It's difficult to answer as I'm not sure what
really means.It worked until I blew up windows
If your Windows OS is really damaged so badly that any attempt to recover it using the Windows CD is not feasable then obviously you will have to reinstall it. Windows will then take over the MBR that Ubuntu had been setup to use but it's a simple task to set up for grub to use the MBR again.
However if you mean that grub won't boot Windows anymore then that's a different issue.
If you explained more what error message you get etc we might be able to help but until then ...that's it.
2. Unless you really want to get involved with grub2 then stick with grub-legacy at this stage.
3.
As above, if you install linux and then windows, then windows will take over the booting (and remember windows can't boot linux directly.) So windows first then linux is the prefered sequence because grub can boot windows and linux.It is possible to reformat that first partition and reinstall xp or Karmic without creating a nightmare ? I was told to always install win first but that is not possible.
No idea what is on your first partition.
4.
To boot any OS you need a boot loader. See my long post to nooby above. If you don't use grub or similar on your hard disk then you need to use a floppy or CD or usb stick, or whatever to boot Puppy. The Puppy CD can do this.Why do in need grub for frugal puppy installs? Just to save inserting the CD?
5.
No it isn't. Puppy 4xx to date uses grub-legacy. But I believe Barry is considering using grub4dos in the future.And lastly did I understand grub for dos is included in Puppy 4XX and if so how do I access it?
HTH
Dave