The terminal can be a bit intimidating at first, but if you don't mind a bit of a learning curve, it can be very useful. (It's one of those things where it's often easier *if* you know what you're doing, but *looks* scary if you don't). I'll try to find a link or two to a intro tutorial, just so you can get around in it, anyhow. A few basic notes:
-Root is like the windows Administrator user - it can do anything, so make sure you know what you're doing if you are using the root account.
-If you're following a tutorial, copy everything *verbatim* it matters! (case-sensitive and all the rest)
-If you're unsure about what something does, type in the command, and --help after it. That will usually give you instructions.
-If in doubt, Google, then ask.

As for Easy Debian, I don't recall it being terribly difficult to install - if you follow the instructions to the letter, you should be fine (although understanding what you're doing would be better in the long run)

Update: Here's a tutorial - there are plenty more, but this one should suit. Note that in some cases, Maemo comes with a subset of certain tools, or slimmed-down versions, so not everything on desktop Linux will be exactly the same as on the tablet.