Don't give me that Linux doesn't group it's tasks together Fedora alone recommends 900 meg for ram as a minimum and I'd go with twice the ram. Here is the best partitions you can make.
/boot --> about 50-100 MB
swap --> at least twice the amount of RAM you have
/ --> 20% of the rest
/usr --> 30% of the rest
/var --> 20% of the rest
/opt --> 10% of the rest
/home --> 20% of the rest
Another good alternative:
/boot --> about 50-100 MB
swap --> at least twice the amount of RAM you have
/ --> 25% of the rest
/usr --> 30% of the rest
/var --> 20% of the rest
/home --> 25% of the rest