Linux has evolved quite a bit since it began, until today, there are many distributions to choose from. If you want a pure Linux experience, which works simply and without all the frills, menus, and handholding, use Slackware !! :-) Slackware stills tries to adhere to the original linux and unix, and has been kept simple and straightforward, which is the best to learn on.

To answer your question, first:
mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdb1 # make a ext4 filesystem, on the first partition of the second hard drive
mount -t ext4 /dev/sdb1 /perforce

If there was no /dev/sdb1, then fdisk /dev/sdb and create /dev/sdb1, or mkfs directly on /dev/sdb, which is seldom done. Normally /dev/sdb is split into partitions, /dev/sdb1, /dev/sdb2, ..... etc