Installing Linux but saving Windows XP
 

What would be the best way to install Linux such that I could also on occasion use the Windows XP that came with my new computer? Ubuntu with XP running in Wine? -- so I can use both at the same time? Dual partition to dual boot?

I tried putting wubi Ubuntu installed on top of Windows, but have problems with grub crashing and have been told I had best not install Linux on top of Windows. But if I install Linux as the primary OS, how best save the option to do some Windows? I want to do astronomy stuff, so am hoping Ubuntu is good for science, if not, I can use RedHat.

I do not have a Windows XP install disk from the vendor, so if I wipe out the XP install, it might be trouble for me to reinstall windows, so I don't know if I should just copy the hard disk to an external drive. The computer does not have my personal files on it yet.)

Is my current idea of running Windows in Wine feasible? Would I need to reinstall Windows by copying back the files from an external hard drive?

I like dual booting in a case like this because I hardly use windows. If need be I can always reboot into it. I have Vista and 7 dual boots, and I use EasyBCD as the bootloader. When my laptop needed repair, I set windows as the primary, the timeout to zero, and no one ever mentioned that Linux was on the computer. Warranties can be a problem if the Windows partition is removed.
Also remember that in a virtual environment your graphics are being displayed by a virtual graphics card, not your on-board card, so, if your a gamer, it's better to dual boot.

The normal dual-boot setup is to first install Windows (on drive 1, partition 1). Use maybe 25GB for the Windows partition--less if you have a really small disk. Then install Linux (10-20GB, plus swap)---leave some empty (unpartitioned) space on the disk for future changes.

You cannot install Windows using WINE. WINE is strictly for running Windows apps under Linux.

My current setup is Windows XP running in VirtualBox on an ArchLinux system. So far, it is as good as any dual-boot setup.

I would NEVER run any computer without some means of re-installing the OS. I think most vendors will supply install media for an added cost.

Might simply consider using something like wubi.

You may wish to make a backup of the xp right now before you loose it.

Then you could consider vmware converter or even disk2vhd to change xp to a virtual machine.

Hi,

Since you have a legal copy with a Product key tag. You can download the ISO 'Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers' from Microsoft;

you could try one of the vitualization options, vmplayer or vitualbox. both are free downloads, and allow you to do almost any thing you can do on a stand alone OS.