Linux Dual Boot on new laptop

[lightsareout]

I'm getting my new T400 laptop soon and i want to do a dual boot with linux on it. It comes with vista if that matters. I'm not going to do too much with it so I'm asking how should i partition the drive for this? Also I'm thinking about doing 3 partitions, one for vista, one for linux, and one for files. What file structure should i put so that both linux and windows can access it? Lastly, what would be a good distro of linux to run? I use fedora and red hat in class all the time, but have never used any other distros. Thanks!

 

[TerryNet]

I'd suggest NTFS for the Vista and data partitions. I'd use ext3 for the Linux partition because it seems to be the best for Linux, but I am not sure of that. You also want a small linux-swap partition; I think that twice the size of RAM is recommended, but that may depend on the particular Linux.

A good distro of Linux would be one that runs well on your hardware, that you are comfortable with, that supports the applications you want to use, and that you like. You can look at my computer specs to see what I'm using; those work for me.