As a new user I have a couple questions that might help me understand best ways to set up a dual boot system for that 5% of the time.

Do you have some common folders that all the linux Distros can share?

Do you share or move any files between Windows and Linux?

WINE is much improved but is still at 0.9 something, confirming that its developers know it is not quite there yet.
CrossOver Office is a commercial version in which tweaks are made to allow them to guarantee that certain programs will work. Curiously some things will work in CrossOver and NOT in wine.

I have BOTH on my machines

What is MOST frustrating is the programs that almost work. eg my favorite scheduler (Fasttrack) works 98%--all that is missing is the little popups that tell you what a command does or gives you a sub-menu. ( get around this because I already know what the options are.)

I have now settled on putting all data in ext3 partitions. Windows reads/writes EXT3 very nicely using ext2fsd.

All distros are on one drive
All data on a separate physical drive--this is mounted to a folder in home, and then linked to various users. (/home directory is NOT on the data drive)
backup to two external drives

The problem being... that windows is broken ... but there is a huge thread for Windows vs Linux elswhere.

I have been having an interesting time with wine...

My move to linux (shortly followed by my taking up residence in LQ) was delayed for three years because I already had a large-ish investment in MS software. I used: Works2k, Publisher2k, Matlab (unnoficially, I'm afraid), and I had games: "Discworld Noir", "Myst", and "Lords of Magic".

None of these work well in wine. But, my reliance on them has diminished.
Matlab has a linux port, OOo and Scribus take care of the MS ones ... it has seemed that there is something of a race here. And usuall, by the time something works well in wine, there is a passable alternative that runs natively.

So, these days, I ignore wine and hunt dawn a free version.

I don't think anyone has turned the original post around: The complant is, basically, that Linux is not Windows. But that cuts both ways...

I would like to use Windows full time; why I can't

1) Games: Linux games (or online game clients) run differently in Windows, if at all. Windows versions are encumbered with restrictive licenses, hog resources, and often leave discarded temp files lying around, sometimes run malware, or expose my system to malware.

2) Linux applications don't run as well in Windows... if at all. Windows versions are encumbered with restrictive licenses, hog resources, and often leave discarded temp files lying around, sometimes run malware, or expose my system to malware.

3) Hardware support for Windows is usually pretty reliable. If the driver ain't there, it is on a CD supplied with the hardware. But... HW manufacturers are prone to just dropping support. If you lose that CD for a legacy device: it's a brick. And you need a different driver for every device even when the devices have exactly the same chipset! (And lets not go to Vista HW support...)

4) It seems almost impossible to get good, full featured, software online, as a free download. At least not routinely. There are no apt/yum/etc repositories of free software for windows... where I can install with a few keystrokes and start working right away. (Without rebooting, for eg.)

Gratis software that can be found often are encumbered with restrictive licenses, hog resources, and often leave discarded temp files lying around, sometimes run malware, or expose my system to malware.

... this is restricting myself to the original four categories.

Add to that; if you upgrade to the next version of Windows your hardware drivers become redundant and the microsoft equivalent that may (or may not)be available is unlikely to support all of the hardware's features (it will operate the basics). Happened to my printer and scanner with the upgrade to XP. Bound to happen again with Vista.

Yeah... there is a strong risk that my posts will turn this thread into a MS vs Linux flamefest... as noted (post #19), there is a thread for that. the point of the previous (post #21) was the way in which the original four compaints are just so much hot air. It's like complaining that your new Porche isn't a Ford: "My old Ford seat covers don't fit and the gear-shift knob is a different shape".

Using your automobile analogy, I interpreted the original post as saying that he wanted to pick one of his cars as his daily driver and only car, but there were a few things in his way which prevented him from doing so. e.g., if the daily driver needed decent trunk space, the Porsche (assuming not the SUV) may not be a good choice but the Ford might be.

Under the circumstances you have just named, I judge that you have a perfectly legitimate "business" justification to run Windows, at least part of the time.

You should not feel the slightest bit "ashamed" of that.

Most of us, I wager, have more than one kind of computer or operating-system lying about, and most of us quite-routinely use more than one.

Hey... computer hardware isn't expensive anymore. And besides, we couldn't give those "old" systems away if we wanted to, so we may as well run <<Windows|Linux>> on 'em, eh?

A computer system, like an operating system, is a means to an end, not an end unto itself. Once you have determined where you want to go, you set up the system(s) that will enable you to go there most-expediently, and upon those system(s) you run the appropriate software -- operating-system or otherwise -- that will take you there. Finis!

I use linux full time. And I bet there are others who do too.


Linux is not for everyone, so just stick to your WINDOW$!