Pedja (et al);
Jesse spaketh:
While the Linux learning curve can be steep, there are a lot of great guys you can reach out to for assistance. They helped me.
I have several resources available online for amprnet usage, mainly linux based. I just finished writing a white page document explaining the ax25/netrom config files in a more "layman's" term for those who aren't as well versed in linux as others. I also have a tool online for configuring Source Address FilterED (SAFED) gateways, Xnet documents in english, and some other goodies. I'll be migrating them all into a single reference point when I can find all the documents and can put them all together. Most of them are at http://n1uro.ampr.org under things to 'do'. A couple may be under things to 'see'. If you're not that comfortable in a linux environment, these may help ease the pains.
Welcome to the amprnet!