Sounds like you're getting there, professor.
About the throttle - just make sure you have a good kill switch. Last week I rode home on the kill switch, with the carb slide stuck full open. A kill switch is a good thing.
I'm envious - wish I had a welder. I started my working life, before I discovered electronics, as a panel beater, so I'm pretty comfortable with oxy-acetylene and arc welding, not this new-fangled MIG.
Linux... I'm a computer programmer among other things, (such as a big kid).
I used to specialise in microcontroller programming, circuit design etc., mainly for industrial process control). Still play around a little, but I don't work any more.
Everyone used to tell me to get Linux, but those days are past.
I used to love MS-DOS, too and thought it was wonderful at the time.
Even earlier, I started 25 or more years ago, on a Tandy TRS-80 CoCo > (Colour (color) Computer). A whole 2K of RAM, no such thing as a hard drive - an audio casette recorder for program storage. I thought this one was truly magical. Remember?
Nowadays, unless you're doing hard-core stuff, (not porn), Linux is more of a hindrance than a help.
Says Steve, as he sits here typing on his 300MHz, 128MB RAM, Win98 machine using a dial-up connection.
Keep us posted on the project and don't electrocute yourself.
... Steve