I havnt yet got linux, im still very new to it and want to find out more before i purchase a version, ok i want to run windows on linux and im looking for a suitable program.
i found VMware but as its $299 dolars for the downloadable version which is slightly too much.
Also win4lin looked ok but it not compatable with winXP.
so i need something fairly cheap, compatable with XP and easy to use (newbie here).
thanks.

I'm not quite sure exactly what you want to do, but there is a free (yes, that's right) Windows emulator for Linux that I have. It's still a little buggy (hey, it's still an alpha development release), but I've found that it works with decent reliability even with programs as complicated as Microsoft Office 97. It's called WINE. Website is <http://www.winehq.com>

The best way to run XP is to run XP. win4lin works great, but since you know it isn't compatible with XP, that shoots that idea in the foot. Why spend the extra money to run XP on linux. If you have to have XP, install it, DON'T use NTFS, then install a Linux distro and dual boot. Any modern distro can repartition the Windows partition if it isn't NTFS. That is how 97.2% of all people get started.

RO

er right i am a newb so i didnt get all of that but thanks anyway, WINE V1.0 sounds good thanks.. ill check it out a bit more..

What I mean is, if you have to have XP to run some of your apps, or XP is already installed, it is EASY to install Linux on the same machine. Then, when you boot up, you can select which to run. That way, you will have the Windows side to fall back on as you learn the Linux side. Wine is good, but keep in mind that it normally requires a LOT to get compilcated Windows applications running on Linux using WINE as the API interface to the Windows program.

win4lin is great in that you can run your windows apps without rebooting and selecting windows. I installed it for my brother because everything he needs is in Linux except the autocad program he needs.

RO

yeah ive been talking to someone else and he told me that you can run one or the other at the beginning, shows that i am not ready for linux yet.