Hi Dave, > Yes, I know I should really learn about Linux and its applications, but I have a lot of Windows software, and I have to keep doing "real work", so it would >be > a lot easier if I could just shift OS and keep all the familiar applications running, and migrate slowly over time. Ideally the OS would be invisible, with a >Wine > layer on top, and an XP desktop on top of that. wouldn't it make more sense to just use windowsXP then, if your goal is to have a Windows Deskop? it seems mildy strange to me. do any of the applications you need for work, require 3d acceleration or are they "extremely" CPU intensive??? if your answer is no, then i have a very simple solution for you, that will allow you to run actual WinXP inside of Linux, and won't cost you a penny! ....install Virtualbox, and run XP as a virtual machine, inside of your linux host - then you don't have to worry about application compatibility, at all. You can use XP anytime you want inside of linux, just by powering the virtual machine on, and you can use it on fullscreen. depending on your hardware it should run nice and smooth. You could even give it a Desktop of it's own - giving you the ability to seamlessly work between linux and XP. the only real caveat being as hinted above in my 1st question ----> obviously, if you require windows apps that are heavy on sound/video/graphic acceleration or are extremely CPU intensive in the sense that your application needs to heavily process in real-time - like gaming, pro-audio work, etc... then this method probably wont work that well, if at all... but this is also somewhat true of wine too, albeit to a far lesser degree (ie: you don't get the frame rates out of Wine gaming that you do on windows, if you use Pro-audio apps in Wine, CPU usage can be higher for audio apps, etc ). I can share my own experiences; 1. Windows7 running (with Aero enabled) in VMware - i am using an Intel dual-core 3.20GHz / 4gig ram. 2. WindowsXP-SP3 in Virtualbox - i used to run XP on my old Dell inspiron laptop - Coreduo 1.6GHZ / 1gig ram in both cases, windows is very usable. just some food for thought, that might be helpful Jordan
