The "Linux Box" is finished, and there are problems.

So, my plan was to use Linux Mint on a separate computer and use my Windows 10 PC purely for gaming. I mean, it makes sense.

But ...

I can't get my USB microphone working on Linux; even though it shows up in the device list, even with the volume all the way up, there's nothing. This microphone worked flawlessly the last time I installed Linux Mint, but it doesn't work now.

Audacity won't load on Linux; instead, it just hangs at the splash screen or shows an error saying that it's not responding. Again, this is something that worked really well the last time I installed Linux Mint, but for no apparent reason, it won't work now.

And lastly, I "transplanted" the hard drive that has all my music and whatnot from my Windows 10 PC into the Linux PC, only to find that it mounts the drive as read-only and only has root access. I have no idea why and have no idea how to fix that.

I have googled and googled and googled and googled and googled and googled and googled and googled and googled and googled and googled and googled and googled and googled myself to tears trying to find the solutions to these problems, but to no avail.

I don't know why they won't work, but I really wish I did.