xp and ubuntu running on seperate monitors

have one of the os's control both machines and then virtualize the other. easiest one to do would be to have xp control both and use virutal pc to run ubutnu on the other. not perfect but works

I do this now and prefer this solution:

I run Ubuntu Gutsy on my PC as the main OS, then I've installed VirtualBox and have a WinXP virtual machine. If you've got dual monitors, you can drag the XP install to a second monitor.

VirtualBox comes in two flavors: Open Source & Proprietary. The Open Source edition is available through the Ubuntu repositories, or direct from VirtualBox, but the Proprietary version, which adds sound, USB and shared folder support.

The reason I like this solution better is:

1. It's faster - VirtualBox vms are fast on the desktop
2. I believe it's more secure, since Windows is virtualized and it tends to have more vulnerabilities and is a bigger target.
3. The guts of the solution are Open Source, or at least, non-Microsoft.
4. You can take snapshots of your Windows installation, so you can roll back to a prior version, if you're testing out new software or configurations.

Hope this helps.