Thank you Linux-and the people who make it happen!
 

Hey people, I know I post a lot of questions here, and some of them are even dumb questions, but sometimes you get a good answer to a dumb question.
I am learning Linux, this great free OS with so many varieties that makes Windows look almost bland in comparison. The fact that Linux is free is it's best attribute-so many individuals working so hard to put out a product that is so valuable to any person who uses computers today-about 90+% of us!
I have only been using a PC for 3+ years now-and 2.5 years of that was Windows XP-been using Linux since late December2008 when I stupidly installed Ubuntu via Unetbootin to my HD-just pushed a button-didn't partition or anything-rebooted-Huh-oh!?
Just a black screen and a blinking cursor...Damn it Jim!
Already in denial, I rebooted 3 more times before I felt a strange lump in my throat-shit!
Thinking fast I grabbed what was my only hope-an old, strange Ubuntu 8.04 CD I had ordered (for free!) from Ubuntu (had dial-up then).
I had put the disk in before and played around on the live desktop, but had no idea what a "partition" was...so being scared 'cause I had no XP Recovery disk-'cause I bought the PC for $20 used-a HP Pavillion a810n AMD Athlon64 512MB RAM(now 1GB), and a 160GB HD-so no recovery disk.
I remembered that I didn't like Ubuntu cause it was brown!, and I couldn't figure how to get the dial-up working-to me it was like f***ing Klingon or something!
But, I remembered it said rescue system or boot system-something...anyway I stuck the Ubuntu disk in and booted up-
OK-boot my disk!
Grub error-such and such?!
Damn it Jim!
Tried again-hmmm...
OK-Try Ubuntu without changing my pc-press enter..
Got to the Desktop-lookin around...ok-file manager, let's see-Ha! my XP was still in there! I could see all my folders and stuff.....hmmm, now what do I do??
I grabbed my new Kingston 4GB USB(Ebay-$20), put it in and it popped up on the screen-Gnarley!
I am a writer-that's the only reason I even got the PC-OK I'm a late bloomer...
Anyway, my writings-all my stuff I had written in 2+ years was in there, and the only thing I liked about XP was Glest-the only game I could play with my 128MB SIS-760 IGC! But, Glest played graet on XP and I can't even get it configuered in Linux-hatin it!
So-I had to at least get the stuff I wanted out-via USB.
I loaded up the USB with everything I could-about 3.5+GB of text mostly!
I didn't believe I could save XP at that point, maybe I could have saved her...
Being impatient, I said screw Windows and again booted Ubuntu-hit install-take the whole disk damn it!
Rebooted-ah! It worked...now what do I do??
By this point I had decided to get broadband and my gear was already on it's way from Peoplepc, so when it arrived like the next day I had already had a day to play with Ubuntu.
Basically I just played alot of Heavy Metal with Rhythmbox and went through the file system looking at the "guts"-I'm a tinkerer..what's this permissions shit?!
So, I hooked up the broadband and boom-Ubuntu auto-magically figures it out!Ha!
After opening firefox, Ubuntu wanted some updates-cool..
OK-so now were up and running-can Glest be installed on Linux?Hmmm..OK-downloaded the Glest for Linux, installed with Gdebi-I think-anyway, it wouldn't-and still doesn't work on ANY Linux distro I try!
Damn it Jim!WHY!?
On Ubuntu 8.10 it plays in ssslllooowwww-mmmottion...that's about as good as I can get it!
I don't think it's the SIS-760 Graphics either-In XP I could be surfing the Web/playing AOL radio-LOUD!/writing in Open Office -AND have Glest running in the "tray"-which I could then pop up and play at leisure, and that's before I got 512MB of extra RAM!
Yeah the fans ran like hell, but hey-it ran great!
Now-nothing!
I KNOW Linux can play Glest, but I can't even find the XML config files!!Where could they be?
Anyway-I'm off track...So Linux has been in the last 3+ months the best experience I have had regarding Computers.
Much better than XP in almost everything-'cept Glest...
I now have Slackware-12.2, Ubuntu SE-8.04, SuperUbuntu-8.10, Fedora-10, and Debian-Lenny on my HD.
My HD looks like this now...
SDA1-Slackware 12.2 (27GB)
SDA2-Ubuntu SE (16.5GB)
SDA3-SuperUbuntu-8.10 (AKA-the Lab-40.5GB)
SDA4-Extended Partition-(65GB)
SDA7-Fedora 10 (13.5GB)
SDA5-Swap (2.26GB)
SDA6-FAT32 (33GB)
SDA8-Debian-Lenny (16GB)
Yes, it's been chopped up quite a bit...
Anyway-Fedora's OK, but not for me maybe-I wanna try others-I have like a hundred CD's/DVD's now-if you read my posts you'll see, I've been scouring the net for any distro...
So, today/tomorrow the old HP is getting another partial lobotomy of the HD..!
I want to install Gentoo, and probably Lunar too, as I wanna check out the source based distro's a bit.
I've been learning Slack 12.2 for like a month now and that's going pretty good..also been learning some python/Gambas2, nothing heavy-yet.
So, after partitioning my HD should look like this...
SDA1-same
SDA2-same
SDA3-same
SDA4-same*
SDA7-?(13.5GB) the target, it will be divided in two..7GB for Gentoo, and the rest(6+GB) for Lunar.
SDA5-swap-same
SDA6-FAT32-same
SDA8?or it becomes 7 or 9?
So, I assume the partition numbers will change?
As I've said in earlier posts-this baby's a test-bed now, so it's been seeing on avg about 3-4 partition swipes and moves per week-with about a hundred reboots per week!
This HP is a soldier, and so is the little Toshiba 7000CT 160MB RAM/4GB HD, as it's running Slackware 12.2 now like it's brand-new!It had Windows 2000-eck!
So, is this a viable partitioning scheme?
Am I damaging the PC with the multiple disk-wipes and reboots??
And, how am I gonna get Glest going-besides getting a graphics card-where are the XML config files?
I'm sorry this post was long and rambling-I do appreciate everything the members of LQ impart to newbies like me.
I want to contribute something, so maybe some newbies can learn from my experience and take the dive into Linux-Just don't forget your recovery Disk!

I think you are going to have to re-read, and edit this post before anyone has the strength to reply to it:

- Maybe concentrate on learning one distro, and getting that working properly, before you start hopping all over the place.

- One Q at a time here on LQ, providing the best information you can, for us to help you, help yourself solve it:

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
- Chinese Proverb.

- An occasional blank line between paragraphs, and subjects, aids readability.

- No unnecessary ramblings (we have busy lives, and just don't want to know (Unless it's in General ;) ).

Could you repeat the question??.........;)

Seriously, you should not expect anyone here to read all of that. This aside, I can provide an answer:
You're welcome!!

Maybe move to Linux Success Stories?

Disk wipes and reboots shouldn't affect your hard disks more then the usual daily startups. Not turning off the computer when the working day is done, is better for the hard disk, but financially bad because it costs more in terms of electricity. And even then, hard disks sometimes can fail for no clear reason at all.

Just a not note: that's an impressive piece of tech blog, that you wrote, but you should keep some linefeeds between paragraphs - it's quite difficult to read such a complex posting, if it hits you like a tsunami :-)

Arch Linux

It's better if you don't do it too often.

Belive it or not but i actually read it all :)

and i believe that the question was..

I think that if you repartition these partition the numbers shouldn't change..

No,based on what linus72 said that he want to do,they won't change,just one new partition will be added to HD; /dev/sda9.

I know it's rambling...
Ok-questions were
1-Why won't glest work right-slo000ww?
2-where are the config files for Glest?(I looked-couldn't find)
3-Does multiple partitioning/rebooting damage anything?
4-Does my partition scheme look ok?
Sorry for the ramble.
thanks!

Another point:
Always always always back up your valuable data! Computers can fail at any time and without warning, even if you take good care of them. And if you're playing with Linux you're bound to break your system sooner or later (if it ain't broke, you haven't played with it enough ;))

Hmm.. and i thought you can't break Linux. I mean seriously - how can you break linux? You may break your desktop environment (big deal just reinstall it) but i don't think you can break linux that it needs a complete reinstall..

True, if you know what you're doing you can usually fix anything that comes up. But nobody knows everything, and when you're learning by experiment you can quite easily do something wrong with dire consequences. E.g. you might be teaching yourself to back up a partition with dd, and accidentally zero the partition. Not much getting around that one!

I've also made system files unreadable by accidentally modifying them in such a way as to reset the SELinux labels, which prevented my system from booting. I know how to get around that now, but I'd gone through a couple of reinstalls before I finally figured out what was going wrong - the error messages were completely unhelpful.

Then there's always hardware failures of course. Or just accidentally typing rm * in the wrong directory.. any number of things really.

this has to be the 5th or 6th post I have viewed in the past week that complains of poor Linux performance on the sis graphics chips. Fedora sis driver is broken so you are stuck with the vesa driver. as your only hope for basic video. I wonder how many other Distros have issues with the 77x/67x sis chips.

That would probably be why your game performance is so bad right now..



I just looked at the Glest site, now I have to go home and try it.. looks pretty sweet !! and it's in the Debian repository so install will be a snap. aptitude install glest.

Yeah-Glest is cool-very configureable too, as you can edit the XML files, make new creatures, combine creatures from different clans,etc.
Maybe I can get it to work in Slack-we'll see...

Err I got my wizard hat handed to me repeatedly.. Looks like I need to learn the tech trees. :)