XP Vs fedora

linuxquestions.org

Linux requires commitment. The learning curve is still very steep. I enjoy Linux, but the changes are so rapid that I haven't been able to keep up with them.
There are many programs to do many things in Linux, everybody has their favorites.

You can startup fedora, then install grub and edit its menu file so that the windows partition is a boot option as well. You should find all necessary info on that in the manpages for grub and also by googling. There are also many other boot loaders you could use and setup for dualboot.

In Linux you have plenty of firewalling options. I use Shorewall. Against Spam you could use Spamassasin. Make sure you never login as root unless you really have to, and if are logged in as root, logout again as soon as your finished (Same issue with windows and administrator / admin). To burn CDs/DVDs I use K3B, but again here you have many options, it's usually a matter of trying the different programs and then selecting the ones that appeal to you most. The advantage with Linux is that you can get most applications free, so your flexible in deciding what is best.

I agree that GRUB is the best boot loader for dual boot systems. You can find all the info you need at http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/. For burning CD's and DVD's I have had the best success with K3B. It is the easiest burning app to use and configure that I have found. It is available in most of the distros. Here is the homepage http://k3b.plainblack.com/index.pl/home. For ripping MP3's I use GRIP and LAME. GRIP is a GUI front end and LAME is the actual encoder. I have tried others but this combo has produced files that all my toys can read. GRIP and LAME are available with most distros. GRIP is here http://nostatic.org/grip/, LAME is here http://lame.sourceforge.net/. For multimedia playback you have a number of choices. MPLAYER is one of the best. It plays a large number of video format to include wms files. It has plugins for Mozilla and other Linux browsers. More info here http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/news.html.
Anohter really versatile player is XMMS. I use this mostly for audio files but it supports a wide number of video formats as well. It is skinnable and has lots of eye candy stuff as well. Here is the link http://www.xmms.org/. For DVD playback I have been using XINE. The user interface was a little confusing at first but once I figured it out it has consistantly worked well. XINE is included in most distros. You will need XINE and a GUI front end. A number are available for download at the XINE site http://xinehq.de/. I use kaffeine. You will also need libdvdcss2 to play encrypted DVD's. Google libdvdcss2 and you can find th RPM's for an easy install. Due to legal issues on DVD encryption most distros do not include this library. Last but not least you may wan to go to the WINE homepage http://www.winehq.com/. WINE allows some windows apps to run in Linux. I use it to get Flash and Shockwave animations to work in my browsers. I am just learning the ins and outs of it. Hope this helps you out.

Keeping the XP Boot loader requires a bit of finagling.

First, you install Linux. Then, when booted INTO Linux you insert a DOS formatted floppy into the drive, and open a console. In the console, you type
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
dd if=/dev/hda of=/linux.bin bs=512 count=1

This copies the first 512 bytes of the MBR, where Linux has stored the bootloader, to a file called linux.bin, located in the root directory. (if your hard drive is other than primary master, adjust /dev/hda accordingly)

Now, in console again, cp /linux.bin /mnt/floppy. This copies the bootloader stuff to a floppy, for use in a bit.

Un mount the floppy with;
umount /mnt/floppy

Remove the floppy, since it isn't bootable, and boot back into WinDoze. Insert the floppy, then copy the linux.bin to the root of your WinDoze drive (copy a:linux.bin c:\).

Now, edit the boot.ini file. In WinDoze, this file may be hidden.
You can unhide it by clicking on Tools=>FolderOptions, and turn off the 'Hide system files' option in Explorer, or you can access it via the Control Panel's System tool ([right-click]MyComputer=>Properties=>Advanced), or via the msconfig program, in the 'boot.ini' tab.

Add this line to boot.ini:
C:\linux.bin = "Linux"

Now, the next time you bootup, you'll see a menu asking whether to boot Windows or Linux"

Have Fun ...