I was in that same place - trying to understand why I'm an idiot for not knowing that I need to type "grep splat doodah grunt/groan/ooh /this/that/theother" or where to type it. I abandoned Mandrake 10 because it wouldn't work properly despite weeks of RTFM and typing gibberish at various screens. Ditto Suse. I actually got into that ./configure and make_install and stuff, typed into a terminal screen like I used to use in the early 1980s. They call THIS progress? What a PITA. Back to Windows XP I went - it just works, out of the box. For me, anyway. I'm lucky, I suppose.

Then a friend pointed me at Knoppix 3.8.2 and the "Kpackage" feature. That lists every sotware item you could dream of, if it exists for Linux. You just click on "Install", accept the defaults, and off it goes. It either installs and all is done with that couple of clicks, or it tells you there's a problem, in which case ignore that software item.
I love it!

Once I'd got the basics sorted, and the machine networked (that WAS a pain) all has been a dream - like Windows only better.