First of all, I'd buy the software from Eclipse directly.  That way, there will be no problems.  Second of all, try to buy a computer that has Windows 7 on it.  I've heard there are lots of issues with Windows 8.  You don't need that hassle when first starting out.

I'm sure there are some online courses you can take.  The scopist I trained, I just gave her a few easy jobs and she just jumped in.  I then would send her the errors she was making and what to watch out for.  I'd send the job back afterwards for her to look at.  Training her was a huge pain in the butt.  Took a good full year before I could give her one of my "real jobs." 

The fact you're an ex-reporter, at least you hopefully have a concept of how to edit transcripts and what they should basically look like.  Every reporter has their own style and how they want stuff set up; i.e., quoted material, blurbs in transcript, etc.

Let me know if you have any more questions.  You can get great prices on computers at Amazon.com.  That's where I bought my last laptop for $465.00.  Pretty cheap.