switch? from widows,
 

I know that many of my questions are commonly discussed, but i wanted input on whether dual booting would be a good option as well as a few specifics

my current status:
I have a mythtv desktop, fc5, works nicely.
My second machine, laptop, is windows, pentium m 2 gigs of ram, ati 9700 128mb, internal wireless card, http://www.powernotebooks.com/specs/PowerPro/m5-6.php

i use my laptop mostly for email, word/excel/office, internet, solidworks(CAD), ut2004 or the occasional game, syncing my calandar with my razr, music.

i have always been interested with linux, and after using it on my mythtv i am even more so. i want to know if i can really do everying on linux that i do on windows, with the same ease of use. ut2004 can be played on linux, but what about my vid card, ati isnt nice always? i have looked into wine, which would be good for office i think, but i wonder about problems with it or what i might loose with that over windows. i also wonder about how big to make my swap, 2 gigs, same as ram?

I have a similar spec laptop to yours...
and i haven't booted into windows this year :) I only keep it for my girlfriend.

Of all the software you metion you should be fine, but for the CAD stuff?
I use Microstation at work and I have it working OK through WINE except for some problems rendering the menus. so maybe solidworks will work.

I have had no problems with the same ATI card as yours. Doom3 and quake4 run OK, about 30fps, although there is occasional lags with a full screen of enemies.

As for swap, I have 512 (the same as my ram) and it hardly gets touched.

anyway...
I'd definaltey say go for the dual boot! and see how long you can last :)

btw. I just installed drivers for my rt2500 wireless and so far it seems to be working fine.(I usually use the internal network card, but with a shared house I have had to fork out for wireless)

ok well thanks for the boost of confidence. i have 2 more questions. first off, could i run linux via microsofts now free virtual pc? second, i am tossing and turning between fedora core 5 and ubuntu dapper....what would the main differences between the two be?

i use solidworks, tried and failed miserably with WINE, the software is buggy enough in windows, let alone under a non-native OS.

humm, well i will leave windows on for solidworks, but i still am interested in dual booting, anything on doing it with virtual pc?