Can I use the Firefox IE Tab Plug-in on Linux, can I use the same plug-ins as on windows or does the Linux version of Firefox use totally different plug-ins?
Also does WinAmp5 work on Linux.. or do they have like a LinAmp or something, I heard they had a version for Macs called MacAmp or something like that. I read that WinAmp works with Wine but not the skins.. Can anyone just let me know

I'm not sure exactly how FF handles the IE tab, if it's full IE functionality, relient on IE already being installed or if it just changes the user agent string. Either way FF has some plugins that work for both, and some that work for one or another.

Having just looked it up in extensions (i assume you did the same thing?) It says Windows, which i would think means windows only. What do you need it for exactly? there may be viable alternatives.

As for winamp, it seems there is an alpha for it on Linux ( i googled) but i couldnt find a link on their site.

Amarok and XMMS are great alternatives, again, is there certain winamp functionality you need?

AFAIK, IE tab plugin what does is to wrap IE into a FF tab, so, it's impossible in Linux to have this plugin, as IE does not work in Linux. Maybe you could try to use wine to call the windows version of FF and then load the IE tab plugin.

Regarding WinAmp, there is (I hope still is on) a winamp port to Linux, but it worked very ugly and buggy on me. As ethics suggests, Amarok and xmms are really great music players. You can use winamp skins on xmms.

View in IE works if you have IE installed with wine.

XMMS, Mplayer, Amarok are much better than winamp. There is no reason to use a windows media player in Linux.

So could I install IE with Wine and then install the plug-in to Firefox, are other plug-ins compatible with the Linux version of Firefox and windows or would each plug in need to be a Linux version.

I use a default Winamp skin just not the default colour, is it possible for me to use this with XMMS?

I don't like how much I'm referring to windows, but I haven't yet got Linux because of install problems and so I'm pre-preparing myself for Linux, when it's finally installed you all better watch out for a load of noob questions.

Check the individual extensions, as stated some work on both, some work with either.

Assuming the skin is a simple text file you can just open it and edit the colours, if not xmms has some decent ones http://www.xmms.org/skins.php (i prefer amarok btw).

There is not much enough reason to install IE with wine to linux I think. One can use ie4lin or ies4lin (dont remember which one) that is an ie port to linux. Actually one can say that just forget about the IE thing. If you have compatibility issues, I can say that the new version of IE (7) is more standarts-compliant than the previous one. So you neednt have to worry.
If you are planning to migrate to Linux, I can say that you need to reorganise your mind and have a different look to the world.

What look to the world would I need, I use Firefox mainly but have IE tab just encase Firefox cannot view a page. If people have a big issue helping me then I'll find out on my own.

You should be more thankful to those who spent the time answering your post. If you don't like the answers, then don't ask, or as you said, find your solution on your own.

I insist on my earlier post: If you wanna have IE tab on FF, install wine and the windows version of FF and then the IE tab.
What some people pointed out is that is nonsense to load wine with firefox when you have a Linux version of FF. But you'll see what's best for you.

I am grateful to all who help. I thought this site was made for help but some people just tell me how wrong I am before I even do anything and that's not too nice. At first I am going to use a few (only few) of windows programs and then try some alternatives at the same time. I expect in the end I'll only really use Wine for gaming, I'm just doing this for the beginning.

People is trying to make you think whether is wise to do what you plan to. They're not saying you're crazy, or you are out of your mind. They just point out that there are better solutions/approachs to your issue. Please don't take this as personal because it's not.
People roaming this forum is extremely nice and helpful in all ways.

I know that there are alternatives, and I will try almost straight away, things like other web browsers, some media players, Linux vlc helps me a lot. I just don't wanna be stuck on a site that I can't view.

Most people do advise you not to install IE because you

1. Will need to do quite some work to get it working
2. Even if you get it working, as Linux is NOT Windows, IE will miss parts of Windows, so you're not much more advanced (it will basically work, but I don't know if ActiveX works, for example, and if it doesn't you can just as well forget it)
3. Plugins and other add-ons won't install as easily as you imagine in IE, if running on Linux

You likely can run Winamp with Wine, but expect bugs, things not working and broken graphics, as with anything emulated with Wine. Most Media player on Linux don't have a too step learning curve. XMMS is similar to older Winamp versions, while Amarok is more advanced.

Thanks for that information, I'll try them both. I realise how against people are, of IE. I only use it myself for ftp really because of the drag and drop simplicity. I read about ftp via the Terminal console. I'll give that a try. I just want a backup to Firefox encase a site doesn't work properly. Is there any alternate browser plug-ins for Firefox on Linux such as Opera. Or at least, is there a Linux version of Opera? I read a magazine on Fedora Core 6 and the Terminal. I'm highly interested in Linux software, I only really want to use Wine for games. The wording for Terminal wasn't clear. How would you get terminal up as a window, rather than the whole screen, do you just add the alt key in? I was also looking at the keyboard shortcuts, is there any use for the windows/start key in Linux, if not do they make keyboards for Linux without the key?

Yes, there is a Linux version of Opera. If I'm not wrong the latest version is avaible. Otherwise, there is Konqueror if you are using KDE (same base as Safari from Mac OS X). FTP should work on all browsers, but you will have the "save to" dialog. Probably easier than command line ...

You wan't to know how to bring up a command line (terminal)? Well it's the same way as in Windows (in windowese it's called DOS prompt), just that the shortcut isn't at the same place. Alternatively you can boot in command line directly, but if you aren't a command line geek, this is not too attractive (the Windows alternative WAS booting into DOS in the nice time of Win 3.x/9x (for the latter, only few people ever realised you could do it), if you ever knew this). Or are you more confused about the more clear distinction between OS and GUI? In this case you can compare Linux with DOS and the GUI (KDE/GNOME/etc.) with Win 3.x. The GUI has to be considered as an add-on and not an integrative part of the OS, unlike modern Microsoft OS's where it's not possible to boot without GUI.

The use of the windows button is depending on the distro you choose. On Mandriva, it brings up the menu like in Windows, on others it isn't assigned. Same goes for multimedia keys, they are usually not assigned by default and you need to configure them. Assigning the Windows key should be easy these days in just some mouse clicks. Multimedia keys needs some software installed AND configured.

Finally keep in mind that Wine is far from perfect. Sometimes it will run reasonably well, in other cases it just won't run. But it shouldn't hurt to try ...