Hello !

I have installed Gentoo 2004.3 (stage-3) with success . However , this was the first time I did it , and I would like to rerun the install process (it's really not that big of a deal for me) to make some modifications (mainly to the partitioning scheme)

I have as a primary installed Operating System , WindowsXP . Whenever I try to install Linux (different distributions) , I'm asked to create some partitions . The problem is , I already have an extended partition (win) so I have to chose between creating either primary or logical partitions for Linux . The help files say "primary" so I build ..--ONLY--.. two primary partitions . I am not allowed to create more (I know that most HD allow only 4 primary partitions) . One goes for root , the other one goes for swap .

However , I would like to have more than just two sepparate partitions . How can I achieve that ? Should I make them Logical instead of Primary ? Would that affect anything ? If yes , what ?

In case there is a solution to my problem , and somebody will be so very kind as to tell me what it is , I have designed the following partitioning scheme and I would like to ask for opinions on it (you really don't need all that space for / , you should make the swap partition bigger etc.):

First , resources available:

21.46 GB of hard disk space
256 MB or RAM

The partitioning scheme I have designed:

Partition #1:
- SWAP
- size: 512 MB
Partition #2:
- /
- size: 3 GB
Partition #3:
- /home
- size: 4 GB
Partition #4:
- /usr
- size: the rest of ~ 14 GB

And finally , one more . After I installed Gentoo I decided to go ahead and install additional software using the GRP cd . Here is where I encountered another problem: what must I install (emerge) ? Are there tools that aren't included in the default install but which are used by a vast number of individuals and I am almost sure to need ? Is there any documentation on this ? Also assuming I want to use KDE as my graphical enviroment . What must I emerge (except KDE itself of course) ?

That's about it .. for now . Thank you for taking the time to read this !

Hi,

your partitioning schemaeseems reasonable, go ahead,
allthoug I personaly would not separate /usr from /, many do so, and there are a few good reasons for it.
It is a matter of taste I think.

To get KDE on gentoo, just emerge kde.
It will emerge everything else you'll also (xorg for instance)

Don't worry, gentoo has near magic dependency handling.

If you did a stage 3 and followed the handbook you should be able to emerge whatever you want,first emerge sync then emerge away.For the partition I use /boot / /swap /home dont use /usr you can create a boot then /swap then extended for / /home I make / about 5gb and home the rest,but I'm far from an expert!