William,
I'd recommend Mint. Olivia is a darling! Except that it's built on Ubuntu and if that won't work in your infrastructure, nor will Mint.
I wonder what the issue is? Very new hardware? Driver versioning hell?
FWIW we've been using Linux variants for years without any serious issues at all. Linux email servers, PBX, database, file servers, firewalls, Spam traps, etc etc etc ... with or without GUI, working beautifully year after year. Also FWIW, we have a contractor in the office today who runs Linux on his machine with a Windows Virtual machine for VFP, SQL Server etc. Swears by it. Is your hardware up to that?
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
