I'm pretty comfortable in bash, writing scripts, etc., just not a computer science major (although I've met a few of those who could barely code, so...).

Not to argue the point, but I'm pretty sure that at least as recently as Windows 7, booting from a USB stick was not possible (I'm not referring an HDD or CD/DVD drive connected through USB, but rather specifically to USB pen-drives, e.g. similarly to Linux LiveUSB). Something makes me think that this capability was perhaps added with Windows 8, but I don't know for sure and it may be only in certain versions.

In any case, I'm leaning towards Linux.

I'm thinking that I'll go with a closed case, as I'll be running the rig in my basement, which is cool but definitely not clean-room-clean, so the dust would probably be more of an issue than the temperatures.