Dual-boot or VMWare or ???

[Hammer45]

I am getting ready to rebuild my home machine and would like some insights regarding VMWare and Linux. I am not sure if I want to build a dual-boot system, or use Win2k for the host OS and run Linux in a VM, or vice versa. The basic functionality I am after for this machine is: word processing (and printing), run a couple of LAN-based games, use Outlook for [net folder] calendar and email, learn more about Linux (I bought a CD-based CBT course), and of course Web surf/research. The VMWare option is tempting, but I heard it doesn't support DirectX so games would be out. Another solution might be Win4Lin, but I don't know much about it. :confused:

I would appreciate any insight you would be willing to give.

[ph34r]

Either using 2k as a host and linux as a vm or vice versa would work fine, provided you have the horsepower to run both at once. Of course, you can't do games really in VMware. Personally, I'd either go dual boot, or use Win2k as the host and use linux as a guest o/s until you feel confident enough to go the other way.

Linux does have games and such, if you have the hardware (V3, GeForce). VMware is nice for those few apps that don't run in wine and make a pain to reboot just to use - I use it for Dreamweaver and Fireworks.