marblz

[Log in to get rid of this advertisement]

Ok so I'm a newbie at linux but I'm getting tired of windows so would like to make the switch but still run XP as a backup option
I use my computer for home use mostly media (music and movies) p2p networks and the odd art program
right now I'm stuck on partitioning
from what I understand I need /boot partition of 50 megs or less even. I need a swap partition possibly a gig or so is my estimation. I'm getting a little confused on the rest
Do I need a /home partition and a /usr partition? And why

Sage1

My studied opinion is biased by the use of the Live CD such as Knoppix V3.7, and now, today, V3.8. These are the current crop. I just finished an install of Knoppix V3.8 on a 'curbside donation box'
that is a Compaq 333mhz (Cyrix MII 266/66) after I installed two sticks of Compaq 64Mb RAM. It took about one hour, to wipe out the win98, install and completely update Debian Linux, and configure the system, with over 115,000 apps, files, on the original 4.3 Gb hard drive. When completed, and upgraded, the drive was 33% empty.

So, on partitioning:

I boot up from the Knoppix LiveCDrom. Then, I open a console. Type 'sudo knoppix-installer' and a small window opens stating that this computer doesn't yet meet the requirements for install of Knoppix. Do I want to configure the system? I press the 'yes' pad.

1. I only make a Linux swap partition equal to, or up to 2X the RAM. That is Partition #1. Known as /hda1, in QTparted, if this is a single OS computer. Multi-boot is below.

2. I make a 5 to 20 GB partition in Ext3, for the Linux distro. I commit the changes.

MULTI-BOOT
everything as above, BUT, before beginning any of this, before boooting up a LiveCD or starting a install CD, use the drive tools in your Microsoft to defrag, and clean up your file systems.

QTParted permits you to resize the partition that MS is on, and to dedicate the blank space towards your Linux partition.

Note that you will see warnings to back up all your data! No one, especially Not ME, will be responsible for anything that happens to your data... But, I have yet to lose any data, and I've been installing and repairing computers, building them new, and converting 'curbside boxes' to Linux since 1997!

I prefer Knoppix, but, there are over 230 fun and different Live Distros, here: http://livecdlist.com
Pick your favorite!

mchassy

Hi I read through the article, and I understand the basic concepts.

I recently switched over to Linux (Kubuntu 6.06) for my second PC.
Could you give me some advice for the partitioning config?

For the moment, I plan to keep my main computer on Windows while I start to figure out Linux on the other. I wan't use the Linux PC:

• To store and distribute multimedia on my home network (I have two wifi media streamers; one for music and one for video).

• To share files with bit torrent

• To rip and burn DVDs and CDs

• To share files with my windows PC

I have two internal drives (200 and 300 gigs) and I would like to connect my 500 gig external as well. During the installation I allocated 5 gigs to root and 5 gigs to swap. Perhaps I bit too much, but as you can see, I have more than enough storage capacity.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Mark Chassy

PS: If anyone reading this who knows about how to connect wifi media streamers (Roku and Pinnacle) using Kubuntu, I'll be looking for that info next.

Sage1

yes, that 5 GB swap partition is a huge waste, room enough to put on another whole distro of GNU/Linux! In fact, some computers i build only get a 4 GB hard drive! And, they run Kubuntu or Pclinuxos just fine!

I have three external drives and they all work well, though, one is partitioned for HFS+ which is MacIntosh for my MACs.. I do service on MACs also! Closely similar to GNU/Linux as OS X is DarwinBSD!

Just that if you run an external drive for Linux, it runs best (and longest life!), when formatted to a GNU/Linux filesystem, such as Ext3!

mchassy

So let's see :

Can I reformat those partitions now, or do I need to reinstall?
It doesn't really matter, cause I just installed yesterday.

I have 128O megs of RAM on the machine, so I could set the root to 5 gigs and the swap to 2?

As to the rest of that disk, and the two others, I'm more than happy to format them with any file system. But will I be able to access them from my windows PC, if I use ext3?

Mark

Sage1

1. partitioning can be done 'on the fly' without affecting any OS on the drive, as long as you don't delete system files while moving the partition! I have done hundreds without having lost a system! Well, there WAS that first one!!!

2. Microsoft can't see beyond FAT and NTFS partitions. I have proven over the past ten years, that those filesystems cause the early demise of any IDE hard drive they are on. Perhaps it is a payback to the drive vendors, from Microsoft? Most of the Drive makers ARE MS's 'partners'!

3. If you really need to drop and access files from any Microsoft virus magnet, to/from an external USB or FireWire drive, then of course you would have to risk the early demise of that drive, and format it to FAt or NTFS filesystem!

I am typing this to you from my Duron 1300, running a LiveCDrom of Linux! There are NO hard drives in the machine! http://pclinuxos.com is the distro DL site!

ayteebee

When setting the size of partitions, is it best to use complete cylinders or the good old "multiples of two" system?

eg. in the first instance the partition size for /boot is 8.257536 MB or 2 cylinders, in the second instance the partition size for /boot is 8 MB.

Is there a best way of doing this, or is it just down to user preference?

ayteebee

Ok, that didn't really make much sense, but I'll just move onto another question I now have. When I've repartitioned the hard disk and allocated the partitions their filesystem IDs (linux, linux swap etc), how do I then put the filesystem (reiserfs, ext2 etc) onto the partitions and allocate the partitions their mount points (eg, /boot, /tp, / etc)?

Oh hold on, you allocate the partitions a mount point using /etc/fstab don't you?

But I still don't know how to format the partitions with a filesystem...

Sage1

You are making it all too difficult. If you will insert Gnome Partition Editor disk, available at http://gparted.org you can do it all. Or, insert the PCLinuxOS.com Live CDrom, you can click on the 'easy' button on the screen! It is the "INSTALL" icon!

http://pclinuxos.com

Just do it and let it flow! Good surfing!

ayteebee

Thanks. My internet connection doesn't really lend itself to downloading ISOs or whatever, but thanks for replying.

I found the answer to the second question. The command fdisk or cfdisk creates the partitions, you can then format these using the commands mkreiserfs, mkswap, mke2fs, etc. If you're using bash, you can type mk and then tab twice to get a list of other filesystem creators that are available. Type man and then the name to get a description of how to use it.

I still haven't found a solution to the cylinders v. bytes question though...

Ps. The reason I'm doing it this way is that I want to learn more about using the Linux CLI, and also the computer doesn't have the capacity to run a graphical interface.

mansem1996

After studying carefully these instructions i would appreciate some further information about the creation of the partitions which as you mention are very important. Is the creation of the partition important to get done? I mean that can our LINUX operating software run in our Computer without so complicated actions? Moreover will our system work if we follow carefully those instructions?

Your advice was very interesting. Please you can mail me at your earliest convenience at [email]msemidalas@yahoo.com[email]. Thank you for your co-operation.

Regards...