My 8890 should be arriving this Tuesday and I it was recommended by my professor to dual boot the beast with Linux and winXP.

I've never used linux before...I've never dual booted before either, so I just wanted to know a couple of things:

1) What release of Linux is probably the best? Of course, a free version would be preferred, but I need something stable and GUI. I believe my school uses redhat...is that the same as Mandrake? I'll be using it to develop Java applications primarily.

2) How much space should be given to Linux? I ordered the 60gb 7200 rpm drive.

3) Also, will Linux be able to read the NTFS file system?

3) How does one go about the dual boot...Should I install Linux/Windows first?...does it matter?

Thanks for the help,
Shoeman22