partitioning optimization
 

hello from france-
I want to optimize my linux partitioning theme -as an absolute new user of linux I have no notion of partioning my hard disk,

here is my case:
my PC = an old one (1995-96?)= pentium 133mhz-48 mo(edo+...?)
pas d'os except DOS
HARD DISK=dir c: =15 folders: 607 805 octets,0 directory -> 1 474 560 free octets
I just need to use Linux as OS but with KDE (destination is only internet surfing)
To instal linux red hat 7.2 (beta) the automatic partitioning was refused(error message in french:impossible d'allouer les partitions requises)-so I've used druiddisk in this way:

beginning end mo type mount point
-hda 1 1 974 959mo ext3
-hda a 975 1023 48mo swap

reflets in my "bloc devices":
peripherique type volume mount point free used%
label=/1 ext3 na / 0.00mb
/dev/hda1 ext3 944mb 165mb 82.5%

Grub is my default boot loader
Kde is my unique graphical desktop environment

it's run,nevertheless too slowly ,BUT I want to optimize at the maximum my hazardous partitions to improve performance of this systeme -
I need your experience and advice (in the specific case of my hard disk and my will "Dos+red hat 7.2+grub+kde+internet orientation)-
is it necessary or important to add a "boot" partition?will have I to redimentionize my DOS partition?...

Thanks for your help

sorry but your site is simple-clear-and fun!

To start off I think some non-harddisk optimalizations will help out better. The "official" 7.2 is out, better grab that one. If the memory strategy of the 2.4 kernels are a bit too much, try the 2.2(20) series. It's what I ran best on the 'ol 133Mhz-iHX-128MB. Secondly, don't use ext3 as your filesystem, a recent test (mandrakecorp) shows ext3 as (a bit) slower than ext2, and for internet surfing you don't need it's overhead of journalling features. Third, if there is no distinct need for KDE, ditch it and use a window manager like Blackbox or IceWM. Both need much less memory to run, and by ditching KDE you'll gain hd space as well by deleting +30Mb's of libs. If you really need KDE (who does?) youve gotta add more RAM. Finally make sure you don't run any daemons/automounts/rawdevices/etc/etc you don't need, and recompile your kernel without excess modules.

Tuning/cutting down is IMO necessary to run with such low memory requirements. The whole system wil benefit from that especially X, since it will need an unfair share of your memory to run itself in, leaving less room for "toys".

On to the hd stuff. If the bootmanager boots your Linux, there's no need to add a /boot partition. This is only needed if you've got an older version of a bootmanager like Lilo that won't boot partitions above the 1024th cylinder.

I don't read your partition table well, can't make any sense of that, maybe someone else can, or plz repost it clearly.

HTH

If you're really determined to optimize your partitions (which may give you some improvement, but not nearly as much as unSpawn's suggestions), a good place to start is the Partition HowTo, which you can find here: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/doc...ini/Partition.

Ca existe en français aussi, mais dans une version plus ancienne :( : ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/linux/french/d.../Partition.gz.