linux questions!

[sick_g4m3r]

i am thinking of doing a dual-boot xp home and Ubuntu today, and wondering some things.
is boot time instant?
are there programs to watch dvds?
are flash and java for online games compatible?
is MS office compatible?
top three linux OSes? which ones the best and easiest to use?

thanks

[uOpt]

Flash and Java work about as well as on Windoze, except of course web Java stuff that has been written in a way that isn't compatible with Sun's Java implementation on Windows either.

DVD playing via Xine, Mplayer, VLC etc.

MS office via crossover office, VMware etc.

Top three? You really think there's an easy answer to that? But Ubuntu/Debian certainly make one of them.

Instant boot time, nope. You need some of the BSDs for really fast boot.

[sick_g4m3r]

thanks! what are BSDs?

[uOpt]

Kinda like a less messy version of Linux with less features. Start up considerably faster than most existing Linux distributions due to extremely byzantine startup script in most Linuxens.

[sick_g4m3r]

is the startup a ton faster than windows? is it easy to create a dual boot if i have xp-home already?

[uOpt]

is the startup a ton faster than windows? is it easy to create a dual boot if i have xp-home already?

if you remove useless drivers from a BSD kernel the startup time of a modern machine is dominated by the hardware slacking off before it even starts the bootloader, so the question is kinda moot.

Creating dual-boot, I don't know, I don't run Windoze outside a dedicated gaming machine. Don't use Fedora if you value your other partitions.

[gillll]

yes u'll feel that system is working alot easier :D

but the dual booting is harder if u don't have alittle knowledge.

best advise put it on another hd and boot select anytime from mobo quick boot.(install linux when windows hd's electricity cable is unplugged.)

[sick_g4m3r]

shoot. so you think if i follow the dual boot guide i can set up like a 10gig linux partition with relative ease?

[gillll]

today's linux boot loader will probably take control of the mbr and then u'll have a windows option in linux boot loader.

ghost your entire windows boot partition if u want a rescue.

hehe i guess ubuntu will probably recognize things.

great os :) can't fps :(

[sick_g4m3r]

i read the dual-boot how to, but i dont want to erase everything and start over, as i have xp home already and do not want to mess with it. i am currently downloading ubuntu 7.04 desktop and will burn it to a disk. what next?

[gillll]

then again ghost your drive and MBR so u won't corrupt it.

[kiikkuja]

Although it's always a good thing to backup your data...i haven't had any problems with dual booting xp pro and ubuntu. Only problems i've had with the booting is when
changed to newer version of ubuntu. It's really easy to fix the mbr with xp cd. You just write over the old mbr and your should xp work again. AND if you don't feel it necessary avoid using the 64-bit version 'cause the software and flash, whatnot in
firefox don't work so easily. The situation is getting better all the time, but it takes time to get things working like they supposed to be working in 64-bit OS.

[kiikkuja]

@gilll Doom3 and Quake 4 work in linux. The upcoming release quake wars was to my knowledge work in linux but as i searched just now i didn't find anything about it.

[friedchips]

no fps????? quake, doom, nexuiz, openarena, Cube 2, and americas army only name a few....