ok so i put in a pny geeforce 8500gt graphics card in my ubuntu pc and when i boot up i get



" $ sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg "


and if i do this it only changes the settings on my linux os, not my hardware right?

it will change the X.org settings

what will that do exactly? because i might get windows vista and i dont know if this will save the settings on my harddrive or on my bios settings

OK - got it...
Right.

Did you have a problem?

The reconfigure attempts to set your /etc/X11/xorg.conf to account for HW changes. Look at it with "less /etc/X11/xorg.conf". After the reconfigure, it should be using the nv driver for video, which you may be able to change for the proprietary nvidia driver with the restricted driver manager.

Your BIOS is not used to run the advanced features of your videocard. After boot, linux dosn't bother with it. Usually, in fact, Windows will mess up cards for linux instead - exactly as you fear - by modifying BIOS stuff... maybe leaving a card in a sleep mode when it logs out.

If this card is DirectX 10 compliant or HDCP compliant, you should be aware that it is broken by design.

Also look at:
https://launchpad.net/envy

it will change the settings to X.org, which is the x server which is used to control x11 which controls the windows on your screen, not the BIOS which you have to configure by going through by pressing a button when your computer first starts up

if i get vista and put it on the pc it would work right? i think the problem is that my card isnt supported by linux

How would I know if vista has the right drivers, do I look like I run vista?