KSP is delaying the 64-bit windows port for a while, at least past 1.0. The 32-bit Windows KSP version is a bit cramped. You install too many mods and the game will crash. It's hard to work out the balance point. On the KSP forums and on reddit, sometime people suggest switching to Linux. Someone is having problems playing a game and someone basically suggests learning Unix. Then the thread dies.
Linux (even if you've used it for a decade) is hard. Especially getting all the things to work properly. I used three different distros until I got AMD video drivers to work correctly and even now I'm not sure. You can have an easy time installing Linux. Maybe you got lucky on your hardware. Having a bad time in Linux is crazy-pants-party-time. You have to know a lot of commands just to collect information on what is going on.
Try a sprinkle of empathy.
So I wrote down what I did since I'm wiping my Linux partition over and over again. I hope this helps someone. Maybe