whats the problem you are having? i use to have that a long time ago when i used linux lol. send me a PM and i will try my best to help ya out
Use and love GIMP, though I'm no expert. Open Source rules! What's the hangup? We don't know if we can help unless you describe your problem. Maybe one of us has overcome the same thing.
Pay if you want-- there are lots of nice free tutorials out there. For the most part, I find Photoshop tutorials work as well for me. Gimp's pretty similar. It's nicer to explain the problem out in the forum so that other people with similar problems can read the solutions too. : )