Greetings, Linux gurus:
After having read most of the Serial ATA threads on this board I could find, I still have some questions on how to proceed with a Linux installation. I'm seeking advice and opinions on the best path in setting up Linux in a dual-boot (and eventually triple-boot) configuration on my system. The system right now is running only Windoze XP Pro. The particulars:
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP, which has:
Intel 875P chipset
an Intel 82801ER SATA RAID controller with two Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120GB disks attached in a RAID 0 array. Windoze boots off of these.
a Silicon Image Sil3112 SATA controller with nothing attached,
a Gigabyte GigaRAID IT8212 ATA RAID controller with two Western Digital WD2000 200GB disks, again in a RAID 0 array,
the standard primary and secondary IDE controllers with two ATAPI devices attached

Limiting factor: I still need my current Windoze partitions on both the 82801ER and the IT8212 though (if possible) I could carve Linux space out of the two arrays with a utility such as Partition Magic.

Question: are any of the following four scenarios feasible? If so, is there one you would recommend based on a balance between performance and ease of installation? I have not decided on a distribution to use yet. I'm assuming from reading previous posts that drivers do exist for the Sil3112 - do RAID drivers exist for the other two?

1. dual-booting Linux off of a partition on the current 82801ER array. At least both OS's will boot off of the same disk array.
2. Getting another SATA drive, hooking it to the Sil3112, and devoting it to Linux, leaving the 82801 and IT8212 arrays untouched - how would I dual-boot in this scenario? Where should the MBR reside?
3. Forego SATA altogether for Linux and plugging a spare ATA drive I have lying around into one of the IDE controllers. Again, would dual-booting be a problem?
4. Carving out space on the IT8212 RAID array and putting Linux on that. Windoze would still need to boot off of the Intel SATA controller. Again, how would I configure dual-booting with this?

My Linux experience is low. I toyed with Red Hat 6 a few years back but was never more than a novice at it. My immediate goal more than anything else and motivation for installing Linux is simply to learn more about it. Thanks for any advice you can provide.