My disk became too full and wouldn't boot....I reinstalled..what can to do next time
 

Hi there
I've actually got Fedora Core working with audio / Planet CCRMA and was really proud of myself for getting that far considering I've never used Linux at all.

Then out of the blue my main Linux partition/ disk became too full and wouldn't boot into Linux all the way. The login screen would appear briefly ( not the graphical but the text based shell) but as soon as it appeared it would suddently go blank for 20 seconds...then reappear for a blip...then go blank ( so I couldn't even log in or type anything into the log in screen).

I tried to use the 'rescue linux' option on booting Fedora...this managed to get me to the shell but I was still lost..I needed to free up some space but didn't know how to!

I then tried getting a bootable Linux Distro - it worked but I couldn't really work understand where to delete files from my original root folder in Fedora ( I was looking at 'root' in the Knoppix Distro! thinking it was the Fedora root....doh!).

I've had to re-install Fedora again from scratch :( But now everything is working.

My questions are:

1) How can I avoid this again ( apart from making sure there's enough space !) - if I wish to increase the partition size for linux which tool would be best to use? I've looked through all the Fedora apps on my computer but can't see a 'disk administrator' program. Is there a kind of 'Partition Magic' for linux? My new installation is already getting quite full so I need to do this soon!

2) What would you suggest I put in the linuxquestions.org forum search engine to get help on this topic...I did try a few things but couldn't find anything specific.

I am impressed by Linux so far....it is very well designed and has a feeling of solidity about it. Installing programs can be confusing for newbies ( it would be great to be able to just type "Install" to get things going - when you see a file llike "install.sh" I tried all manner of things at first to install things ( like "install.sh" which doesn't work!). I worked that out in the end from stuff on the web but it was most confusing at first (.\install-sh).

Thanks for your help, sorry if this question has been asked millions of times before!

Well, just a short explanation:
Why ./install.sh and not install.sh ? (note it is / and not \ --> Microsoft decided to go his way and use a different slash. As a mnemotechnic rule, think slashes in linux go the same way than on a URL)
So, why the ./ in front of the command ?
Because the "actual directory" is not on the PATH (for security reasons... forget by now ), so the system cannot find commands "living" in the directory you are actually positioned unless you provide the route to it: ./command.sh
(Note: One dot means actual directory; Two dots mean parent directory. That's like windows!)

For increasing the partition "on the fly" you should use/choose LVM file system BEFORE you start installing. I don't know of any PartitionMagic-like for linux.

One useful command (maybe you already know of it) is "df -k" which shows the occupation of your file-systems.

Did you create a swap partition i cannot think of any other reason that linux wouldnt start unless you didnt do that.

Check out these partitioning programs
http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/parted.html
http://qtparted.sourceforge.net/

Thank you both of you for helping me here - you have explained things clearly so many thanks. My problem is I just went with the default install / automatic partitioning....I will learn in time how to partition it to my needs. The Fedora core installation created the swap partition automatically... next time I will do it manually myself. We live and learn!

As for the install sh....I don't wish to moan about Linux and it's syntax as it's just got a different way of doing things to DOS..I suppose years of using backslashes can make things a little confusing at the start. I think I read a few readme files with various programs and they say "run install.sh" - I wish they would say type "./install.sh" as that would have made things alot eaiser! I hunted all over the web for "How to install a program" and do you think I could find an answer :)

Anyway thanks again both of you...who knows one day I might be able to offer some Linux help back to someone else....

You should have been able to execute install.sh without typing ./ before it the reason you couldnt just type install.sh is its probably not made executable
chmod +x install.sh to make it executable.