Please give a suggestion for Red Hat installation

[bwid_s_01]

I'm about to install my very first Linux system and begin learning it so that I can eventually move the fuck away from Windoze. However I'm in a bit of a rush to install it (along with the Windows it's gonna dual boot with) on my laptop before I leave for school. Can anyone please suggest to me the best partition configuration for doing this. Here are the specs:

30 GB Hard Drive:
   - 2GB FAT32/Primary partitionfor Win2k
   - 2GB FAT32/Primary partition for another Win2k (for testing purposes)
   - 2GB FAT32/Primary partition for WinXP (for some XP-only stuff)
   - 20GB NTFS/Logical partition for personal stuff and multimedia

That leaves me with 4 GB for Linux. What I need to know is how many partitions does Linux need (and what kind primary or logical) and what the file system of each has to be. The Linux i'll be installing is Red Hat 9.

I'm using Partition Magic for the partitioning and System Commander for the multi booting.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I'll be getting a book on Linux and/or reading online tutorials and stuff. I just need this advice now because I'm in a rush to set up my computer.

[ August 27, 2003: Message edited by: bwid_s_01 ]

[sime]

Very quick reply....

You need 2 partitions.

1 for swap space size = 2xRAM aprox type = 82
so if you have 128MB of ram build a 256MB swap partition.

1 partition for file system type = 83 as big as you can make it.

Quick and easy not necessarily the best way but it will get you started

Have fun

Sime

[bwid_s_01]

quote:Originally posted by sime:
Very quick reply....

You need 2 partitions.

1 for swap space size = 2xRAM aprox type = 82
so if you have 128MB of ram build a 256MB swap partition.

1 partition for file system type = 83 as big as you can make it.

Quick and easy not necessarily the best way but it will get you started

Have fun

Sime

Thanks for the quick reply, but there is something I don't understand. What is type 82 and 83?? Partition Magic supports Linux Swap, Linux Ext2, and Linux Ext3. I don't know what any of that is. Also for each partition I must specify Primary or Logical.

[sime]

Hi,

all partitions have a type associated with them - For example if fdisk (from memory you can allow the system to set this up during the install) however I usually do this by hand using either fdisk or cfdisk to create the partitions. Under Linux you can set up the following partition types as shown below. Notice DOS, NTFS etc are all there this is why Linux recognises the partition type.  

Command (m for help): l

 0  Empty                   1b  Hidden Win95 FA      64  Novell Netware         bb  Boot Wizard hid
 1  FAT12                   1c  Hidden Win95 FA      65  Novell Netware         c1  DRDOS/sec (FAT-
 2  XENIX root             1e  Hidden Win95 FA      70  DiskSecure Mult       c4  DRDOS/sec (FAT-
 3  XENIX usr              24  NEC DOS                 75  PC/IX                       c6  DRDOS/sec (FAT-
 4  FAT16 < 32M 39  Plan 9                              80  Old Minix                 c7  Syrinx
 5  Extended               3c  PartitionMagic           81  Minix / old Lin da  Non-FS data
 6  FAT16                   40  Venix 80286              82  Linux swap               db  CP/M / CTOS / .
 7  HPFS/NTFS           41  PPC PReP Boot       83  Linux                        de  Dell Utility
 8  AIX                        42  SFS                         84  OS/2 hidden C:          df  BootIt
 9  AIX bootable           4d  QNX4.x                    85  Linux extended          e1  DOS access
 a  OS/2 Boot Manag   4e  QNX4.x 2nd part       86  NTFS volume set        e3  DOS R/O
 b  Win95 FAT32         4f  QNX4.x 3rd part         87  NTFS volume set        e4  SpeedStor
 c  Win95 FAT32 (LB 50  OnTrack DM               8e  Linux LVM                 eb  BeOS fs
 e  Win95 FAT16 (LB 51  OnTrack DM6 Aux      93  Amoeba                     ee  EFI GPT
 f  Win95 Ext'd (LB 52  CP/M                            94  Amoeba BBT             ef  EFI (FAT-12/16/
10  OPUS                     53  OnTrack DM6 Aux  9f  BSD/OS                      f1  SpeedStor
11  Hidden FAT12          54  OnTrackDM6          a0  IBM Thinkpad hi         f4  SpeedStor
12  Compaq diagnost     55  EZ-Drive                 a5  BSD/386                   f2  DOS secondary
14  Hidden FAT16 <3     56  Golden Bow           a6  OpenBSD                  fd  Linux raid auto
16  Hidden FAT16          5c  Priam Edisk           a7  NeXTSTEP                fe  LANstep
17  Hidden HPFS/NTF    61  SpeedStor             b7  BSDI fs                     ff  BBT
18  AST SmartSleep      63  GNU HURD or Sys b8  BSDI swap

If you are still worried just shout.

Have fun

Sime

[ August 27, 2003: Message edited by: sime ]

[insomnia]

quote:Originally posted by bwid_s_01:


Thanks for the quick reply, but there is something I don't understand. What is type 82 and 83?? Partition Magic supports Linux Swap, Linux Ext2, and Linux Ext3. I don't know what any of that is. Also for each partition I must specify Primary or Logical.

If this is your first Linux installation, leave the 4gig as free space and let Redhat do the partitonning.

[sime]

Insomnia is correct,

the install should just get on with it unless you actually want to do things by hand (loonies like me tend to split the file system across multiple partitions for redundancy and other reasons).

All things being equal it will automatically create a swap partition for you.

The current installs of most Linux distributions are very good, so just take your time, read the screen messages four times and press return once, when you are happy.

Enjoy

   
 
Sime

[ August 27, 2003: Message edited by: sime ]

[bwid_s_01]

quote:Originally posted by insomnia:


If this is your first Linux installation, leave the 4gig as free space and let Redhat do the partitonning.

I'm actually thinking of doing that. But I have the following questions:
Does Linux support read/write to NTFS and/or FAT32? If so then I don't need RedHat to allocate its own program & data partition for me because then I would prefer to use the same Data partition I use for my personal date from Windows.

[sime]

Careful,

I can't remember if it can write to NTFS or not off the top of my head but in any case will most likley read NTFS - FAT32 is OK and should be rw no problem.

Be careful though you should create a standard filesystem (ext2 / ext3) for Linux and then mount your NTFS / FAT32 partitions separatley under /mnt/blah from within /etc/fstab. You may well be given the option to do this from within the install.

Windows will NOT recognise the Linux partitions (unless someone knows different).

PLEASE, PLEASE backup all your important data BEFORE you start, just incase something goes pear shaped!

Remember million to 1 chances happen 9 out of 10 times!

Having fun yet?

 

Later

Sime

[lonodnboi2k3]

Just a quick note,

Linux can read/write Fat32, Fat16 etc....

BUT

It can read NTFS but NOT write to NTFS!!

         :cool:

[sime]

Cool I got it right without looking @ my book, not such an old fart after all  

Later

Sime

[Faust]

I thought writing to NTFS was possible, just experimental?  Anyway, the default redhat partitioning of your free space is good, but just FYI ext3 and swap will be what it uses.  (So thats probably what 82 and 83 are.)  BTW three Windows partitions???  You certainly aren't going to have much left for programs on those little 2 gig partitions... ???

[Calum]

"just experimental"? experimental sounds pretty damn dodgy to me!

i saw void main once said that the read/write support for NTFS in linux should more appropriately be called read/obliterate support, and that's good enough for me...

[sime]

Eeek,

I hope it doesn't create a 2GB swap partition ... Kind of over kill. The norm is to take RAM and * by 2 so if you have 128MB of ram you would end up with a 256MB swap partition which should be more than adequate. So he should end up with 2 partitions 1 3.blah and one small swap partition roughly twice the size of his available RAM

The idea of the swap is so the OS can write out 64K blocks of memory to disk and read them in when necessary. If the swap partition is not there and you actually push the machine then it will end up spending it's time thrashing rather than doing any real work.

The NTFS must have been experimental for ages now but hey it's Linux (and Linus is a GOD) so it will probably be more reliable than an official MS$ released bit of software.

The partition types i.e. 82 and 83 are just that partition types. ext2, ext3, swap etc are file systems  types that can sit on top those partitions. So I could create a partition type of 83 (Linux) then I could put an ext2 file system onto that partition type or an ext3 (or others). The partition type would still be type 83 but the file systems running on the partition would be different depending on my choice e.g. I would choose ext3 if I wanted a journaling capable file system.

The poor fella or lass that asked the question is probably confused to hell by now  

Hey Calum, do you have a degree in music? if so do you play a guitar?

Later

Sime