M1530 adding ubuntu for dual boot

[Ciberblade]

I have a Dell XPS M1530 laptop originally with Vista home premium on it. I don't know much about linux and would like to learn more...Have started over using the recovery partition back to factory settings. Vista is setup and running as expected. Using gparted I have re-sized the Vista's partition to 80gb, then allocated 60gb to the media direct partition FAT32 (MD may or may not be working, I just want that partition available for the ubuntu install). A 10gb recovery partition (which I want to keep intact) and a 47mb utility partition (I figure that is Dell's bag of tools).

I've read that I can use the media direct button to boot into ubuntu and the power button to boot into windows...though my starting point does not match any of the guides I have found so far. I don't have a media direct CD. Since I have Vista working as expected, I would rather not start all over again.

So basically what I am looking for is some guidance in hopes I don't crash my existing setup in the process of getting ubuntu installed. (if needed I could always re-allocate the space from the MD partition back to vista if a side by side installation would be better suited)

Please advise - and thanks.

[Ciberblade]

*update*

After searching the forums some more, I figured the best direction would be to forget the media direct button and simply install it using the side by side option after re-sizing the partitions.

Seems to have worked, and now I have a boot loader that gives each partition as an option with ubuntu as its primary (which I'm good with) My question now is...can I remove the listings in boot menu to only show the ones I want?