Partitioning

[Mike Finn]

Ah gidday...

I am a new person to the Linux world, in fact totally Linux challenged. 
I am starting at square one. Reading Wikis, docs and newsgroups which 
are somewhat lacking in the REAL basic stuff.... I have tried Ubuntu 
Live CD, Knoppix Live Cd, Morphix Live CD and Beatrix live CD. Ubuntu is 
my choice. I am awaiting the install CD and wish to prepare my computer 
for this momentous event.

My question (first) is how should one set-up the partitions for 
installing Ubuntu. I have a laptop with Windows XP sp2, 2.4ghz intel 
mobile cpu, 1gig ram, 32mb vid card, 30gb harddrive with 12.5 gig free. 
The live CD works well except for the printer (Epson 2100/2200) and 
scanner (Canon Lide 30) and connect to the net via adsl router. I also 
have partition magic 8.05

1: Should the Linux partition be before the existing partition or after?
2: Should there be just one partion ready for Ubuntu or should I create 
the boot and swap as well?
3: Partition Magic comes with "BootMagic"... Is this the best way for 
dual booting?

There will be more :-)

Mike