An easy answer?

[natebenn]

Hey guys, I’m very new to the Ubuntu scene and just came across virtualization. I’m not sure if there is an easy answer to this so if I need to simply do some more reading then please tell me to do so but if you can answer my question fairly quickly it’s save me some time & research. I’m looking to dual boot XP/Ubuntu on my machine so that if there are games or whatever I can’t get to work in Ubuntu I can run on XP. What is the difference or advantage to running XP in a virtual environment though as opposed to it just being another boot option? Is this something for more advanced users only or is it worth my time as a noob to consider? What are the major advantages/disadvantages of the two paths?

Again if I just need to spend my time researching I’m ok with that but if you can answer some or all of these it’d be helpful. Thanks in advance!

[Thelasko]

Your main advantage is that you don't have to reboot to use one Windows program.

Your main disadvantage is that you won't have graphics acceleration in the virtual machine. (it's not good for games, but fine for anything else)

[natebenn]

Thanks. Looks like I'll be dual booting as the only thing I hope to need XP for is games where I'll need the graphics acceleration.

[Thelasko]

Thanks. Looks like I'll be dual booting as the only thing I hope to need XP for is games where I'll need the graphics acceleration.
I should also note that Wine does have graphics acceleration, but it requires more work/hacking. If you have a lot of free time, that may be an option too.