I think you need to plan an adequate amount of space.  If you know what you are doing, you can trim Linux down, but as beginners, we don't know what we can get rid of.  So, our Linux install starts getting large right away.

People will suggest there is "not much software" for Linux.  In a sense, that is true but in another sense, there is a wealth of software.  Since it's so easy for programmers to create their own version of anything, you will find a lot of different software.  Linux will load with three or four text editors, for instance.  Until you try them out, you don't know if you like them.  It sure beats having just "notepad."

On another computer, I made the Windows "partition" smaller and added a version of Linux to the same drive by making more partitions.  I did this with Mandrake Linux and so I can't say if Icepack can safely "downsize" your Windows partition.

Note:  Partitions are just artificial divisions of the drive.  In Windows, partitions are given different drive letters.  In linux, they are referred to by different "drive" designations.

I recommend you have no less than about 5 gigabytes space for your install.  I think my Icepack install is about 1 gigabite or so.  But you will also need a "swap partition" and if you intend to use Linux for anything, you will want some space to work with.  You probably could get a functional Icepack on 1 gig or so -- but you wouldn't have any room to put any data, more programs, that sort of thing.

I put Icepack on a 6 gig hard drive and it is adequate for my present use.  In another computer, I put Mandrake on about 2.5 gigs I could extract away from my Windows partition -- and this was seriously inadequate.  There's no room to put any more programs.

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