I think the manual method described in
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1553 is good enough for me.
First time I installed Linux, no problems, but then I accidently erased the partition, and then the missing free space 268 MB would never add to my HFS+ Mac partition. Now when I shut down, it takes like 90 seconds, way slower than before. Would this be related to my partitioning troubles?