I have decided to make the jump from Mandrake to Slackware in an attempt to really learn Linux.... a move away from GUI tools and, hopefully, on to greater knowledge.

Currently, I am dual booting with XP and have approximately 23 gigs dedicated to Linux.

I have
a /home partition that is 9.6 gigs
a /root partition that is 5.8 gigs
and a /usr partition that is 7.8 gigs

Does this seem logical or could my partitioning be improved?

I would also be interested in any tips that could be given with regards to installing Slackware.... ie. Configuration information that I could carry over from my current Mandrake setup that might prove to be beneficial.

For that matter, any tips or hints that could be provided for the Slack install would be appreciated.

My biggest current fear is internet connectivity and access to these boards. If there is one thing I would like to get right first shot is that. I currently connect through ethernet to a DSL connection.

Thanks

Here's mine, and I have lots of free space...

/ = 1G
/usr = 7G
/home = 2G
/var = 2G
/tmp = 1G

Everyones needs differ.

But, if you have the diff. partitions you don't need a big / (root)...

Type at a terminal:

# df -h

Or load KDiskFree....

...and see where you're at.

u might want to add a partition for /var like 250meg would be more then enough for a normal machine. seems like a waste of a partition but if something starts uncontrollably logging all sorts of stupid and or really important messages you wont fill up you /root partition and maybe cause a other problems or a crash.

i also like a /boot partition too i just make it like 25meg ... so i can build more than 1 kernel and its not on my / so i can umount it after i have booted ... this way a program or stupid mistake wont take out my kernel or change it without me mounting the /boot partition, then i can stupidly take out my kernel thank you very much.

i also usually make a /usr/local for programs that i install later. so id do 2gig for /usr and 5.8 for /usr/local ... but it wont really matter if you lump those together. Makeing them 2 different partitions just makes me feel safer.


as for your network connection ... just make sure you know what module you use for your nic the slack install will detect nics but if it has a problem finding yours (never seen it happen but...) ... lsmod will help you with that in mandrake. The slack install is pretty simple but you need to know what programs you want to install ... if you want a desktop machine and this is your first time id take the recommended installation. At the end of the programs installation is configuration. its pretty straight forward. The network setup is easy if you know your network settings ip dns dhcp and such.

Thanks for the advice folks.... particularly the advice on lsmod and a /boot partition... hadn't thought of either.

umm, hullo, ignore my advice please.

Can I suggest you go to www.partimage.org and browse the dox then get partimage on floppy or cd bootable. Then assuming you have a cd burner, have only the swap partitions (yes I have 3) and only one linux file partition which is / with all the other stuff as subfolders.

Why,

cos then you don't have to worry about getting the size of your partitions too small. And most newbies may get into some difficulty with /opt or /home or /usr.

If many people share this home computer, you can do a bit of read on using a quota to stop someone using up all of your freespace.

As I said, this is against the guru advice so pay no attention to me.

I did the same as you at around slack-8.1 and have never looked back. Installed mdk-9.1 cover disks recently and while it may look wonderful it felt uncomfortable as I had gotten used to taking charge and editing my own config files etc.

23 Gb allot of space for a single distro/install unless you store allot of graphics and/or sound files or your a software junkie

I find that 2-2.5 Gb /, 3-3. Gb /usr, 1.5-2 Gb /usr/local and 2-3 Gb /home is sufficient in our home with myself a 9 yro daughter and a 22 yro nephew and sometimes my wife having accounts. Keep some spare partitions handy you can always mount them in your directory tree by creating a new directory and editing /etc/fstab appropriately. Else they are available for test driving something else.

I have a 20 Gb hd with a 2nd 2.2 Gb hd (2 partitions) that is used for backups and a dump of sorts. I have win 2000 on hda1 at about 6.2 Gb.

I can keep a stable linux O.S. up and running for the family's internet needs, M$ onboard for schoolwork and when I bring something home from work, and still have room for another linux install for playing around.

Once I had M$, slack-8.1, mdk-8.something, and vector linux all running in the box and booting from lilo.

Now I just stick with slackware and feel less and less motivated to install anything else.