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1) Minimum size I'd got for would be around the 8GB mark. A typical Linux install is around the 5GB mark and you'll need some space for your home directory.
Not sure about the differences between USB 2 & 3 - obviously 3 is faster.

2) Slackware defaults to command prompt on first boot (you have to edit /etc/fstab to get a GUI on boot). The issue you might face is that the distros are gradually diverging. If you're going to be using a distro with systemd in it then Slackware won't help that much as it doesn't have it and there are now quite serious differences emerging in how run levels are controlled and if you're going to learn the CLI then you'll need to get the hang of runlevels. Any distro can be told to boot only to the CLI so to be honest, if you're going to be using Suse then stick with Suse (a headless Suse install is quite easy - it must be because I managed it and I am not that technical a sort of person). The openSuSE forums are well populated and extensive in their scope.

3) www.linuxquestions.org (http://www.linuxquestions.org) is a great place for highly technical help and probably has links to more educational resources.

Hope that helps some.

To remove a Windows partition... (I'd do it this way)

as root or sudo

mkfs.ext4 /dev/xxx

where xxx is the Windows partition

then

sudo update-grub

Job done.

That removes Windows and replaces it with an ext4 formatted partition. You'll probably need to chown it  to get write permissions.
sudo chown -R USERNAME /dev/xxx
The -R is supposed to be uppercase. Replace USERNAME with your username.

If you know Linux inside out then SysAdmin jobs might be available. They pay very well (I've seen Linux Sysadmin jobs in London advertised at £60k+). However, you have to know pretty much everything there is to know. Unless you are a very quick learner then you're looking at several years of very hard work before you're even close to being ready.
A better option perhaps might be to think along the lines of offering a Consultant service to small businesses, new start ups and the domestic market, based around getting people off Windows and into Linux. That way you'd not need all the server side stuff and could concentrate on one or two distros on the Desktop. This would reduce your workload quite considerably.  As to whether it's a viable method of self support is another matter entirely. Only time would tell.

Good luck.

Sales people are not there to provide the 'best possible solution' for the customer, they are there to perpetuate the proprietary monopoly. This is why such places have people who don't understand computers selling computers to other people who understand even less.
Anyone who knew OS's, when confronted by a customer asking for 'as much security as I can get', would point them in the direction of Linux, not a 12 month subscription to Norton Internet Services.
There's a great deal of money to be made from selling people third rate protection systems for their third rate OS. There is barely any money at all in sorting out people's problems once and for all and leaving them better equipped, better informed and better protected. This is the self employed IT person's conflict - do you do the job properly and do yourself out of future earnings, or do you keep people in a holding pattern and thus guarantee future work?

I have an old iPod stick (from before they started putting video screens on them) and it works perfectly with rhythmbox. Older ipods tend to work, it's the newer ones and iphones in particular, that tend not to. So, if the hardware is old enough, you don't need iTunes in order to be able to change the content on it.
I haven't bothered with spotify for some years but when it first came out the windows version installed under WINE and worked perfectly thereafter. Don't know if that still holds true.
Plenty of tutorials around for installing .exe's under WINE, but ask here if you get stuck.

Photoshop, it is alleged, can be installed and used on the Crossover software (which has to be purchased if I remember correctly).
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/crossover-linux/ (14 day free trial).

How about "Canonical will try to restrict free access to its files for all derivatives and will be all but destroyed by the resultant backlash"?

I don't understand why anyone uses Chrome/ium. I mean, it's not like Google don't have previous for dodgy behaviour.

The curse of Western society is moral apathy.

openSuSE 13.1 is rather nice - recently released.

Has the advantage of not being driven by a half mad egomaniac as Ubuntu is.

Dreadful company.

All that you posted goes hand in hand with the OS built into =/> Core i3 chips thing.
Point being - your pc can be booted and accessed and you'd never even know it. No system logs would show activity as the OS is at chip level. All it needs is a power supply (mains or battery) and wifi/ethernet.
Are they routinely spying on everyone - probably not - there's an issue of volume of data. Can they spy on you should you come to their attention - absolutely and easily.
Smartphones are the same - they're not even safe when 'turned off' - you need to take the battery out to be safe from the ability to remotely turn on the microphone/camera.
When looked at like this - it becomes obvious that with new hardware it no longer matters what OS you run - you're not safe. And given that your ISP is required, by law, to keep records of everything you do and with whom you do it, it's apparent that there is no such thing as privacy any more.

As wonderful as Linux is, it would appear to have forced the powers that be to move the surveillance-ware to the hardware level. So, by all means run Linux, or BSD, or whatever, it matters not, because the hardware now does the job that proprietary software did.
So when I hear that Intel are "embracing open source" I don't think "woot! go Linux", I think, "oh dear, now I'm even more paranoid".

Suits me.

If someone else holds the key, no matter how many times they tell you "you are free", you are not.


You appear to be getting angry and I ain't about to get into a war with you over this.

It still sounds like your supporting software anarchy. Are you against Debian & Fedora, on the basis that they are making decisions on your behalf with regard to software patching?

Firstly - what is wrong with anarchy? Or are you using "anarchy" in the currently misunderstood sense of "chaos". That is not what anarchy means.

Secondly - both those distros are not listed by the Free Software Foundation as 100% free. Debian has made some moves towards that goal and a default install is 100% free (as long as you don't then go and add the "non-free" repo). The reason for not including it is the mere existence of the non-free repo. The argument being that even to include it, though it's not enabled by default, leads users to think that such software is OK and by the FSF's standards, it isn't.
Fedora, as far as I know, includes proprietary blobs in the kernel and thus it is not 100% free, even if the final install lacks nvidia drivers, flash and all the other odds and ends.
So there are two levels of "Non-free" - the non-free that is required for hardware functionality and the non-free required to make the web the irritating, distracting place it has become.
How better to find out how free your computer is than by installing a 100% free distro? Some work, 100% out of the box, some lack functionality (usually in the wireless department). That way, at least you have a choice "do I add the package for this hardware or do I replace the hardware?" In the process you gain knowledge and understanding - in what way is this objectionable? The same goes for flash, nvidia, etc. Just because Debian, Trisquel, et al, don't add this stuff by default, doesn't mean you as a user are not free to add it if you choose - but you make the choice, it is not made for you. The more power that rests in your hands, the better and that is the basic foundation of the OpenSource movement - that the power and choice rest with you and not with someone else who may not have your best interests at heart.
If that is "anarchy" then give me more of it.

Nobody's looking down on you.

All this started because I pointed out that the person making a new distro ought to consider more than just "lazy people". That there are bigger and more important issues than mere convenience and that we already have umpteen distros that cater to "lazy people".

Linux isn't about anarchy, it's about freedom

The 'freedom' you demand is a) not freedom at all and b) is not what is meant by "freedom" in regard to OpenSource. You have taken the word "freedom" and applied your own misunderstanding to it and now use that as justification for your behaviour.

The freedom you demand is to do what you want, when you want, without regard to the wider community, the implications, the future or the truth. Sorry, that is not freedom.

The freedom that OpenSource offers is the freedom to examine, to copy, to alter and to share. The proprietary stuff you add denies all those freedoms and encourages the mindset of "hey, who cares about sharing and copying, as long as I get to have what I want". That is not freedom, that is childish and selfish. Perfectly in line with the 'consume now and let someone else clear the mess up" attitude that modern consumerism requires in order to function. It's the same mindset that says "who cares if third world children made my clothes, at least they're cheap for me to buy".
This selfish demand to have everything is what will kill Linux in the long run and those who aim to destroy Linux are well versed in the tactics of extend, embrace and extinguish. They don't mind waiting a few years, carefully encouraging people to accept proprietary code now. Watching as the distros diverge further and further from each other until all there is is a bunch of vaguely related OS's, incapable for the most part of being self sustaining, stuffed to the brim with oh so convenient blobs and apps and then they'll bring the patent lawyers into play and that will be the end of that.

For the record and because we're English and thus must explain and justify everything - it's OK to use Linux because it's technically superior to Windows. It's OK to use it because you're a contrarian. It's OK to use it for any reason you can think of.
All I said was, more people deserve to have a chance at understanding the deeper issues and this distro, as many, many others also do, do not work towards that increased understanding and as such it's just another slightly differently painted hotrod on a street overflowing with painted hotrods.

When it comes to IT, Stallman is a prophet and we learn two things from history - those who don't listen to prophets come to a sticky end and mostly, no one listens to prophets.

It's a good job I didn't complain about the dirty spoon!