One of the challenges with Linux is that bug fixes can be slow to be developed and there can be issues when libraries are updated in a component of a distro in a different time cycle from other parts and therefore break software. For example, in Qgis there is a version of it that depends on a library package called Ubuntugis which is a specific branch of the Ubuntu community. Problems occur from time to time when Ubuntugis packages are updated on a different cycle from ubuntu itself or Qgis.
I have had NVidia graphics cards in several computers for a number of years. When I was still running Windows I had a quad head NVidia card in mainpc and although NVidia does produce their own drivers for Linux, there were issues with these that led me to take this card out and instead have a 2 head Gigabyte NVidia card costing $50 using the open source Nouveaux driver instead. However this seems to be difficult to keep updated and cause problems with other software, notably Google Earth. The latest issue was when an update to some of the xorg components (the basis of the X11 graphics package) had problems with the Nouveaux driver preventing a screen from being rotated.
Fortunately Intel graphics are well supported with Intel themselves being willing to develop open source drivers for Linux and as a result I was able to remove the NVidia card from mainpc and just rely on the onboard graphics which also of course lets me use the later versions of Google Earth.
