Well, for your first guitar, my advice is - get something cheap(!). At least until you know whether you'd like to keep on playing or not. No need to burn loads of cash on something expensive that you just end up selling at a loss.
I'd recommend a guitar with at least one humbucker pickup (you can choose from a wide range of upgrades later if you decide the sound isn't satisfactory). I'd also recommend getting a guitar with a fixed bridge (no tremolo). The tremolo will just be an unneseccary diversion while you're trying to learn - and it's harder to tune and maintain, or will go out of tune easilly (depends on type and manufacture). Epiphones are pretty good guitars nowadays, and you should be able to get one used for a fairly small amount of money.
"The pedal" you say? Hmm...there's a _jungle_ of guitar effect pedals out there: You have distorion pedals, wah-wah's, multieffect boxes, etc, etc. A nice distortion pedal is a good way to start. Later you may be interested in a multi effects unit.
How to play from notes: While I can read notation for the violin, I never bothered to learn it for the guitar, and I think the same goes for most of the hobby guitarists out there. Learning notation is very useful once you decide to get serious, but it's not a must IMO.
Amps: See response about pedals - jungle situation. A crappy little combo amp could get you started just fine. You'll know when you need something better. Having said that, you can also just use headphones out of a multieffect box - but obviously that won't work in a band situation. If I should dare to recommend something, well...I have a liking for Marshalls myself. They may be a bit on the pricey side though(?). I haven't checked their pricing in quite a while... =P
'bane
