Sorry, I don't know linux well enough to say.

I can't say how "the latest" Linux kernel deals with this BIOS issue, however I can say how 32bit OSes deal with it in general; that is as a previous poster mentioned in this thread. During the initial bootstrap process all X86 chips operate in 16 bit mode before later switching to 32bit. So the BIOS limitation will effect other OSes as well as Windows similarly. The work around is to partition your disk in such a way so that your "/" partition (and all other bootable partitions) are wholly contained within the 137gig boundary.

For example, I recently installed PCLOS Linux on my drive, I partitoned my 200gig drive so that the "/" was my first partition with 10 gigs dedicated to it, then my Windows partition 126gigs (so that it lies completely within the 137gig boundary) then I made a 3gig swap drive and used the rest for my "/home" partition. This gives me plenty of space for me to experiment with both OSes. Later on as I monitor my disk usage I can further customize and fine-tune my partitioning scheme.

I hope this helps,
Ciao

thanks, helps big time.
regards
Steve K