Setting Up Blender 2.57

What - It's Free?
Yes, Blender is open source and is no cost to download and use.  I didn't know that a free program could be so elegant.
Download from official site : http://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/

Shaking Hands With Blender
So when I first approached Blender, I wondered if it would even work on my machine. I have an Asus Eee PC 1005HAB Netbook.

Brief Specs:
Memory - 2 Gib
Processor - 1.60 GHz (Intel)
Operating System - Linux Mint

Nothing special to say the least. I was worried that my little netbook may not be able to handle a 3D program, but Blender is pretty gentle.  My computer and Blender make pretty good friends. There is no lag (except in Weight Paint mode, and it takes a while to render animation). So even if you think your computer may not accept Blender, try anyways. What's the worst that could happen?

Blender 2.57

I'm using Blender 2.57.  This has been one shortcoming in my learning process since it seems that the entire interface has had a complete makeover since previous versions. They have reorganized a lot of things, and even some of the hot keys are different from 2.4 and before.  I have been reading a book "The Official Blender 2.3 Guide" and have been fumbling with interface - trying to find certain properties or tools and such.  Even most YouTube tutorials haven't caught up with the new interface.
In short, if I have trouble finding this or that, and I figure it out, I'll post it up here, both for my own reference and for others who may be feeling the same pain.  Oh, the woes of being a noob.

Linux and Blender
According to Blender.org running Blender in Linux (as opposed to Windows) is beneficial when it comes to speed, you can read more here: http://www.blender.org/education-help/faq/linux/

Installation on Linux
My installation experience - the short answer - I didn't install it myself.  I'm new to Linux so I had help. Initially, I installed version 2.4 from the Software Manager, but I wanted the latest version.  Now I see that Software Manager is dishing out version 2.57.1 so it should be alright to just search for Blender and get it from there. Good luck, with your installation!