Casey,
Once you have the HDP 2.1 Sandbox downloaded/configured within your virtualization platform, you can use the browser of your choice from your host machine to access the Sandbox (Browser: Chrome 25+, IE 9+, Safari 6+ recommended., Sandbox will not run on IE 10/11).
For most of the command line instructions, use your favorite ssh program
SSH Access:
192.168.56.101:22
Hue UI:
Ambari UI:
http://192.168.56.101:8080 (once enabled, default is off for sandbox)
Regarding familiarity with unix, most of the tutorials instructions provide the exact commands that you need to run. If you have any questions regarding any particular tutorial or step, please feel free to ask.
-Darwin