There are methods for converting a Fat32 partition into an NTFS type while that wouldn't be necessary to see any Linux distro go on there. Linux uses VFat not Fat or NTFS for it's own root and commonly seen swap type partitions which can be the primary or extended type while Windows require the primary.
The two tools for creating Linux type partitions are QParted and the Gnome Partition Editor called GParted. There a few live for cd releases of GParted that are cross platdorm or seen at the download page as platform independent you can use to resize and even create if not delete Fat16/32 and NTFS partitions.
The live for cd 0.3.3.0 release is found at
http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...kage_id=173828
To understand how easy it can be to boot from a GParted cd-r and use that tool read through the documentation seen at
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry...es/gparted.htm
For alternate distros that are smaller in size Knoppix, Zenwalk, Puppy Linux, Getoo, Mephis are some of the names there. You may want to run a live for cd version before actually installing one and finding another later that you prefer. Or you may decide that you don't want Linux at all?!
The free version of one program that will burn to cd-r the Linux drive tool as well as various live and iso segaments for distros is BurnOn while many use Deep Burner. BurnOn is found at
http://www.burnworld.com/burnoncddvd/