hi.i'm mew to linux but will start using it(ubuntu distro) as part of a dual boot system soon.i'm buying a computer soon.it will have 1gb ram,160 gb harddisk,but i'm not sure which processor to buy.

i can buy the AMD 2.2ghz(dual bus) one or the intel 3.2ghz one.both have nearly same speed on a windows system(some websites say AMD is a bit better).i'll completely migrate to linux in bout a year,thogh initially i'll have dual boot windows and linux(ubuntu).so which processor should i buy(the cost difference is bout 1000Rs or bout 22$)

another question:
in a dual boot system ,can i access files stored in the windows partition(mp3 for eg)from the linux partition and vice versa??

Both AMD and Intel processors work extremely well with Linux (in fact AMD and Intel both support Linux development since it's very important for their server products). I'm not sure what a "dual bus" processor is -- did you mean dual core? I'd definitely go with a dual core processor over a single core one, particularly if you have a lot of applications running simultaneously. AMD currently has the edge in dual core technolgoy from, what I've seen, but Conroe and Woodcrest from Intel will make things very interesting indeed. If it were me, I'd probably go with the AMD if I had to buy right now.

As for your second question, Linux can access files on FAT32 partitions and has some limited support for NTFS (read support is good and write support is progressing, from what I hear). FAT32 is definitely the way to go for reliability. Windows cannot natively access Linux partitions but there are third party toold such as explore2fs that allow Windows to access ext3 filesystems.

since you can compile a kernel with support specific to whatever cpu you choose, I don't think it's really a question of which is "better for linux", but rather which is right for you.

for me it's AMD AMD AMD. intel doesn't even warrant consideration for me as their chips are overpriced, and it's my opinion that AMD has had a superior product since they beat intel to the 1 ghz barrier quite some time ago(and they probably would have had a superior product before then were it not for Intel basically pulling a M$ on AMD and renegging on their co-operation deal after AMD handed over their chip specs to intel).

Definitely go dual-core if you've got the cash, there's no longer any reason to buy a single core chip for a new computer.. that is unless you're dying for a slow(er) computer or you're on a tight budget(even then an X2 would be worth the investment).