can anyone help with linux

cuffless

cuffless

New Member
i have used knoppix and slax live distros before and i have decided i want to install linux properly. i am going to dual boot with xp pro. how can i partition my hard drive? what would be a decent size partition? i have chosen to go with ubunto as a lot of people say its user friendly.
 
To partition your hard drive you need a programm like Partition Magic but they can cost quite a lot. If you don't want to pay you could download PCLinuxOS or Knoppix live cd and use Qparted or Disk drake from those cds but it can be quite tricky. As for space it depends on which distribution you choose and what you are planning to do with it. If you are planning to run lots of programs and have a server and stuff then a partition of at least 15Gb would be good. It varies a lot depening on what packages you install. You can have text based with no gui and basically just the kernel in under a gig but if you want more then you will need more space. You will also need space for your files.
What distro are you going to install and what will you use it for?
EDIT: Sorry just saw you were using Ubuntu. Ignore my comments about distros but will you be using it a lot and what for?
 
i will be using it alot mainly for the internet and stuff like that. i have used windows for years and i think its time for a short break before vista
 
Ok so you wont be doing server stuff and development so you wont need as much space.
I would say the actual OS and stuff will probably use between 4-7 Gb but thats an estimate and it can vary a lot depending on what packages you install.
I would probably make the partition at least 10Gb probably between 15 and 20 gig to be safe. Whats your Hard drive size and how much space do you have left.
If you have a big hard drive thats over 200gig then try making a 20-40Gb partition for linux and files and stuff because once you have installed it, it can be very hard to repartition. I once did it and corrupted the partition losing my whole website, all files in linux and had to renstall the OS.
So allow more than you need. probably 30Gb on a big HD.
 
You said that you have a knoppix live cd.
You can try using qparted (or is it gparted?) on that to partition the hd but there are some things you need to do first. Since you have used a lot of space try uninstalling uneeded programs, deleting things you dont need and run a system cleaning program like ashampoo winoptimizer. Also (do this last) Defragment your hard drive. This is highley recommended so that you will be able to partition it more. Once you have done that use qparted on the knoppix cd. Resize the windows partition so there is 20-30gb of space for linux. Then create a new partition that is double the size of your RAM and format it as swap. Then make a normal partition with the rest of the space. Then just install Ubuntu or whatever distro you want.
 
well i have just got partition magic 8.05 so i will make a 25 gb partition on that after i have deleted some of my other programs i dont use
 
Ok thats good.
Make sure that you resize the windows partition so there is 25Gb of empty space. Make some of this a partition that is double the size of your RAM and format it as swap and another one that uses up all the rest of the space your created an format it as ext2 and give it the label "/" without the quotes.
Then just install Ubuntu from CD.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top