I NEED HELP!

[Master of Reality]

i need some help... I'm already into the Linux-Mandrake installation:
here's my problem with partitioning:
i have 2 partions on my hard drive
Linux Native 1.7 GB
linux swap 245 MB (is that a good size, i have no clue)
what the hell am i supposed to set as a mount point??: /, /home, /usr, /var, ETC.
what are mount points?


...i wonder if anyone can tell i don't usually play around with partitions (or Linux)
     

   :confused:      :confused:      :confused:

[ March 16, 2002: Message edited by: Druaga ]

[Master of Reality]

looks like i'm gonna have to do this tomorrow...
i have to awaken in... 5 hours!!!!

I need answers!!

[mskarl]

Swap space is usually sized to be double the available RAM if there are fewer than 128MB, but if you have more that 128MB of ram the use that size.  I got this from a book so I'd trust it.

[Calum]

isn't the mount point the name of the partition?
so if you had a partition called hda1 with windows on it, and one called hda2 with linux (nearly) on it, and one called hda2 for linux swap, your mount point would be hda2, is this right guys?

[voidmain]

Yes, Anti M$ has the general rule of thumb right. But I try and make sure I have enough RAM in the machine so that swapping is "rare", depending on what I am using my Linux machine for.  For instance, on my desktops I use a minimum of 256MB of RAM but try for at least 512MB of RAM. Because I strive to not swap by having a lot of RAM, the need for double the RAM size for swap space really isn't necessary. I usually make the swap the same size as the RAM. On servers depending on the role I might only need about 128MB of RAM (or less if they are light duty web servers or Samba servers), then I will set up multiple 128MB or 256MB swap partitions spread out across as many disks/controllers as possible (swap performance increases significantly if you spread it out). I don't run Xwindows on servers or memory intensive graphical apps so the requirements are usually less. Now if you want to run a large database on the server and performance is a must, then much more RAM is desireable. Small web databases don't require a lot of RAM though.

On the other hand, I have one server with 4GB of RAM as the app is very memory intensive and because it needs as much RAM as it can get and built for ultimate speed it doesn't swap, therefore I get by with only two 256MB swap partitions (and that is overkill because the swap space has never been used).

[ March 16, 2002: Message edited by: VoidMain ]

[dbl221]

Partitioning the non-swap stuff:

At a minimum you need /boot, / and /swap

/boot of 300MB or so is fine....plenty of room for playing around and learning more about Linux.

/swap....read Voidmains stuff

/    you can put everything else under this to keep things simple...most distros do this.

if you want to get more advanced then you can created /var /home and the rest.

The optimal size of /var /opt /home and the rest is a matter of what you are doing with the box and much debate....there is no right or wrong answer.

If you want to learn more just install Linux a few time with varous sizes or /var /home and the rest.

The mount point has nothing to do with the name of the partition....partition names are hda1, hda5 and what not....the mount point is the directory name...ie your windows fat32 partions is  mounted as a vfat to /mnt/win or /winblows.

good luck and let us know how it goes

[Master of Reality]

its too late for your help.
Thanks to the easy Linux-Mandrake setup, i figured it out and as of 3:15 Pm i have been logged into my new linux machine and am writing this from it.

i finally got too pissed off at windoze and my machine is currently windoze-free.
that freaking windows setup program got into a "loop of stupidity" (just like scandisk does when its set to perform write testing) when i tried to re-install, i said fuck it and got out my linux-mandrake CD and... well here i am on my linux machine.

P.S.
cant i get the trillian messenger for linux?

[ March 16, 2002: Message edited by: Druaga ]

[Master of Reality]

can i use files that are on my Fat32 (wiindows) hard drive?
such as playing MP3's in Linux that are stored on my Fat32 partition?

also...
 Is there some sort of "Remote Administration" i can use in Linux to control another (windows) computer on my network?

[ March 16, 2002: Message edited by: Druaga ]

[Master of Reality]

well, i'm on my crappy old win machine, to ask questions about linux. *sigh*

how do i re-install the lilo boot from the command  line?
(you dont want to know, what i did to it)

[voidmain]

Wow, so many questions..

First you don't need 300MB for a /boot, 20MB is plenty. It's only there to hold the kernel and initrd. In fact it's entirely possible that you don't even need a /boot partition depending on your hard drive and BIOS, but you can't go wrong if you create one regardless of whether it's necessary.

Second, you can use VNC to remote control Windows machines.  You'll need to install the VNC server on the windows machine and then use vncviewer under Linux to remote control.

Third.  Assuming you mean reinstalling LILO from the Linux command line, and assuming you have your proper "/" partition mounted from your hard drive, just run "/sbin/lilo" (assuming you have not made any changes to your /etc/lilo.conf file. If you want to change the LILO boot menu you would change it in /etc/lilo.conf.  After every change you have to run /sbin/lilo to make the changes active.

If you screwed up your boot menu, you can always use a boot disk or your CD to bootstrap your "/" partition on your hard drive. To do this, boot from the alternate media (CD/Floppy) and at the LILO: prompt type "linux root=/dev/hda2" (assuming your linux "/" partition is on your second partition of your hard drive).  Once booted you can fix your lilo.

[ March 16, 2002: Message edited by: VoidMain ]

[Master of Reality]

ya thats what i did for the lilo thing, and i used some command like "sbin/lilo"
it worked.

[dbl221]

Well if the fat32 partition is on the same box as the hard drive you installed Mandrake on, Mandrake will recognize this drive or partition as vfat/fat32 and mount it for you.  Mounted and mountable stuff is in the /etc/fstab file.

The fat32 partition is permission 777, and is listed in fstab as vfat.

If its not listed in fstab...edit it in there and remember to create the mount point.  You just use mkdir to create the directory/mount point.

20MB is fine for a single kernel but if you are doing kernel development go big...try it its fun.

[voidmain]

I do kernel development and currently have 6 different kernels in /boot along with the grub boot loader. I don't have room for any more on that 20MB though. 40MB or 50MB would surely be more than anyone should ever need.  I don't put the source code there though, that should go under /usr/src/linux. If you were to put the source tree there (which you shouldn't) then you would likely want more than 300MB.

[ March 16, 2002: Message edited by: VoidMain ]

[dbl221]

Thanks Void, I will try putting my src there insteaed.

[Master of Reality]

whats a good messenger for linux-mandrake, that can load ICQ?
i want something like the trillian messenger, that can load different messengers (such as ICQ)

[ March 17, 2002: Message edited by: Druaga ]