With Windows 8 looming on the horizon and many game developers http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/08/microsoft-defends-windows-8/ with the new OS, I decided that now is as good a time as any to start using Ubuntu as my primary OS. I have a spare 500GB external drive and after some finagling (12.04 refused to install so I had to install 11.10 and then upgrade) I am now up and running. I downloaded the Play On Linux app and I'm installing Diablo 3 as I type this. I think I will wait to install Steam until there is an official version of it released (which should be soon). Hopefully more game developers go this route and start including OpenGL paths in their games.

I have my computer hooked up to my TV so if anyone could suggest a good HTPC program I would be eternally grateful. Also, does anyone have any tips for running games or recommendations for software I should install? Eventually I would like to get rid of Windows 7 as well but I don' t think that will happen for a while.

I personally am just going to stick with Windows 7 until it becomes outdated. While I like linux, we know that not EVERY game dev is going with it, which won't help me one bit.

Don't. Ubuntu is filled with horrid bloat. I can offer a few suggestions here

• If you want to dive straight into the world of GNU/Linux and have a little bit of time, without a doubt, give Gentoo a try. Read the Gentoo Handbook/Installation Docs, and make sure to ask questions in the #gentoo freenode room if you get stuck.
  
• If you don't want to compile everything from source, and start from sratch, give Debian a try.
  
• If you don't want a bloated desktop environment and are too lazy to configure openbox and the like, I'd recommend CrunchBang.

But.. whatever you do.. avoid Ubuntu like the plague. It is horrible, bloated, bug-ridden, and using it teaches you nothing about GNU/Linux, so you will be unfamiliar with how your OS works; unfamiliar with your now PRIMARY OS. The reason I would recommend Debian and Crunchbang (Debian with Openbox, Tint2, and a few other utils and libs) is because they both use aptitude, which is the same package manager that Ubuntu uses, and Ubuntu is based on Debian.

If you have any further questions regarding packages I'd recommend, feel free to ask. I'd stay away from anything that comes with GNOME or KDE.

Hmmm. You are the first Ubuntu hater I have ever met (insofar as it is possible to "meet" someone on a forum). I chose it because that is what Valve is using as a development platform for the linux version of Steam. However, they did say they would make a version for other distros as well so I will look into Crunchbang, that one looks promising.

I am running Crunchbang right as I type this. It is an excellent and very solid distro, especially if you don't feel like configuring everything you'd normally have to configure or if you don't know how to. Also, I promise that Steam should be a complete nonissue to you on Crunchbang or Debian. They might be using Ubuntu as their development platform, but there is not that big of a difference when comparing Ubuntu to Debian as say, comparing Ubuntu to FreeBSD or Solaris, or even Ubuntu to Slackware.

I really can't stress enough how horrible Ubuntu is. Maybe do an Ubuntu server install or whatever the name of the base install is, but that's about as far as I'd go with Ubuntu, and even then, I'd rather do the same style install with Debian.

If you imagine GNU/Linux systems like a bicycle, Ubuntu would basically have 40 giant diamond-plated training wheels on both sides. Sure, you technically can learn how to use the CLI and the filesystem structure, but there is absolutely no reason for you to get out of bad practices which add even more bloat to your system. Not trying to trash on your distro that you just installed, I just can't really overstate how much I didn't learn with Ubuntu/Mint and how much I learned the second I migrated to Debian.

I've never used Ubuntu, though me and my family have tried many many MANY different source ports over the years. Although I have no personal favorite (I'm generally happy with anything that's Debian-based and not bloated) my oldest brother has very high opinions about Linux Mint, so as long as you're trying Ubuntu, maybe you should give that a shot..?

Ubuntu may have its own repos but AFAIK it is still largely based on Debian.

EDIT: I just looked up Crunchbang on Wikipedia. Holy hell, this is everything I've ever wanted in a single Linux distro. I wonder how I've missed this...?

It's cool, I am a self-proclaimed Linux noob so I need all the suggestions I can get.

I think that's the whole point, something that people can use without worrying about delving into that stuff.

I can't recall ever reading comments disparaging Ubuntu. I thought it was great, I didn't really notice any bloat. Maybe because I haven't used any other Linux distros, I have nothing to compare it to besides Windows XP (still on XP here )

I think most users will find most everything they need in Ubuntu right out of the box. I have considered Kubuntu, but I think that one is definitely a bloated comptared to Ubuntu.

I've been thinking about giving Xubuntu or Lubuntu a whirl, but maybe I'll check out the Crunchbang . . .

Though personally I prefer Mint, it looks nicer than ubuntu, it's clean and fast, and that would be my preferred linux distro.

After all of this time, that statement is actually largely untrue, now. Some Ubuntu .deb packages might be compatible with Debian, and perhaps a few packages in the repos, but enough work has been made in opposite directions as to where the vast majority of Ubuntu packages are completely incompatible with Debian as-is, and require slight reworking or modification.

There's also http://www.linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php, which is essentially Debian Testing (even uses the same software repositories) with different default software. Has the advantage of being rolling release, which means all components are constantly updated, rather than having a new OS edition released every six months.

EDIT: Personally, I used Fedora for years, but switched to Arch Linux a couple of months ago. I didn't like the direction Fedora seemed to be going, and I was tired of having to reinstall every year.

I really wanted to like LMDE. The problem with it now is that the packages need to be LMDE packages, some Debian packages are now incompatible. On its own you have to go through an additional level of abstraction than just going rolling with Debian. It's not worth it in the least.