Thanks for that info bthylafh, I see the developer (who is a chick by the way) has two programs FreeOTFE and FreeOTFE Explorer. I was quite excited about FreeOTFE Explorer not requiring administrator privileges, until I spotted this caveat.
FreeOTFE Explorer wrote:Doesn't currently support the use of encrypted partitions (Note: This is currently being implemented).
SecretSquirrel got it right when he said you need system level rights to install the encryption package. That is something I wont necessarily have at internet cafes or universities. In that case, if it were ultra important I would consider buying a cheap USB flash drive with hardware encryption. I have had other people steal my work from me in the past so this is a consideration.
FreeOTFE wrote:In common with all disk encryption systems however, it uses device drivers which require Administrator privileges to install (after which any user can use it), or to start "portable mode".
As for dm-crypt with LUKS, is this the only system that can support an encrypted swap partition? I am hesitant to use TrueCrypt and would rather something that is supported in the repository.