Trying to understand

[RodeoGoat]

Information overload! Anyways, so instead of waiting ages for faucets to get me part of something... anything even to transfer out, I decided to go ahead and buy part of a BTC from Coinbase. So here is where I get confused. To get altcoins do I need to buy them with the part of a bitcoin and then trade and then have the alt coins transferred back to BTC before I can put them in my wallet? I've searched around the forum but still confused. Can a wallet hold anything but BTC? I know there is a ton more learning going on, but it just seems like a hassle to change the BTC in and out to trade and make money as a total noob.

my brain hurts.

[SlidingHorn]

To get altcoins do I need to buy them with the part of a bitcoin

No you do not.  You can actually mine them yourself using your CPU or GPU, depending on the coin.  If you don't want to mine, then yes, you'll have to purchase the altcoins on an exchange.

Can a wallet hold anything but BTC?

Each altcoin has its own wallet.  You can download them in their respective announcement threads.

Hope this helps!

[RodeoGoat]

Awesome thanks for the help!

[cp1]

You can purchase them with BTC on exchanges.  Each altcoin will have its own wallet client.  Some of them have trojans.

[pkmoney]

Yes please make sure to virus scan everything.