I had tried out SuSE and thought I liked it - until I got some of the free Ubuntu CDs and threw the live CD in. I liked it so much I want to install it alongside windows on my new computer.

My computer's specs are:

AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 939
ASUS A8V Deluxe (though there's nothing deluxe about the quality and stability of it)
1GB Dual Channel DDR400
160GB Hitachi Serial ATA
ATI Radeon 9600XT (definately not helping the ASUS board)

I do not want to add another hard drive for linux, and instead want to repartition my Hitachi SATA drive.

There are a few concerns I am having. First, Windows requires a floppy disc for the SATA controller to function. Does Ubuntu?

Second, I am by no means a linux partition expert. How can I completely safely resize my windows partition to 130GB (real GB, not Hard Drive Manufacturer GB) and leave the rest for Linux? What kind of partitions do I need and how do I go about doing this in Ubuntu? I need to make sure nothing happens to my Windows Installation.

Finally, say I reinstall windows (more like when I reinstall windows), I know the MBR gets overwritten. How do I restore the Linux boot loader if that happens?

Thanks!

BTW I'm going to use the 32-bit ubuntu - Correct me if I'm wrong but the x64 version isn't backwards compatable with a lot of 32-bit linux software.

Sata support comes with all new kernels, so that shouldn't be a problem with Ubuntu (and even if it does, that's fixable).

Resizing is never a 100% safe(do make a back-up).
Just resize your NTFS partition(you can use something easy as Partition Magic in Windows) and leave the rest as free space. Next insert your installation disc. The installer will now give you the option to use this free space and do the Linux partitionning for you.

Just make a copy of "/boot/grub/menu.lst". Reinstall Windows and next reinstall grub(adding your working menu.lst).


I wouldn't say "a lot" but their exist indeed some problems.