Need help getting started with linux

["Justin Ekis" <JEkis@sbcglobal.net>]

Hi everyone,

Ok, I'm very new to linux  and I've got a ton of questions. Here goes.
Well, I'm ready to try installing linux. I'm kind of nervous because I've
been using windows since windows95 came out and it will be a big change. I
would like to set up the system so that if linux proves not to be for me I
can go back to windows without having to reinstall it.
I've heard that you can create a partition for linux separate from windows.
This sounds great, but how do you tell the system not to boot to windows?
Also the idea of buying a $50.00 or $60.00 partition program I'm only going
to use once and then forget about isn't very appealing. Are there any free
partition utilities out there?

To help me get started I decided on the zipspeak distribution as my first
taste of linux. It sounded so easy to use because if I understood correctly
the readme says you can run it from the same drive as windows with no
partition needed.
I'm having lots of trouble though. I'm using windows ME right now and I
don't think it has a way to boot to the dos prompt.
The file says to restart the computer and press F8 for the boot menu and
choose the command prompt option and run the linux batch file from there. I
read somewhere that windows ME doesn't support dos like that any longer. If
it does I can't find the option for it in the boot menu, but then again it's
kind of hard to navigate around that menu without speech.
I know you can still run things in a dos window but that certainly won't
work for linux. I wouldn't think one opporating system would do very good
running under another. Lol.
Can I not do it that way with my version of windows?

Sorry for asking so many questions on just my first day on the list.
Unfortunatly I get the feeling I'll have a lot more before I'm done with the
conversion to linux.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Justin Ekis