Well, it depends. RH is pretty and has flashy gui apps and such. I had my first taste of linux on RH. But, in my opinion, that wasn't the best idea. It goes back to the old debate on how to teach a child to swim. Do you tell them things bit by bit, leaving off complicated details until they really need them? Or do you opt to instead throw them in the water and make them learn, figuring that they'll be better off later? In my experience, the first way is better for swimming lessons, but the second is better for linux.

That's why I affirm the reccomendation to free-style it, but I also reccomend checking out slackware. I learned a lot from slackware. No fancy guis, but a lot of good old-fashioned command line learning. Switch to the flashyapps when you know what's going on under the hood. Then, you're both flashy and knowledgeable. Tada!