Trying out ubuntu · DIGIT-ARC

G

as u know, i m gonna try ubuntu for a while now, cos i need to work on shake 4.1 for linux & make it look like OS X with XGL

before anything, remember i got 12 GB RAW HD space which i made for linux

1) How many partitions do i need
1 for linux - EXT3, what should be the size?
1 for swap partition, can i make it FAT32 of say 4 GB, use it as swap & also as a file storage, cos linux cannot write to my 90GB+ D:\ drive which is NTFS & i use for storing everything

or do i need to make 3 partitions , like 8 GB + 1GB + 3 GB, the 3 gb one will be FAT32 so that i can access files from Windows too.

More questions to come, as i install it. I will be using ubunto 6.06 LTS

M

Make your swap partition as 1.5GB as you have 1GB of RAM AFICR. This is just the recommendation, not absolutely essential. You can make your Ubuntu partition 7GB. I think that will suffice for what you want.
Then you can make a 3.5 GB FAT32 partition.

For Root ("/") allocate 9 GB. And for Swap 1.5 GB. This is for a typical user, who
installs minimum number of packages. If you want to install more packages,
you need to allocate more space for Root, say 15 GB ("/"), Swap 1.5 GB ( Power users)
Want to know what packages to install?
See my post here:
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31989

M

JGuru no need for him to keep such big partitions. I can bet he won't even use more than half of allocated 7GB. What he wants is just to emulate MAC OS X. And 7 GB is lot more than enough for that. And a FAT partition is essential to transfer files b/w linux and windows. I don't think even Vista can read linux partitions.

Hm... one idea someone recommended to me was to have different partitions for / (root), /home, /usr and swap.

I put /home on a FAT32 partition - fairly big. Since most of the stuff I downloaded/saved in AbiWord ended up here, it's the best candidate for your "Share files with Windows" drive. Moreover, you don't need to lose this (or even bother backing up) if you want to switch distros. I'm also going to try using the same /home for two different distros. Having /usr on a different drive is something I haven't tried yet, mainly because I have no clue what the big idea is behind this.

@FatBeing, you need separate partitions for '/' (root), '/home', /usr', and swap
if you are installing Linux in a LAN. Since there will be more users in the Network.
Also, to protect from having your O.S run out of disk space!! One more thing,
having your Linux O.S in separate partitions gives extra protection ( like for eg.,
if a partition is corrupted , you can rectify it without having to shut down the Server
and the whole Network!!)

G

ok, so 3 partitions is what i need, will do that....

mehul....mail me you cell phone number, in case i need help during installation i will call u

JGuru said:
@FatBeing, you need separate partitions for '/' (root), '/home', /usr', and swap
if you are installing Linux in a LAN. Since there will be more users in the Network.
Also, to protect from having your O.S run out of disk space!! One more thing,
having your Linux O.S in separate partitions gives extra protection ( like for eg.,
if a partition is corrupted , you can rectify it without having to shut down the Server
and the whole Network!!)

Aah...I'd figured about the protection part, but didn't know about the network funda.

/home is just something I found useful because I've got Ubuntu and an (almost complete) Gentoo using the same /home right now, and plan to add a few more distros to the mix as well.

G

what is \home folder? just for understanding, whats the Windows equivalent of this folder?

is it like c:\documents & settings\<username> or my document

@gxsaurav , you need 2 partitions , one for root ("/") and another for Swap.
In the partitions options available in Ubuntu, choose the last one, "Auto-allocate
from the Free space available". It will do the job for you!!
Regarding '/home' folder, it's folder where you keep all your files (including sub-folders)
The Windows equivalent is 'C:\Documents & Settings\saurav'
The linux equivalent is '/home/saurav'. Where 'saurav' is your Login name.

M

Yes they are similar /home/<username> (also known by it's symbol ~)and C:/Documents & Settings/<username>.
@fatbeing I personally don't recommend FAT32 partition for /home cos some setting which require user permissions are stored in ~. FAT partitions do not have capability of permissions. So, it can be irksome sometimes. Well, still it's not really harmful or it won't cause you much difference.

linux file system

/etc : Configuration files
/tmp : temp directory
/lost+found : Orphan files are moved here
/home : Home directories of various users
/mnt : Devices mounted onto OS to increase storage space
/usr : Program files
/root : Root's home directory
/proc : Process information pseudo filesystem.
/bin : various console utilities and apps
/boot : the linux kernel and boot loader configuration files
/dev : Device files corresponding to various peripherals of your comp. (hard disk, mouse etc)
/sbin : system administration utilities
/lib : Shared Library files for your operating system.
/var : Mail, print web spool files

more on this & read this also

tech_your_future said:
@fatbeing I personally don't recommend FAT32 partition for /home cos some setting which require user permissions are stored in ~. FAT partitions do not have capability of permissions. So, it can be irksome sometimes. Well, still it's not really harmful or it won't cause you much difference.

True, if you have more than one user but doesn't make any difference if you are the only user. Personally I prefer a FAT32 partition becoz that allows me to access files from Windows too.

I would like to add one more thing. Most people don't use anti virus while browsing the net and downloading files via linux. But if you access files in windows downloaded from the net via linux, be sure to scan them before you open them in windows.

G

Ok, this i will do...i guess, i don't need to touch anything or any other folder except for the home\saurav one which will be made

right now i m backing up all my data,specially 24 GB out of my D :\ drive, i don't wanna take risk of data loss

I remember, when i previously tried kubuntu, it gave me 3 options

1) Resize partition
2) Erase full HD
3) Manually select partition tabel or something like that...

then, it opened up a window, with 5 menus, stating me to select the boot partition & swap partition...i selected to reformat the FAT32 partition i had previously for linux, but it said, invalid dile system, i even selected dev\hda2, the 12 GB FAT32 partition i made for linux, since it didn't work, i m gonna leave that partition as RAW this time, give 8 GB for linux, 1.5 GB for swap & 2.5 GB for files, in FAT32 format

c ya after a while, after backing up the data

sorry to say...but the plan is postponed for a while, as i don't have enough HD space to backup data, the 40 Gb external drive i was using is already full

i have asked for a friends spare HD, will try in that

T

Just go to this site , it'll take care of all your Ubuntu worries...
*psychocats.net/ubuntu/index.php