just beginningwith linux, f spot, gimp, no interest in esoterics, just basics how can i save an image for web or e mail, also, how can i batch edit images? thanks much

Im guessing you're familiar with some other software that has the option to 'save for web' or some similar option? Unfortunately Gimp doesn't specifically label an option when saving, but you can achieve the same result. There isnt anything special about 'saving for web', its just a term someone made for saving a file at a lower resolution. When you save things for the web, generally that saves files at a lesser resolution and greater compression, so the end result is that the file is smaller, which is easier to move around and email with slow internet connections.

To do this in Gimp:
Open the image you want to convert in Gimp.
Select File> Save as...
Find the location you want to save it to.
Down at the bottom you will see 'Select file type (by extension) click that and select JPEG Image. Click Save.
This is where you can select how detailed you want to save the file. The higher the detail, the larger the file. About half way should be ok.
If you want to change the actual resolution of an image, i.e. the dimensions, you can click on the main image window in GIMP, then click Image>Scale Image, then decrease the image width and height. click scale to make the change, and then save the file.

As far as batch editing Images, im not sure what you mean. Gimp can handle opening multiple files at once, simply by dragging and dropping them on the main window.