OK I am sticking my toes back in the linux water. This is mainly thanks to Super Grub Disk. This has allowed me to install Ubuntu and not have to worry about the gf being confronted with a malfunctioning Grub at start up. Instead of the bootloader jumping (or rather failing to) at start up automatically I can now stick in the disk if I want to use the other OS. It's pretty intuitive though a bit long-winded. I am clear I only need the Linux boot option. It would be great if I could stick in a disk/diskette and everything would be automated until login.

Its still a mystery why this part of Linux is so flakey though. Surely growth into the domestic market is going to be led by "dual booters" rather than "clean sweepers". With the Linux community though it seems half the fun seems to be trying to alienate people. I visited Ubuntu forums for the first time in a while and within minutes I was reading someone getting heavy with a newbie for not following some weird etiquette.