>What's the equivalent of drive C:\?
On Windows, partitions have labels like C, D, E and so on. There is no direct
equivalent in Gnu/Linux. The a system like Trisquel does however allow you to
open, inspect and manipulate partitions (like those on flash drives) like
you'd expect on Windows. Such partitions/drives can be opened by clicking on
their icon on the desktop or the file browser. That is all that is needed to
use the system.
In case you want to know more, here's an example about how it works "behind
the scenes":
Let's say you've got a flash drive names "MyFlashDrive" with a file
"MyFolder\MyFile.pdf" on it, and your username is "bob". On Windows, the
absolute path to that file may be something like "H:\MyFolder\MyFile.pdf".
When inserted into a computer running an OS like Trisquel, the system will
automatically create a folder with an absolute path like
"/media/bob/MyFlashDrive" and 'mount' the flash drive there. This just means
that the folder becomes a 'doorway' into the flash drive. In that folder, you
can see the contents of the drive and manipulate them. The absolute path to
the file mentioned above would in this example be
"/media/bob/MyFlashDrive/MyFolder/MyFile.pdf", the slash at the beginning
indicates that it is an absolute path. This knowledge is usually not needed
for everyday use.
>Equivalent of Program Files?
Nonessential executables are stored in folders like /usr/bin and /usr/lib,
but it's unlikely you'll ever need to know this.
>How to launch .exe file?
Not sure how to interpret this question. Are you asking how to start a
graphical application that was installed on a Gnu/Linux system? There's
usually a startup icon for that in the GUI, on Trisquel they are in the main
menu.
Are you asking how to start an executable file that is not part of an
application for some unusual reason? If it is marked as executable, simply
opening it should work.
Are you asking how to execute executables compiled for Windows? A
compatibility layer like "Wine" can do that sometimes. I've heard there are
some people using it to run Notepad++ on Gnu/Linux, which is a free software,
GPL'd text editor that was only developed for Windows. I'd avoid using Wine
however, it may not always work.
The file extension .exe is mostly only used on Windows. On Gnu/Linux,
executables have no popular uniform extension.
>Is shell hard to learn?
It depends what you want to do, and how eager you are to learn.
For newcomers, I usually recommend Trisquel above most other distributions
since it is one of the easiest to use. Ordinarily, you should not need to use
the shell at all.
On the internet, people will sometimes tell you to execute shell commands
because it is faster than telling you how to navigate your way through a
dozen windows, and it does not depend on which desktop environment or
particular distribution you use.
>Something special I should know?
Maybe something about hardware. Hardware components like wifi chips and
graphics cards require special firmware. Many of them are not properly
supported by a system like Trisquel. Intel integrated GPUs (at least those
that are not PowerVR-based) typically work best. Some Nvidia cards are mostly
supported (I think it was the cards from the Fermi, Kepler and Maxwell (maybe
also Tesla) series, but don't quote me on that), but they can be glitchy on
very graphics-heavy applications. I did play some mostly successful
experimental rounds of SuperTuxKart/0ad and some other games on one, though.
Most other GPUs are not supported, at least not with graphics acceleration,
which can be really painful.
