I just bought a new laptop and am in the process of setting everything up on it, installing open office etc etc.

I'm really not a huge fan of Vista but couldn't afford to warrant buying a mac at this point.  I got a free copy for Windows 7 when it comes out in October... but that is besides the point.

I would like to run openSUSE (Linux version).  I know there is a way to partition my hard drive so that a prompt will appear and ask if I would like to boot in openSUSE or Windows.  Not to sure how to partition my hard drive or get this to happen, could use some help from you computer savvy people!

It's been a while since ive ran an open source and have never run that version of linux. However frequently when you pop in the install disk it will allow you to partition your hard drive before installing the OS. The big question is

A) are you installing suse on the same hard drive as you currently have Vista on

B ) Is vista currently installed over all of the hard drive.

If you have a fresh drive for SUSE it will make it easier just make sure the one with suse is your main boot device so that it has the boot sector.

However for grins I found a nice article

http://www.testmy.net/t-19490

"A couple of minutes into this process you will see a bunch of [ ok ] lines.  This is when the init script is being run.  This is the Linux equal to Services in Windows.  After everything has started you will see a pretty little screen with GParted launched.  It functions almost exactly the same as the old Partition Magic."

Looks like partitioning shouldn't be a problem. So you can do it I suppose easily without having a fresh drive.

Please remember to follow the #1 Rule... BACKUP BEFORE YOU DO THIS!

I cannot tell you how many people came into the shop I used to work at who had blown up all their data trying to do very similar things.