What distro do you want to use?
In fedora core 2, which uses the 2.6 kernel, i just had to add to utf8 option in fstab.
In slackware that uses the 2.4 kernel and the iocharset option is not deprecated i use iocharset=iso8859-7. In both cases i have MS fonts installed.
And everything works fine. Also before you erase the MS partition, make sure to keep a copy of your windows true type fonts. They are really usefull
to install windows ttf fonts:
In KDE there is a fonts folder in the right tab of conquerer, that contains an empty personal folder. Copy all your windows ttf and TTF fonts to a folder and then just drag'n'drop them into this folder. In Gnome open a nautilus window and type fonts:/// in the address bar. then drag'n'drop the fonts in this folder. To Globaly install ttf fonts in your system, read the instructions in
www.linux.gr
Also, some things are not the same in any distro. Posting the distro u are using would be a good thing.