Hello, sorry a bit of a newb question here but I was thinking about switching to Linux (probably Ubuntu - I'm currently using Windows Vista 32 bit) and I was wondering:
-Do I have to partition my drive to have both OS's? i.e. I'd like to be able to choose what OS I use
-Can I still run native windows apps? I've read somethings about the QEMU emulators for Linux but I'm a bit perplexed about it :S Can I still run things Like Firefox, MSN, Mindjet Mindmanager and open office etc or do I need some sort of emulator or can't use it at all??

Yes, it will do that upon installation

Firefox and Open Office are open source and are available for Linux
There are many other applications designed to be compatible with Windows

Not if you don't want to...check out wubi:

http://wubi-installer.org/

As garmanma said Firefox and OO run in Linux natively. You will
find "Pidgin" under Linux works well with MSN as well as AIM and Yahoo.
QEMU is not for running Windows apps. You will need "wine" for
that.
http://www.winehq.org/

Thanks =] I used Wubi and downloaded a heap of stuff VirtualBox, Wine, used Synaptics and Add / Remove to get a heap of stuff - even managed to get iTunes working with Ubuntu =D. Though I was just wondering, how do I full install Ubuntu (I presume using Wubi didn't because it didn't partition my drive?) Is there any way I can make the Wubi installed version of Ubuntu "full" atm I have to have a disk with Ubuntu in my cd tray to be able to log in.

As a side question, is there any way I can access files I can view with Vista? i.e. when I was using Ubuntu I can't get to C: section where my music and word docs etc are saved.

Is there a list of any recommended things I should download with Synaptics Package Manager I should be aware of?


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Incase you as confused as me (as to what I've got), here is how I installed it.

I downloaded ubuntu, copied the ISO file onto a blank disk.
I downloaded wubi
I mounted the ISO I downloaded because it didn't let me run the ISO from the disk.
I cancelled the autoplay from the mount
I used Wubi to install > Used Demo mode. It said I could install Ubuntu from inside Ubuntu but I haven't seen any Apps that do that.

Ubuntu is running fine, though as I said, it won't let me boot into Ubuntu when I don't have the disk I burnt in the tray.



Thanks in advance, sry for the newbie questions >.>

Yes I am...
You do not need the ISO or a CD. It is recommended
to let the wubi installer download what it needs.
Once the installer has finished and the machine is rebooted
you should be able to access your Windows files.
Follow these instructions and you will be good to go:
http://wubi-installer.org/faq.php#use

Ubuntu does not install from the LiveCD. Nor does wubi since
technically it is already "installed" on the Windows drive.
In order to have a "full" Ubuntu OS along with Windows you will
need to download the CD Installer. Here is the link to the full Installation Guide:
https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/installation-g...i386/index.html