[Gloucs] XP Linux dual boot

[Steve Greig]

Hi, First of all thanks for previous help on burning Ubuntu Live CD etc. I have had an interesting time testing Ubuntu Live and then a version of Fedora1 that came with a book call Linux for Non-Geeks. I went throught the projects in the book. I have now restored XP. Apart from not being able to resurrect my backed up old outlook express emails all has gone well. I would love to be able to transer all these into an open source email program but it looks tricky.

I am now keen to install XP and Ubuntu on the lap top but have found reading about this has still left me with some questions. These mainly relate to what sort of partitions I should create on my 18GB hard drive. It is FAT32 (at the moment) and for Windows is probably best kept that way so I can access the Windows partition from Linux. I would be very grateful for any advice on how to partition the disc and what order to install the Windows and Linux OSs.

If I can't dual boot I thought I would go for Fedora as the sole operating system. I only want XP for programs that wont' work on Linux. One is MathCad for a course I am hoping to do and the other is something like itunes which I have heard is not available for Linux but was wondering if equivalent pay to download music programs were available.

Any comments, advice etc would be appreciated. Best wishes from Steve