do i need to partition

perky.nishi · 05-28-2008, 05:34 AM

i want to install slackware12.0 on my entire harddisk. do i need to partition or i can simply go to the setup portion? please help.

acid_kewpie · 05-28-2008, 05:44 AM

As part of the installation process you'll obviously always need to partition at some level.

pixellany · 05-28-2008, 07:11 AM

How big is the drive?

In general, using the whole drive is not a good idea--much better to leave some space for future changes.
The Slackware installer prompts you to use cfdisk (or fdisk) to setup the partitions before starting "setup".

hitest · 05-28-2008, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by perky.nishi

i want to install slackware12.0 on my entire harddisk. do i need to partition or i can simply go to the setup portion? please help.

You will need to partition your HD first. An easy to use partitioner is cfdisk. This is an example using an IDE controller:

# cfdisk /dev/hda

P.S. If you have a SCSI controller you can use this commmand:

# cfdisk /dev/sda

You can also use fdisk although it is not as user-friendly.

# fdisk /dev/hda

onebuck · 05-28-2008, 09:49 PM

Hi,

How is 'fdisk' not user friendly? If your speaking about the GUI like cfdisk then that is understandable. 'fdisk' is easy, all the help you need is there.

I've had less problems with fdisk. I prefer 'fdisk' over 'cfdisk'.

hitest · 05-28-2008, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onebuck

How is 'fdisk' not user friendly? If your speaking about the GUI like cfdisk then that is understandable.

Well, I was writing for the OP:-) I am perfectly comfortable with fdisk or cfdisk. For a newcomer cfdisk is a bit easier to use. Yes, I was making reference to the GUI-like cfdisk as I said in my post:-)

H_TeXMeX_H · 05-29-2008, 04:20 AM

I prefer cfdisk, as fdisk can be confusing and isn't very intuitive to use.

Also curses isn't really GUI. I would call it CUI (curses user interface).

onebuck · 05-29-2008, 07:34 AM

Hi,

I commented 'GUI like'.

Intuitive gets thrown around a lot lately. Whats wrong with the 'Command (m for help):' in fdisk? I think intuitive and lazy can be transposed.

I've yet to have problems with 'fdisk'.

hitest · 05-29-2008, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onebuck

Hi,

I commented 'GUI like'.

Intuitive gets thrown around a lot lately. Whats wrong with the 'Command (m for help):' in fdisk? I think intuitive and lazy can be transposed.

I've yet to have problems with 'fdisk'.

Agreed. fdisk is simple enough to use and a newcomer to slackware should be able to use the command m when using fdisk. However, a newcomer will find cfdisk easier to use. cfdisk works very well for me. Slackware is all about choices.
I don't think I'm lazy because I use cfdisk:-)
To the OP: Both fdisk and cfdisk will do the job for you. If you've never partitioned your disk before you will find cfdisk easier to use.
Have fun:-)

Stroker · 05-29-2008, 10:46 AM

.

I chose to use cfdisk or gparted due to fdisk's man page saying it has bugs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by man fdisk

BUGS
There are several *fdisk programs around. Each has its problems and strengths. Try them in the order cfdisk, fdisk, sfdisk. (Indeed, cfdisk is a beautiful program that has strict requirements on the partition tables it accepts, and produces high quality partition tables. Use it if you can. fdisk is a buggy program that does fuzzy things - usually it happens to produce reasonable results. Its single advantage is that it has some support for BSD disk labels and other non-DOS partition tables. Avoid it if you can. sfdisk is for hackers only - the user interface is terrible, but it is more correct than fdisk and more powerful than both fdisk and cfdisk. Moreover, it can be used noninteractively.)

These days there also is parted. The cfdisk interface is nicer, but parted does much more: it not only resizes partitions, but also the filesystems that live in them.

The IRIX/SGI type disklabel is currently not supported by the kernel. Moreover, IRIX/SGI header directories are not fully supported yet.

The option `dump partition table to file' is missing.

@OP

Quote:

Originally Posted by man fdisk

Linux needs at least one partition, namely for its root file system. It can use swap files and/or swap partitions, but the latter are more efficient. So, usually one will want a second Linux partition dedicated as swap partition.

H_TeXMeX_H · 05-29-2008, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onebuck

Hi,

I commented 'GUI like'.

Intuitive gets thrown around a lot lately. Whats wrong with the 'Command (m for help):' in fdisk? I think intuitive and lazy can be transposed.

I've yet to have problems with 'fdisk'.

Yes, they call it that too.

I mean intuitive as in something vim and emacs are completely devoid of, if you get what I mean. There's a lot of that with fdisk too, you gave one example, press m for help. You're right it's not completely unintuitive, nothing like vim.

Anyway, I prefer cfdisk.