If you are looking for a good stepping stone, I would have to suggest Debian (www.debian.org). Of course, I haven't used it, but setting it up is much easier apparently. It's got the second best package management that I've seen - after Gentoo.

Yes, I am am a Gentoo user, for both my server and desktop at home. It does take a bit of extra effort to set it up, but there is so much that you can do with it, and it's VERY well documented. The community is excellent as well.

If you were so inclined, Shane and myself could help you out with Gentoo. However, it is probably best to learn with something that isn't quite so complicated. I started with RedHat/Mandrake, I think. I moved on to Slackware for a while. I tried Gentoo on a whim, and I've been using it steadily for almost 2 years, I would say.

Whoa. That was a bigger rant than I had intended. My apologies.