Best way to get started ?

Hi

I wanted some opinions before I dive in and install DB2 ( trial ) on Linux.

First of all, I want to learn the basics of DB2, with the reason being possible future app development based on DB2 ( running on os390 ).

Now, let's start with the obvious questions:

Q1) Is DB2 on Linux the same / similar to DB2 on os390 - especially in terms of the way you connect ( TCP ) and the API ( I want to use DB2.pm on Perl ).

Q2) The install docs suggest a minimum of 256MB RAM. My system reports slightly less because the SVGA onboard is borrowing about 16MB from RAM. Will this be a problem, or should I rather upgrade my RAM ( this is also my day-to-day desktop ).

Q3) Is there a non-GUI install? Reason I ask, is that I might be able to get DB2 installed on another system with 512MB RAM, but this system has no X server.

Ok, let's assume the first questions have been answered, and I installed the actual server software. Where do I go from here?

Q4) Is there any 'get you feet wet' tutorial out there ( Internet ) that can help.

Q5) What clients ( CLI and GUI ) can anybody suggest - that will run on Linux?

Finally, has anybody used DBD::DB2? How stable is it? It works with DB2 v8, yes?

Thanks a million!

Cheers