Hey all, I've owned BG1/2 for a while now, but never got a chance to play it.
I had heard that the EE releases were initially problematic, with bugs, gameplay changes, and new characters that didn't quite fit the original release. However, now that some time has passed, I was wondering if they have gotten better, as I'd like to experience the game the way it was meant to be. (Gameplay and plotwise. Graphical and convenience enhancements are fine.)

I know the argument is that the mods available for the original releases bring a lot of the EE features to them, but the problem is that the mods aren't really friendly to install for Linux, and involve some fiddling to get working. Meanwhile, the EE versions are apparently available for Linux out of the box. (Though I don't know if there are bugs and issues with the EE Linux release.)

So which would be the best way to go for a proper BG experience?

I would stick with the originals, installing mods on the new ones are a bitch as well, especially under Linux due to upper and lower case discrepancies. Then if you're using the steam version, all your efforts are voided when they force an update on you and you have to do it again.
What I do is I use virtualbox with windows 7, install baldurs gate one and two from gog. Install the big world project, pack it up/move it into your linux system and run it with wine.

Thanks for the response, Epsilon!
I don't necessarily need mods for the EE release, since they already come with the resolution improvements, etc, but I haven't checked to see what's available just yet. (And I would use the GoG release, of course :P.)

As for the virtualbox method, I guess that works, though that would mean trying to find a valid Windows install. (Haven't used it in years,) I could always try to run all the mod setups through wine, but that was kind of the reason I was considering the EE version in the first place.

If you never played BG1 nor BG2, I suggest to start with EE releases, which have native Linux versions. You don't need mods for a first play.

I would advise using the EE, they are mostly the same, but run natively (no need for Wine, ...) and don't need patching to run fine on modern systems.

The added content on the EE isn't as good as the original material, but it's not that bad either, so up to you if you want to enable it or not (IIRC you can disable it).

Oh that's great news! Yeah, I don't need mods, and I already own the original games if I ever want to try that stuff out, so being able to disable the added content is awesome news! I know I'll miss the cg cutscenes, but as long as the story is conveyed well, I'll be happy.
Thanks!