This is your first time with Linux? What kind of computer background do you have? Not to put you off, but LMCE is not a beginner's software. Granted, once it is installed and configured properly, it is incredibly easy to use, but not incredibly easy to install. Your biggest hangup will be hardware compatibilty. goto the wiki and check out the user setups. There, several users have cataloged their lmce equipment and experiences. Also, watch some of the videos that I made. They talk about entry level stuff and help newbies get off the ground. If you want a good learning envirnoment, try installing ubuntu and mythtv on top of it. That way, you'll become familiar with linux and mythtv, which is used in LMCE