Booting from any one of the four DVDs would
require me to re-configure the BIOS first, so that it will look at the internal primary HDD last (instead of first), and configure it to look for an OS on a disc in the DVD drive instead of the CD drive. Not a big chore, of course, just one of those niggling details.
Probably Ubuntu will boot from one DVD, and Kubuntu will boot from another, since the respective versions of Linux are supposed to be installable on a partition on the primary HDD from the corresponding DVD. I do not know whether it is possible to simply run either distribution from its DVD without installing it on the HDD.
But bear in mind that changing from Windows XP to some flavor of Linux was and is a last resort, not a voluntary conversion. As things stand, it seems doubtful whether I have the time to climb the learning curve.
Also, if Acronis True Image 2010 Home is representative of the state-of-the-art design for Linux software, then Linux will absolutely remain the last resort. If I must contact tech support because the user interface doesn't work the way that it appears to have been designed to work, and the "documentation" is silent, misleading or simply wrong about the matter, then the cobbled-together-ware is on a short lease. After the third contact for that reason, such software is no longer installed on my computer.
Succinctly, I am not going to pay any developer for "support" because their software is poorly designed and difficult to use. Make of that what you will.
