This image primer isn't bad. It covers a lot of the basics.
Or how to get to where the action is if you get spawned far away from it (without running forever on foot)
I'd say there are three main ways.
The first is the Instant Action option on the map screen (just hit M to bring up the map). Find one of the big flashing stars that indicates a current hotspot. You can drop directly onto one of these every 30 minutes. Note that a site being a hotspot doesn't mean there is much actual fighting or that your side is even present there. It's also pretty buggy and I've more often dropped into the wrong fight than not in the last week. I'd say this is a last resort.
The second is hitching a lift with a Galaxy or other transport. I'd always recommend a Galaxy. This puts you quickly on the front lines with at least a few allies along for the ride. I'd recommend this most of the time, especially if you can find a squad/platoon/outfit that communicates
The third is flying or driving yourself. Even just grabbing a cheap Flash can shrink distances considerably, and the fighters are even better. For me this is most likely if I find myself stranded at an allied base behind the front lines with no other options, if there are absolutely no allied Galaxies loading up, or if I have been isolated from my current squad and just want to get back to them fast. Just head straight for the border between factions and you should find either fighting or an unguarded base to try to cap yourself. Pretty soon you will learn where the major combat hotspots are and where to head for guaranteed fighting based on the current front line.
Once you are in combat you should always be able to respawn at the closest current spawn point held by your side. If you are in a sector you can choose any spawn you currently control. If there are nearby deployed Galaxies you can choose any of them. If you don't have any spawns in your sector you will only have the closest allied spawn (although this sometimes bugs for me and sends me to the extreme north west). At any time you can respawn back at your warpgate.
There is also the option to deploy to a squad beacon, but that's of limited use unless you have a well organised squad in the first place.
I have made a spreadsheet so we can get a hold of how many players we have that are from B12. And I guess we can use it for other things too.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmqRIjfuhTTJdFJPRFh3ZGNaZGFCTXNmQlY0YWw3LVE#gid=0
I'd remove station name from that. Maybe allow your PS2 forum name, but station name is your account logon and should really be something different from your characters and forum name to help secure your account. Less vital for a F2P like PS2, but still good practice.
Recently got into the beta through that Curse key giveaway but unfortunately the game runs at 1-3 fps anywhere near a battle no matter how much I tweak. Runs at 30-45 outside of battles though. Has anyone else had better performance with something similar to or crappier than a pentium D 820 (2.80GhZ dual core)?
Dual cores have been getting really poor performance I'm afraid, and no-one I've seen on the forums have been reporting good performance with a Pentium. Things might get better with optimisation and more tweaks being available.