hey as a fellow linux newbie i know your pain on this one. I must say that {P²P}Apocalypse has given you some really good info and urls to trust him on that one. Some other good links I found were
www.linuxnewbie.org - great forms for the new to linux people out there, lots of help
http://www.tldp.org/ - great for linux projects, lots of howtos and detailed infomation
IRC - yes, IRC is a great learning tool, there are lots of channels out there with the purpose of helping people. Look at irc.antionline.com they have a linux channel aswell

sorry thats all I can think about now, hope this helps