I guess it really boils down to tight networking stuff, then. Thanks for the recommendation, I can think of plenty of weird networking things I'd like to try.
Is there a not-too-easy distro you'd recommend? For instance, if someone were looking for a Windows equivalent I'd say to install Windows 2000 Server because it has the modern windows architecture and the bulk of the interesting features without doing everything for you. It's old enough that getting it up to speed requires some fixes and workarounds which turn out to be instructive. (I got ubuntu a while ago and it just kinda installed itself and worked too easily. I don't want that)
What I hate most about Windows are "zombie" applications. Sure, you could alt+ctrl+del and "end process tree" after a quick right click on the cryptically named application. But that doesn't always kill it, does it? heh, no. If I have complete control over my kernel with something as simple as that (kill -9 PID) IMAGINE what i could do elsewhere.... 
Windows isn't bad at all, if you can keep your pr0n intake down (Viruses, malware, spyware, trojans), and your enemies at bay (those whom you flame on forums that have nasty skiddy apps), and your file system under a hawk-like watch.. yeah then your good. But that's like changing your whole lifestyle around for someone like me.
Due respect, that's just a matter of familiarity. If you knew windows super well then you'd notice when something was out of place without keeping hawk-like watch and you'd have appropriate tools handy to kill a stubborn process. I sometimes get dragged into fixing problems on unix and linux machines and I'm in the same boat when I sit at one, confused by cryptic process names, man-ing everything, getting frustrated when things don't work as described. That's nobodys fault and it doesn't mean that nix sucks, I just don't know it that well.
oh yeah definitely, but you can use ps aux in GNU to see very detailed PID info
And "man" isnt the greatest resource for beginners
My own mediocre attempt at humor has been highly amusing to myself.. I use man now only as a more verbose version of -h or --help when i forget the syntax of one or two command arguments. If you wanna learn and are new, I'd suggest using Google over the man pages
And if you want one that's not so easy, they are right about slackware. It's not as easy as ubuntu. there's more configring involved on OS's that aren't "easy" but that's what makes them more reliable, stable, faster at boot, etc. I'd start off by building your own kernel with support for only what you need. There's tons of tutorials on how to do so using "make menu config" is how i do it, but you'll be surprised at the speed and stability once a lot of bloated services or drivers aren't loading.
here's what i mean about "ps aux"
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TT STAT STARTED TIME COMMAND
root 25061 0.6 4.0 317592 82888 ?? R Sun06PM 147:56.08 /usr/local/bin/X -br -nolisten tcp :0 -auth /var/run/xauth/A:0-2f4xFJ (Xorg)
obviously this is my "X" window system (on FreeBSD), this shows the full path of the command running, what it is "(Xorg)" when it started and the three other things that Windows says "user, mem usage, and cpu usage." This also gives you the PID, with the PID and as a real system administrator, you can do what you want to that process. you wont see "send error report" messages, you wont see a "paintable" window, no. It's the control over the OS is what I like about *nix. So yeah, If you wanna get dirty in it and have things not so easy try Slackware, configure your own kernel, install by hand your applications and their dependencies, etc etc, or hell, you could even try FreeBSD. It's all Free! Freeee!
install slackware problem solved
Keep using Windows. Problem solved.
Windows XP ROCKS SO HARD when i am playing Diablo, WoW, PSX Emulators, using Adobe Premier, using Camtasia Studio <3, or for all of my Nintendo DS Homebrew applications, yes i admit, i love windows then, at those times.
but im a nerd, things need to be complicated or i get a headache.
