Discussion on:

Use Cygwin when you can't use Linux

i cant open linux on system iam using win xp

You have been able to run virtual systems with VMWare for guest system OS for at least the last 4 years.

I've used VMWare to emulate everything from a Linux box to a complete Active Directory forest.

As it is a mature product, I will be sticking with VMWare.

Hello...

I've had equal success with Virtual PC with a Windows XP host OS.

VMWare and Virtual PC are very solid ways to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single box. Highly recommended.

And looooooose all the performance by using Windows as your base platform.