Been on ubuntu since 06 with Dapper Drake
Stay with the LTS versions if you can. I'm still on 16 LTS, as I normally wait a couple of months after an new LTS comes out to let the initial bugs/kinks get worked out before I switch over my machines.
Lot's of great free software packages that can do just about anything a windows box can.
I couldn't live without these
gimp
avidemux
handbrake
krename
filezilla
libreoffice
openshot video editor
