linux format?
 

hello all again, as i stated before, i am going to be installing Linux mandrake 9.0 on my computer (will be my first time with linux). i was setting up the partition for my HD with bootitNG, and i resized my hard drive to where i have 17 gigs for windows and the rest (20gigs) which i am going to use for linux. the question i have is when i go to partition the 20 gigs for linux, i need to pick what type of partition it is (i think?). the options they have for linux is "linux swap" and "linux native". i was wondering, what is the difference for these and which should i use? thanx in advance, and if possible, break it down for a pre newb like me so i can understand it.

Shaggy

You need one of each. Unlike windows that uses regular user space as swap space, Linux needs a specifically carved out section of the disk for swap.

Technically you could use the regular cfdisk or fdisk partitioner on Mandrake to chop the free space into 2 partitions, leaving the windows partition whole, but there is a chance of toastinbg the windows partition... I've done this a couple of times, but I never cared about having to re-install the windows side if it went down.

The typical for swap space is twice your RAM, but with ram space being ridiculous these days I've stopped paying attention to that rule of thumb all of the time. For instance the machine I'm using now started with 256Mb ram so I carved out 1/2Gig for swap... and have since tripled the RAM and never noticed a problem.

Probably best to use bootitNG to carve another swap section.

Cheers,

Finegan

i've already used bootitNG to half the space, i just need to partition the empty space now. so i should cut a chunk out of the empty space? would 2 gigs sufice for swap ? and also, does it matter what i label either of them (ie.. they will have their linux native and linux swap things but i can also type a label) thanx in advance.

also, do i need to do anything to them after i partition both the linux native and linux swap spaces? or will mandrake handle the rest and recognise what i have done?


Shaggy

H-man,

Disk labels are pretty much hood ornaments now. 2Gigs? good fat penguins, what is this machine? If you get to label the partition type in bootit, then Mandrake should just tear through the rest, if not you'll have to mark the type in Mandy, the graphical installer is pretty straightforward. Post back if it gives you issues, again, I'm not familiar with bootit.

Cheers,

Finegan

just for the record i have a AMD athelon XP 2500+, 512 megs or ram, a geforce 3Ti5000 video card, and a 40gig hard drive.

Oh that's just perverse, I've got 32 days until I can purchase a new machine... but I think I'm going to hold off longer, the old 1.2Ghz T-bird is still doing me just fine.

Remember after install to get the binary drivers for the Nvidia card straight from their site. Mandy should take care of the rest.

Cheers,

Finegan

i didn't have to pay for the machine, so i'm really really happy. lol. also, i was wrong, there was 4 options for the type of partition. i know now that i need the "linux Swap" but i don't know which one i should use for the main partition. the options are "Linux Native", "Linux RAID", "Linux LVM", and "Linux Extended". what is the difference between these and which should i use? I think i read somewhere that i need to use "Linux Extended" but i honestly don't remember and don't want to go off of a unclear thought. you guys have been so helpful and I can't wait to get an answer so i can install Mandrake on my computer and dive in. Thanx in advance


Shaggy

You want Native

Native is a normal partition, Extended is an enlarged partition that most likely you couldn't boot to... well probably not with this machine, bah, whatever, RAID if you wanted to create mirrored partitions for either, 0 faster disk access over the partitions, or 1 mirroring to ensure data backup, there's also 4 and 5 which are like 0 and 1 but with > 2 partitions, where everything is packed up thrice... this best done over multiple disks so when one fries, then there's hardware RAID where a card takes care of it, ah... whatever, look into RAID when you're bored. LVM is logical volume manager that allows you to share space over partitions, but lets not go there either, again, more to read when bored. Go for Native.

To warn you ahead of time, something isn't going to work, sound, video, networking, don't sweat it, just start a new thread.

Luck

Finegan

ok, one last question. i set up the partitions for the Linux swap and the Linux native, and then i looked at the properties of each, and both of them stated this under the properties:

Bootable=No

The Location of this partition will prevent some operating systems from booting from it.

is this normal? will this be fixed once i actually put Linux on them (on Monday)? is this no big deal whatsoever or should i be really worried? thanx in advance


Shaggy

A DOS based MBR won't be able to boot that, most likely you're going to be overwriting the MBR with Mandy, which will create a boot option automagically for Windows, something I've never seen it fail to do right. Unless there's something I'm really missing here, I wouldn't sweat it.

Aight, I'm headed out drinkin' for the night...

Luck,

Finegan

would 2 gigs sufice for swap ?

That's more than my whole hard drive on one of my systems.

as for bootable, When partitioning you should be able to specify if a partition is bootable or not. The swap space doesn't need to be, but the linux native should probably be a bootable partition.

have a good night finegan, and thanx for all your help.

Shaggy

Since noone really said how much swap you need, im suggesting
1gb. You dont really need to worry about running out of space since you have a ~40gb hard drive, so that should be okay. 512mb should be okay too.

i have a 40 gig HD, but 17.4 gigs is partitioned for winblows XP for my fiance since she can't even program the VCR (the C: drive is taking up 7.4 gigs so far so i just decided to add 10 gigs to it for space reasons). i partitioned a Linux swap (2 gigs) and a Linux Native (18 gigs) so i should be fine. and that way if i upgrade my ram later, there will not be a problem, and besides, it's not like i don't have the space, so why not, ya know, lol

the funny thing is that we are currently using AOL for our ISP (because we can't get broadband in our area yet due to the apartment complex not upgrading cable yet and the fact that kady wants aol until we get broadband) so i don't know how i'm going to get online once i install linux. is there any free isp's that work on linux that i can use until we get broadband?


Shaggy

sorry to double post, but does anybody know of a free isp that runs on Mandrake 9.0, or one that runs on linux in general?

Shaggy