Linux Mint is great. I recommend it for a lot of people coming from windows because it doesn't try to be radically different like Ubuntu or Gnome. It's very traditional in it's choices, and it runs well. You shouldn't have to mess around with complex sed commands to get things to work. If something doesn't work, go and file a bug and get someone else to do the work to get it working. Normally this would be done by the hardware manufacturer, but obviously we can't expect them to do it and we can't expect normal humans to do it either. That's why people exist that get involved in open source projects working on stuff. By just filing a bug, you're helping! There may even already be a bug. https://bugs.launchpad.net/linuxmint/bug/1185593
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/source/linux/+bug/967399 Really, if at any point you're starting to modify init scripts or install weird binaries or whatever, and it's not listed as a workaround on launchpad, I'd say avoid it. For your color issues, I would like to know what video chip it uses, as there may be an easy fix. Oh, and for games, I use steam.