I recomend the same, start with ubuntu, try different distros download a server version without desktop environments to get the feel of the shell commands, and stick with the distro you like best after that, personally i hate KDE to windowslike for me (might be what you're searching for). gnome's fast and reliable, i use ubuntu myself propably gonna change to gentoo(stage 1 install) but it crashes with my IT/IS Studies at school.

Would be a lot easier if i could compress time like i can with files :)