[Inori]

Dell decided to be annoying and not send me a recovery USB for my laptop until February, so I'm installing Kali on it as we speak. Is there anything I should know? Things to expect? Tools I should learn how to use?

[Vi-Sion]

I think you'll learn while using it, every time you encounter a problem or get stuck on something,google it or ask for help if google wasn't enough

[Pikami]

If you havent used linux than you can start from learning basic linux commands.
The thing with kali is that it's essentialy debian with a shit load of tools and a custom kernel.
If you want to learn about the tools you should first think about what you want to achieve and than use google to find witch tool is best for the job.
If you want to do pen-testing, you can download a pre-built vunrable VM and try to hack it.
If you want to crack your own WiFi password you can search google for tutorials.
There are a shit load of tutorials on the internet, just think of something that you want to do and google it. If you run into any problems, you have this wonderful community to help you.
Good luck!

[Skullmeat]

Know your basic Debian commands. That will be a huge help.

[Inori]

Know your basic Debian commands. That will be a huge help.

I'll be fine, then

[Skullmeat]

Know your basic Debian commands. That will be a huge help.

I'll be fine, then

Also, brush up on tools like aircrack... they are sort of the core of the kali tool set.

[DarkMuse]

Whelp. Be prepared for the biggest pain in your ass right when you least expect it. I use kali as a side os and let me tell you, it breaks every 8 months or so, full restore needed. You may be able to fix it should the need ever arise and it may just be my environment but just be prepared for that. If I'm not mistaken, the website says somewhere that it is not meant to be used as a regular os and should be only used for the toolbox that it is.

Besides that?
Debian commands
BACK UP YOUR SHIT. ALWAYS. TWICE.
Learn some new tools, theres even a wordlist gen in the repository.

Have fun, tread carefully and come prepared

[d0ntjump]

A good place to start is aircrack-ng, nmap, wifite, reaver, hydra and armitage. Learning those programs should keep you busy for awhile. Be cautious to upgrade packages once you get Kali installed and running smoothly. Don't go upgrade crazy with 'sudo apt-get upgrade' and 'sudo apt-get dist-upgrade' or you will spend a lot of time trying to figure out what trashed your system. Have a backup like @DarkMuse said. Another good distro is ParrotOS is you don't like Kali. It has a great setup for beginners. Happy hacking!

[mothered]

If @roger_smith Is available to post his thoughts, he'd give a pretty good rundown on Kali Linux.

That said, there's some very good advice given already.

[Bish0pQ]

If you know basic Debian commands, you'll be fine. Let me warn you though, first time you run "sudo apt-get upgrade (and update)" it will take quite some time depending on connection speed. It tooks me almost 2 hours until everything was updated. It's pretty straightforward, what Kali are you using, the rolling edition or the regular one?