it's extreme security posture it runs very few services when compared to a 'normal' install. Rather than a raspi or dual-booting why not just a virtualbox instance? Even on a moderately powerful box you can have multiple vm's....some of us do it the other way and run linux w/ winblows as a vm for the occasional need. 
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Thanks for all the advice guys.
I think I go with LINUX Kali which I believe is Debian based.
I dont necessarily want to use the easiest, because I am not making this my new OS, but learning it for professional reasons.
I understand that Kali (a follow up to Backtrack) has penetration and hacking tools. Ultimate I want to learn this stuff as their a lot of jobs popping up for network security and ethical hacking etc, particularly in the military/government sector.
I think I will go with the CD/Thumbdrive method for now, as I dont want to actually use LINUX for my daily computing.
I read somewhere Windows8 prevents other OS's from loading? Anyone experience that?
I might try that Raspberry Pi thing... a guy in the Army thats an expert at this stuff also uses the Pi
So with a VirtualBox I would just load it on my own computer, and switch over to it from Windows when I need to? Would Linux constantly be dual running or only when I launched it?
It's an OS running in a virtual machine on your windows box at that point...totally separate OS instances. Think of it as a separate OS running in a window. Very handy for testing different OS's, pen-testing, etc. To install you'd download/install virtualbox, define a VM, and boot/install that VM from the OS media of your choice. Kali offers docs on installing the guest additions (drivers optimized for the virtualized hardware) here.
--Ian
It would only run when launched and your current OS is still there. You can also get the free version of vmware player vs virtual box. Same difference, vmware is arguably more popular but both will get you there.
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmwa…mputing/vmware_player/7_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_PFENeniBw
There are pre-packaged OVF templates you can download of linux installs which basically translates to an already installed version which lets you skip if not all of the OS setup. I wouldn't recommend that since you are trying to learn, grab an ISO image of the install files for the distro you want to use, boot your virtual machine from it, install and go through the whole process.
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It would only run when launched and your current OS is still there. You can also get the free version of vmware player vs virtual box. Same difference, vmware is arguably more popular but both will get you there.
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmwa…mputing/vmware_player/7_0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_PFENeniBw
There are pre-packaged OVF templates you can download of linux installs which basically translates to an already installed version which lets you skip if not all of the OS setup. I wouldn't recommend that since you are trying to learn, grab an ISO image of the install files for the distro you want to use, boot your virtual machine from it, install and go through the whole process.
Yeah, I guess I should've mentioned vmware....although I don't really consider them a real player on the desktop side as they want to push you to their paid products. Player has always been kinda castrated when it comes to some things...IIRC you can only have limited interfaces and there are CPU core/thread constraints (both of which are issues for me as I routinely setup virtual labs for firewall testing/config). We use vmware extensively at work on both the windows and linux side of the house in our datacenters but most (all?) of us have moved to virtualbox for running crap on our desktops.
--Ian
On 2nd thought, I am going run with Ubuntu virtuabox at least for 6 months or so to get a good feel and comfort level with Linux. Down the road maybe I will try out Kali.
So with the VM, I don't need to partition my HD for LINUX or anything? Is it essentially like running any other program?
No partitions. You just pick where to save the files. If you have an SSD or a second drive from your boot drive I would install it there (basically whatever is the fastest disk in your system) for performance. From a high level, yes it's basically just like another program. Vmware/virtual box provides the ability to emulate the hardware of a computer and you install whatever you want on top of that.
Virtualbox vs vmware is like pepsi and coke. Slightly different but I don't think you can go wrong either way. The network limitations of vm player have annoyed me in the past when trying to network multiple machines in a virtual lab but for a single linux instance it doesn't matter. Flip a coin...
Couple tips with whichever virtualization platform you go with-
-Do yourself a favor when you provision the HDD too and make it dynamically allocated/thin provisioned so you don't tie up physical disk space with 'empty' space in the guest.
-Install the guest additions/vmware tools in whatever OS you go with...it will have an impact on performance and just general useability.
-Look into snapshots when experimenting or doing things that you fear might break things. They allow you to revert back w/o causing issues. BUT be careful running for long periods like this as a snapshot is essentially treated as a delta file to the virtual disk and can suck up disk space quick.
-If you're going to be playing with port scanning, etc which could affect networks you're running on look into setting up a second box on an internal network 'inside' your virtual environment and adding a second interface to your linux test machine.
-Configure the shared folder functionality within the vm platform....it comes in handy to easily move files to/from your virtual w/o having to scp, mount shares, etc.
Oh, and when learning linux....do yourself a favor and ignore the GUI config utilities. Learn how to config things from the command line. Rarely will you see a prod linux install running x and you'll be a step ahead of many security 'experts' that I run into.
--Ian
I am at work now, so can't mess around with it too much yet. But just going to Ubuntu website, it looks like a desktop interface, similar to Windows.
Does it have a Linux command prompt you can drop to?
Launch an xterm or terminal window....you could also go hardcore and boot the system with no gui.
suggest reading unix power tools. I haven't read the linux bible, (i browsed its table of contents on amazon just now) and it looks good, but it reminds me of the free documentation by redhat and centos legitimately available online.
Once you get it installed, maybe go through the ropes of setting up a home file server, a publicly available web site that says "way of the jeep wins", or install a vendor's product (like a simple tool from atlassian - trial version) and force it on https.
like was said, very different role between linux admin, security, web admin, application support, but keep in mind that a large corporation will require you to configure different products together, such as windows admin work and linux admin work.
And, also, the line between developers and admins is blurring, developers are required to know admin/ops stuff, and vice-a-versa.
although i wouldn't recommend it over the previous suggestions, but if you do run out of space or memory on your current machine, could always use Amazon EC2.
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