Posting in forum as @whirm requested, Questions about transferring files between installs of Tribler, also between different Operating Systems in case that’s a different case.
HOW do you transfer files between installs?
I am running Windows 10, and have been wanting to start learning Linux- I have Ubuntu 14LTS and 15 (recommendations welcome, even if that’s a different distro) which I’m willing to setup either as a dual boot once I get some install driver stuff figured out.
Can’t help with the transferring files question, but I can recommend trying Linux Mint for a distro. I’ve been using it for several years now, and find that a very easy distro, with all the benefits of Ubuntu under the hood but a much more user-friendly (in my experience) default desktop than Unity! I prefer Mate but some like Cinnamon. Give it a try and see what you think. There’s a good set of community forums for it, and IRC channels (but the forums are better for getting questions answered). I find that you don’t have to use the command line for the anything ordinary–but it makes it easy to start using it some without feeling overwhelmed by it.
Ok, before starting have in mind that I’ve never done this before, but in theory it should work just fine 
The main issue here would be the paths on the config files and dlstatus/
%APPDATA%\Roaming\.Tribler should be copied to ~/.Tribler
and Documents\Downloads/TriblerDownloads to ~/Downloads/TriblerDownloads
Then you will need to edit all the .conf files in ~/.Tribler/ and update or remove any lines containing windows paths (They will be regenerated to the Linux counterpart automatically by Tribler)
Then it comes the fun part: All the files in dlcheckpoints contain the download path for that specific download, and as you are coming from windows, the paths will be all wrong.
The good news is that you are running a real OS™ now and you have tools at your disposition to easily fix the paths.
I would run something like this on the command line (terminal):
find ~/.Tribler/dlcheckpoints/ -name "*.state" -exec sed -i 's~^saveas = .*$~saveas = /home/YOURUSER/Downloads/TriblerDownloads~' {} \;
This will go through all your .state files and will replace each line starting with saveas = with a line with the right download path.
Remember to replace YOURUSER with your user name!
After this, I think you should be able to start Tribler with no issues.
Tell me if you get in trouble, this can be a very useful post for people migrating to Linux.
I would also recommend Mint (I use Debian SID myself, but it’s not the best thing for newbies :D).
The upgrade system they have is the best I’ve seen for people who just want a stable, trouble-less system. My GF has been running it on her laptop for over a year now with regular updates and has had zero issues so far (The same can’t be said about her previous Ubuntu system).
She uses the KDE edition. KDE is one of the most powerful and customizable desktop environments out there, but it’s definitely not the most lightweight.
I used to run KDE years ago before moving to Awesome (Not recommended for starters either).
Just try all the different desktop editions live CDs and stick with the one you like the most.
Also, if you have more questions about this, let’s move to the Off-topic category 
Awesome thanks! I’ve just printed this son once I learn enough I don’t lose it!