I would like to know much more about computers. Right now I know practically nothing except how to use widely available applications - Chrome, OpenOffice, and so on. GNU/Linux seems the right place to start. But I'm having trouble figuring out how to run a distribution from a USB stick, experimentally, just so I can play with the flippin' thing. All conversations about this stuff seem to assume one already knows what one is doing. Where is the first step? Groping in the dark . . .