[ltp] 770 EOL??? and PLEASE help!

[Ricardo Palma]

Hello everybody,

My name is Ricardo Palma, from Lima, Peru. I just purchased from IBM (5 
days ago) a new GREATLY (close to 30%) discounted TP770Z. We also bought 
another one just 3 months ago, at a much higher price, so I guess IBM is in 
fact going to introduce new models pretty soon.

Anyway, I'm completely new to Linux, but eager to learn and give it a try 
on my ThinkPad. I already installed it on a PC and it works great. I please 
need your help to install it on my ThinkPad. So far, I have the following 
issues:

Although a seasoned programmer, I'm
TOTALLY new to Linux. Don't know about compiling kernels and the like.
I just got a ThinkPad 770Z, an would like to install NT, Win98(ugh) and 
Linux.  I'm planning to use BootMagic to multiboot.

I would like to have the following partitions:
a) Primary Windows 98 - 1Gb
b) Primary Windows NT 1 Gb
c) Common FAT Partition 1 Gb
d) Another Common FAT Partition 1,5 Gb
e) An NTFS partition (6Gb)
f) The rest devoted to Linux.

 My questions are:
0. How should I partition the 14.1 GB HD?
1. I need to buy a modem + Ethernet card (I know MWave doesn't work).  I'm 
considering the Xircom RealPort. Should I get the PCMCIA version or the
CardBus Version?
2. At the moment of installation, what video adpater and config should I 
specify to the installation program?
3. MOST IMPORTANT: When installing Linux (brand new installation), the 
installation program asks for the network adapter. There are no PCMCIA 
entries.
How should I go about installing networking on the ThinkPad?
4.  What steps should I take after installation?

Thanks for your time, and I deeply apologize for being a nuisance, but I 
deperartely need help!

Ricardo Palma