From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
Understanding is more important than installation! So, arch is a starting point and then gentoo for a little advanced user? Yes, the community and the philosophy behind the GNU/Linux made it a great thing to explore! As it have made me switch from windows to GNU/Linux!
I'd advise you to go with arch to familiarize yourself with the basics of a linux system. Everything is already precompiled for you so all the packages and the kernel shouldn't take long to download. If you then need a new challange you can also go with gentoo. It has some specific knowlegde around it's super powerful package manager and about configuring the kernel but besides that everthing should be very much the same. Of course this comes at the cost of compiling all the stuff you need by yourself so...
I plan to try arch and then gentoo, are there any resources which teach the very fundamentals of linux?
RTFM, no seriusly just try to follow the arch install wiki and try to get acquainted with the terminal and the tools used.