O cool, nice renderer... I'll have to check it out..
I use Linux Mint 13 and Windows 7 on dual boot...
I prefer 13 because KDE is snazzy and virus free compared to
7 which is vulnerable (32-bit not 64, which would be better)..

If you want to learn blender, best way is to create a project like an animation and see if you can do it in blender.

Keep in mind that everything is stored in the blend file, your scenes, screens, objects, materials, textures, render settings, everything.. So all one needs to do is give a blend ...