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The best advice I have has little to do with gear. I've known people who did it with cuben-fiber fannypacks and people who did it with around 40-50lbs. Some insane motherfuckers carry double that. I know people who were able to make it work for almost $0. Some people stay in motels or hostels every night. I almost always stealthed in town. People will always be telling you how it aught to be done, what you should or shouldn't carry, what sort of mileage you should be doing, what sort of food you should be eating. Do what makes you comfortable. Carry that thing makes everyone think you're crazy. Say fuck it to trekking poles or ipods. Hike all night if you want. Do your own thing. Hike your own hike.
Make friends. So much of what makes the trail great is the social experience. If you want solitude you'll get plenty, but the people carry you through. You get to meet people from all sorts of different walks of life (though, to be fair, almost entirely white, mostly male, and predominantly either recent college grads or retirees,) and almost all of them are cool. Friends will help you hitch into town and split the cost of that motel; they make the hard times easier to bear and the good times more memorable.
Don't go too fast. If you have a schedule, that's one thing. But enjoy the journey. Take days off when the weather is perfect and you're by that perfect swimming hole (or when the weather's shit and fuck hiking out in it.) Sometimes a thirty mile day can be a lot of fun, but back to back they will destroy your body (in most cases) You'll probably meet Baltimore Jack. He's fond of telling people that he's never heard anyone say, after their journey is over, that they wished they'd got it done faster
