i have not downloaded Fedora core 1, so i can't coment about that, however i started out using Redhat 8, and soon after bought a boxed-copy of Redhat 9.
i was just starting out with linux about a year and a half ago, and redhat was extremely easy to get used to. after the first week in the redhat bluecurve GNOME desktop i felt a loss when i was running windows. it is soo customizable, configurable, and user-friendly (although overwhelming at first).
if you have any questions about using any distro of linux, please ask!
also...i just thought about it...
you said you made a 10gb partition for your linux install? you might want to think about makeing at least a 500mb partition for your swap partition.