If you are brand new to programming, we strongly recommend that you do not start with programming on Linux. Though Linux can be a very powerful operating system once you know how to program on it, the hassel of just installing the Free Pascal compiler and Lazarus can be enough to make you want to quit trying all together. We recommend at least getting started in Windows or Mac OSX (the latter of which is Unix anyway and therefore similar to Linux). If you insist on using Linux for your first programming experience, we recommend you at least try using something like Ubuntu so that it is easier to get started. As far as a getting started guide goes, we recommend you search for message boards on how to get Lazarus running on Linux. Once you get to that point, use the Mac OSX getting started guide because everything else will be the same from there.