I completely agree with Kane about quality over quantity. BUT I would like to point out that the way most people do Rip's Starting Strength and the way they conceive of it is NOT about quality but most definitely about quantity. So keep that in mind....anything volume routine that is about reps and sets, as most beginner routines are, by definition is about quantity unless you make a concious effort to change that. In this case it would be to not load the bar while form is turing into complete do-do
and concieve of different ways to progress that allow you to emphasize the "quality" aspect of it rather than the "just get all your reps at whatever cost".
In this case I would not advize you to test your 1RM. It won't do you any good. You will just get a relatvie test of your ability on that day and being new it it you could likely hurt yourself in the process. You need to really learn and groove in the lifts first. Plus once you get started you strength will be changing so quickly that the initial 1RM test will become quite useless. By the same token if you try to start with TOO high an intensity you won't be able to progress very long without hitting a wall. All you need to worry about is progressive overload. The idea is not to make every workout the be all and end all but to see an accumulation of progress over a long string of workouts.
In the future there will come a time when you can start thinking more in terms of intensity alone but right now is not the time. Call this the honeymoon phase where you get better at the movements while getting stronger.
It's a good program but it's not perfect for everyone. No program is. Keep your mind open while doing it and don't think you have to keep plugging away while things are breaking down. I'm not going to get into any modifications or warnings because lots of people have made this program into part of a dogmatic belief system and I don't want to argue religion
You should be good to go for the first month or more. But I would advize you to learn the basic lifts first and NOT as part of a progressive routine but as part of a period of PRACTICE. Learning the lifts while programming them is one thing I DON'T agree with. This idea comes from a COACHING standpoint and is not appropriate for individuals coaching themselves.