I have used Jonathan's RPMs and they worked great, though I had to get the latest db lib's for 6.2.
http://www.rpmfind.net Once I had the latest db libs's the install of OpenACS, Aolserver, PostgreSQL took a little over 90 seconds. "WOW"
David, There is a real good newbie Linux install doc @ Orchard Labs
Using RPM's work great but you don't really get to know how things actually work until you have gone through the installs and ironing out the bugs.(I.E Myself.) I guess Sean is right a newbie DOC is not bad but I think going through a UNIX admin book and really learning UNIX (*nix) would prove more benefitial in the long run.
