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Virtualisation is marvellous, but a significant snag is that the guest operating system can't use your host PC's 'real' hardware. A full installation of Ubuntu is essential if you want to take the next step. This is particularly necessary if you want to use USB hardware, such as flash drives and printers, or you want to use your graphics card's full abilities, such as for playing games. While the choice of games isn't as wide as it is for Windows, the range of titles is growing and includes Quake and Doom.

Here we'll show you how to dual-boot Windows and Ubuntu. All you need to do is make sure you've got at least 3GB of free space on your hard disk.

1 First, you need to burn the Ubuntu ISO file to a blank CD. Burn it as an image file, as this makes the CD bootable and extracts all the files from the ISO archive. Nero and Roxio both have options for burning images (check the manual), but you can also do it by downloading the free ISO Recorder from http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com. Make sure you get the right version for your PC's operating system. Locate the Ubuntu image file on your PC in Explorer and right-click it. Depending on what you see, you must either select Copy image to CD or Open With, ISO Recorder. Select your CD recorder from the list and click Next.

2 Put your completed CD in your PC's optical drive and restart it. Make sure the optical drive is set as the first boot device in your BIOS. This time, select the first menu option - there's no need to select a low-colour mode or fudge the mouse into working, as the installation will just work properly. At the desktop, double-click the Install icon. Follow the installation as before, but when you come to the hard disk stage, select Guided - resize. Use the slider to select how much of your hard disk's free space you want to use for Linux. Ubuntu will automatically resize your existing disk partitions and use the free space for new Linux partitions. After the installation, remove the CD and reboot your PC. Your boot menu will now give you the option of running Windows or Ubuntu.

3 Now that you've got a 'real' installation of Ubuntu, you can see the difference. Testing the OpenGL graphics capability is a good way to check that your 3D hardware is working. Try the pre-installed chess game under the Applications menu. Click its View menu and select 3D. If you get an error message, open Synaptic Package Manager - under Administration in the System menu - and find, download and install Python-opengl and Python-gtkglext1. If you have an ATI graphics card, you may also need to open the Restricted Drivers Manager (again, under Administration) and enable the listed driver. Next, try Compiz - Ubuntu's forums at http://tinyurl.com/qxt4o will show you how. Compiz will give your desktop more fancy 3D effects than Vista can ever dream of, including the amazing Cube interface. You should be able to connect USB hardware now, too.