The OS is Fedora 15, downloaded from linux.com. The installation was done 2011 October 29.
This document is copyright © 2011 by Howard Gibson. You may post this on web pages and bulletin boards free of charge. All other rights are reserved.
An install of Linux onto a desktop or laptop still is fairly straightforward. An ordinary person should be able to pull it off.
People often are curious about Linux because they have older computers, that are not capable of running the latest version of Microsoft Windows. It is assumed that Linux provides a lighter weight desktop, that allows an otherwise perfectly functional computer to keep running.
Gnome 3 has made this more difficult. New users installing Fedora 15 definitely should install KDE, if nothing else, to get the display manager that will not display user names, and they should install XFCE. XFCE is small and fast, and ideal for older, slower computers with limited RAM.
SElinux is a manageable nuisance. You need the security. If you run the SElinux troubleshooter, you will see what it is doing, and you can follow the instructions to fix things.