I would like to practice installing Gentoo from scratch since I like the idea of the distro, but I’m quite new to Linux at all and only had experience with Debian. I suppose my very basic knowledge of terminal isn’t enough to install Gentoo, even with the handbook. So, what would you recommend to learn or practice before I actually try installing Gentoo? Also, any specific tips on installing Gentoo inside a VM?
Nope. The gentoo handbook is VERY good. Don’t skip parts on it and you can install a gentoo. You really don’t need very advanced terminal skills to get gentoo up and running. So long as you understand basics like cd/nano/ls/cat then you can pretty easily do the entire handbook.
One thing to realize is that you can always go backwards and fix things if you make a mistake. Nothing is permanent. If you get into a “why isn’t this working” state, just go back and see if you’ve skipped something.