Thinking About Switching To Linux But Have Some Questions

So total Linux noob here, so I apologize for poor wording or not being able to understand anything!

So I want to love Linux (mint, btw) I really do, but my one problem is that I can't run games because, despite having the HDMI cord running through the graphics card, Linux is for some reason using the Intel integrated graphics as a renderer. Now, I have no tools to totally confirm this (I primarily use MSI Afterburner on windows) other than noticing that any linux games I have run sort of poorly (none of the games I have for linux other than Witcher 2 are demanding enough to be obvious). So how do I (or can I even) use my AMD card as a renderer? After looking around for solutions, I've picked up that AMD/Linux support is sort of poor, but is it really excluding me from using my card at all?! Thanks!

Hello, y'all with vast Linux knowledge, I've built my own gaming desktop, here are the specs:
1-MOBO Asus M5A78L-M LX Plus
2-AMD Radeon Graphics R9 270, 2GB DDR5 Memory
3-2 Hyper X Memory Cards totalling 16 Gb of RAM

Have installed and runninbg Zorin 9.0 Ultimate (Ubuntu 14.4) - MY PROBLEM, I am unable to downlolad any games especially "Minecraft", "League of Legends" and a host of other games on "Steam". I have Wine Geko (32 bit) 2.1 version installed and have Winetricks as well, when I open it I can install a host of games, however, nothing is installed. This is the last straw for me, I have no clue what to do do being a Newbie and unfortunately the folks at "Zoringroup/helpdesk" have been absolutely useless as well. Thanks.

I am completely new to Linux. Ready to get as much advice and tips as anyone can offer. First, which version should I install? Are the free online versions safe and functional? I am running windows 8.1 on a laptop. Would prefer to install, if possible, any type of Linux on USB or disk. If not possible, use a partition. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Hello all, before I get started I just want to make it clear that I have done hours of research on the question I'm about to ask, so... lol

Anyway, I am completely-totaly new to linux, of all forms, have been a Windows XP Pro guy for years now, and it's what I know inside and out.

Well that's beat, even though I still am using it, and I can't afford a new pc or a new windows cd. I'm broke for now. Besides all that, I like linux so far from what I ahve been woking with. (xubuntu)

[QUESTIONS]:

I bought a notebook from a very desperate crackhead for $20:

Compaq Presario x1000
(not much ram, i think only 256 or 512)
-It's slow as #$@%, but I managed to install Xubuntu on it, and it still sucks. Very. Very slow. I cant watch any videos on it or really do anything other than just look up websites, and that sucks too.

Sorry, nevermind that above, I am just stating that so you see what my first Linux introduction has been. This is what I have got used to so far, and I seem to like it.

I am not at all concerned with this notebook at this point. However, what I am concerned with, and this is my main question:

I have a Desktop:

P4 2.6 GHz /1.5 GB Ram
- I have XP Pro SP3 installed on the 1st partition and I installed Ubuntu v14.xxx (very latest version) on the 2nd partition.

It's extremely slow, but XP runs just fine. I chose the first option upon install where it does the auto-setup running alongside XP.

So far I do not really like it. I have no start menu like I had on the notebook in the upper left hand corner, and I kind of like that.

Well through messing around I'm guessing that is something called: xfce ? Not sure.

Anyway, sorry for rambling about, but here is my MAIN QUESTION:

What Distro of Linux should I install on this PC where it will run nice and fast/smooth?

~thankyou.

Hi, my name is Daniel & I've been considering trying out Linux. A friend of mine says he's got Linux's Ubuntu, & says he really likes it. I've got experience building computers, & Computer Networking. I've got a Desktop w/a free (empty, unformatted) 150 GB Seagate HDD, so I'd like to try using that HDD for a version of Linux. I'm running Win. 7 Ultimate on my primary drive, but I had to install the Win. 7 Ult. 32 bit disc for it to run successfully. I'm considering a dual boot system.

The System I built has an ASUS (A8N-SLI) 64 bit, Socket 939, NVidia N-Force4 Motherboard, w/an AMD, Athlon XP 4000+ 64 bit CPU. I've got 2 ASUS/NVidia G-Force N6800GT PCI Express Graphics Cards, w/256 MB DDR3 RAM each (using my SLI). I've got 2-1 GB 184 pin sticks of Corsair 3200+, 400 Mhz, CL-2 DDR-RAM. I' ve also got a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 Sound System (4.1), w/internal PCI Card & external control box that runs w/Fire Wire. I've also got an Acer 24" Digital monitor, & 1 CD/DVD Burner,& 1 NEC Dual Layer DVD Burner.
I went into detail, just in case my system has something requiring a certain version of Linux. My main problem is, I don't know anything about coding, so I guess I need a version of Linux w/a robust GUI. I thank you in advance for your time & consideration. I look forward to hearing from you. -)

Since I have not found a solution to my intermittent boot problem I'm thinking of reinstalling Linux Mint, switching to a different Linux distribution, or turning back to the dark side, i.e. Windows. This was my first Linux install and I was really impressed with the OS and the applications. I like Linux Mint but I want a reliable computer and if I cannot even get it to boot properly then that's a long-term concern.

The problem with a reinstall of Linux Mint is that I don't know what to do differently. I don't know what, if anything, I did wrong the first time. Of course, switching to a different distribution is also a crap shoot since I don't know what went wrong with Mint. I don't really want to go back to Windows but it's been a stable, reliable OS for me for years.

Anyone have any advice?

Hello everyone, I am a beginner Linux user. I have a had very little experience with it and would very much like to know more. Eventually I want to have my computer running strictly Linux.

I have experimented with a few distributions but almost all of them have had issues with my current setup. I always have trouble setting up the drivers for my video card and mouse. I have dabbled in Ubuntu(primarily), Fedora and Linux Mint.

My question is which distribution would you all suggest I use based upon my specs.

My System Specs:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 925 @ 2.80 Ghz
RAM: 8 GB of DDR3
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6870 w/ 1GB VRAM
Ethernet: Killer Xeno Pro 2100 & On-Board
Mouse: R.A.T 5

If anything else is needed to help determine the right distro please let me know.

All help is much appreciated.

Hello I'm real new to Linux mint 17 and I was wondering why some games work and some don't. Are they for different operating systems? The games that do work are really good so far. And also what should I do if the operating system hangs up just turn off the computer or is there something else I should do?

Hi, all, I am new to the forum and quite new to Linux, I am running Mint and Kali from a USB drive, all is going well with with the software and I am starting to find my way around it.

So, now to my question, I have 15 machines which all run from a CF card and the card has multiple partitions and is a Windows Embedded XP, not that the operating system makes any difference, I need to upgrade all the CF cards from 2gb to 4gb, so unfortunately Windows isn't an option to use to copy the drives as it doesn't recognise multiple partitions on a removable drive, so I cant just remove the drive, clone it and fit the new one.

What I need is a method of cloning the drive completely with both partitions, I have read about dd but cant seem to see anything about doing this with multiple partitions, as Linux sees it as two drives when I plug it in, how can I use dd or anything else to clone the drive which is bootable and has two partitions?

At some point I would like to automate the process as I could have many of these machines/drives to upgrade, is there a way to write a program that will automatically back up the drives from a USB drive and then reinstall it, I have seen this done before but I am not sure if this method did the whole drive, just the main drive or all partitions?

Good day everyone,

I'm currently a student and as far as I'm aware I still need windows for some program I need, but I am going over to Linux.
(Thus I'm running Windows 8 at this moment)

Today I was going to install Ubuntu 14.04.01 alongside Windows 8, everything went well till I hit the 4th step (Installation type page) of the installation:

A message like follows showed:
"This computer currently has Debian GNU/Linux (Kali Linux 1.0.7) on it. What would you like to do?"

There are then 3 options available:
1) Install Ubuntu alongside Debian GNU/Linux (Kali Linux 1.0.7)
2) Replace Debian GNU/Linux (Kali Linux 1.0.7) with Ubuntu
3 and 4 is greyed out.
5) Something else (You can create resize partitions yourself, or choose multiple partitions for Ubuntu.

I just want to make sure what option to choose, I cant afford to lose all my data and windows.

Problem: Showing Kali Linux as current OS and not Windows 8.

Possible reason for showing Kali Linux as current OS:
I have a live CD of Kali Linux and ran it a few times in the past, but according to my knowledge it shouldn't have changed anything.

Maybe the 1st option is still the right one even though the current OS isn't listed right? Or the 3rd option is like a manual setting I guess.

Thanks for the time reading and helping!