mdemers883 Posted January 26, 2004 Report Share Posted January 26, 2004 Well, after changing mind a mind a few times about going to linux (I've been running a dualboot, so whenever I hit a lil problem I just go back to windows) I've decided to blow away windoz and go to mandrake 9.1, since xp will be gone I'm going to HAVE to figure out things :lol: One of the problems I had with mandrake 9.1 before (the only problem) is my onboard SiS900 ethernet wasn't compatible, so to solve the problem I bought a D-Link DFE-530TX+ which appears to be compatible. So now that that problem should be solved all I should need is a few tips to install it (even though I'm sure I'll have some questions later on once I have it all up and running) I read most of the FAQ's on this board and I had some more questions about setting up the file system ( such as /boot, /, /var, /usr, etc...) Mandrake will be going on a 120gig hdd and I was wondering how you guys would go about setting up the file system. I have a lot of music on my backup 80gig drive that I will be able to use, but I would like to be able to store a lot of stuff on the 120gig as well. Also, I know there is a new updated linux kernel out (I read the FAQ about compiling it but I'm still a bit confused) and I was wondering if you guys could give a few tips about how to go about this. Do I need any special programs to do this and stuff of that nature? Sorry for so many questions but I figured I'd get as many out of the way as possible in one whack. As always, any help you guys could give is much appreciated. Thanks Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted January 26, 2004 Report Share Posted January 26, 2004 I'm going to start with the lay-out, since that's first for an install. With a drive of your size, you will have plenty of storage room. / = 2G /home = 10G /usr = 20G /var = 2G /storage = 50G 500MB swap Save 15G for other fun stuff, like a different distro that you want to try, or cooker! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemers883 Posted January 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2004 I'm going to start with the lay-out, since that's first for an install. With a drive of your size, you will have plenty of storage room./ = 2G /home = 10G /usr = 20G /var = 2G /storage = 50G 500MB swap Save 15G for other fun stuff, like a different distro that you want to try, or cooker! thank you for the fast/detailed reply :D on a side note, the /boot partition needs to be created first right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopy Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 A separate /boot partition is not really needed. The setup process will help you create your partitions the way you want if you select the "expert" option. Ixthusdan's suggestion is a good one, but you could just do (to simplify things): / 24 G /swap 500 MB /home 10 G /storage 50 G (the /var, /usr, and /boot will be taken care of by / I believe) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemers883 Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 A separate /boot partition is not really needed. The setup process will help you create your partitions the way you want if you select the "expert" option. Ixthusdan's suggestion is a good one, but you could just do (to simplify things): / 24 G /swap 500 MB /home 10 G /storage 50 G (the /var, /usr, and /boot will be taken care of by / I believe) thank you for the info :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michel Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 I don't want to make it more complicated for you as it is, but here is a tip. If you don't want to make it more complicated ..just don't read this ..you don't have to do this if you don't want to... I would also make a separate /tmp-partition, ... what is the prupose of all these partitions?..ok it can be handy, but one reason is also security. On all partitions you can set some options. There is an option called nosetuid/nosetguid(?). This options says that no programs may be executed as another user on that partition. I read that setting this on /tmp helps protecting you against script-kiddies. Setting teh sticky-bit on /tmp is also good(but this is done automatically by the mandrake installer I believe). It means that noone else except the creator of the file can delete it. My tmp is a 250 MB I believe ... but it is too big I think. You'll have to experiment a little bit with partition size ... to see what fits you :). Anyway with lvm/lvm2 you could resize your partitions anytime, but I think it's better if you do it as good a spossibel from the first time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michel Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 If you really feel adventuruous , you could try out some filesystems :). For myself...I use reiserfs for almost everything. It loads things very fast, but uss quite some cpu (thez filesystem has improved int he meanwhile I suppose :)). For / I use ext3...or I should :). If you run into problems most/all linux-floppies recovery stuff will recognize it ..although other filesystems maybe too. I use xfs for my media-partition. It is fast (maybe sometimes as fast as reiser ..shoudl check on that again to be sure), and what is important it doesn't puts a lot of stress on your system ( not so muc cpu, ...). Why not use xfs for everything. It can't handle small files, and some operations as fast as reiser (although the differences may not be noticable for single oprerations). For something that doesn't stress my system whole the time ...I just use reiser. I also read that jfs is not bad, but can't tell much about that. And there are also a lot of others as you probably know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemers883 Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 I don't want to make it more complicated for you as it is, but here is a tip. If you don't want to make it more complicated ..just don't read this ..you don't have to do this if you don't want to... I would also make a separate /tmp-partition, ... what is the prupose of all these partitions?..ok it can be handy, but one reason is also security. On all partitions you can set some options. There is an option called nosetuid/nosetguid(?). This options says that no programs may be executed as another user on that partition. I read that setting this on /tmp helps protecting you against script-kiddies. Setting teh sticky-bit on /tmp is also good(but this is done automatically by the mandrake installer I believe). It means that noone else except the creator of the file can delete it. My tmp is a 250 MB I believe ... but it is too big I think. You'll have to experiment a little bit with partition size ... to see what fits you :). Anyway with lvm/lvm2 you could resize your partitions anytime, but I think it's better if you do it as good a spossibel from the first time... I guess I could try that, after all, I do have a 120gig drive :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemers883 Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 If you really feel adventuruous , you could try out some filesystems :). For myself...I use reiserfs for almost everything. It loads things very fast, but uss quite some cpu (thez filesystem has improved int he meanwhile I suppose :)). For / I use ext3...or I should :). If you run into problems most/all linux-floppies recovery stuff will recognize it ..although other filesystems maybe too. I use xfs for my media-partition. It is fast (maybe sometimes as fast as reiser ..shoudl check on that again to be sure), and what is important it doesn't puts a lot of stress on your system ( not so muc cpu, ...). Why not use xfs for everything. It can't handle small files, and some operations as fast as reiser (although the differences may not be noticable for single oprerations). For something that doesn't stress my system whole the time ...I just use reiser. I also read that jfs is not bad, but can't tell much about that. And there are also a lot of others as you probably know. I was reading up on the file systems today in the FAQ forum (very helpful btw) I'm still not quite decided on what Im' going to use yet, but I have till tomorrow to decide so I'll know then :D I'll keep you guys posted when I get it up and running (I don't see why I wouldn't since I've installed it a few times before) mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemers883 Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 also, i figure I might as well ask in this thread instead of creating another one and making clutter. I read the FAQ about compiling a kernel, but I still don't feel comfortable with it. If I am correct mandrake 9.1 doesn't have the new 2.6 kernel (I think that's the correct one) How would I go about updating my kernel? Do I need any special tools to do it? Any help you could give would be appreciated. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoopy Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 I personnaly wouldn't worry about the 2.6 kernel (I don't have it either). It is still too new and there are many programs that may not work with it anyway (or need to be patched and ported to it). I also here there really isn't any real noticable improvement. I would concentrate on getting a good running stock system first. Oh, and no, it isn't as bad as it sounds to install a newer kernel. This can be done afterwards... just don't install or update through any gui software installers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemers883 Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 I personnaly wouldn't worry about the 2.6 kernel (I don't have it either). It is still too new and there are many programs that may not work with it anyway (or need to be patched and ported to it). I also here there really isn't any real noticable improvement. I would concentrate on getting a good running stock system first. Oh, and no, it isn't as bad as it sounds to install a newer kernel. This can be done afterwards... just don't install or update through any gui software installers. thanks for the advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 (edited) JUST DO IT :D Thats the best advice.... Its amazing how once you get rid of windows and don't have the option how those last niggles get sorted out.... Basically keep your data seperate.... You cant upgrade Mandrake anyway, at least not reliably so clean installs are best. If you put /home on a seperate partition thats good and also make the /mnt/files or whatever on another..... Id recommend leaving the disk mainly unformatted. That way as you learn and customise you have a less risky repartitioning. Here's mine right now :D Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Leave plenty FREE and you can play with other distro's or test different file systems etc. Much more FUN :D Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 1 2611 20972826 83 Linux /dev/hda2 2612 5222 20972857+ 83 Linux /dev/hda3 5223 7833 20972857+ 83 Linux /dev/hda4 7834 14593 54299700 f W95 Ext'd (LBA) /dev/hda5 14333 14593 2096482+ 82 Linux swap + Disk /dev/hdb: 13.6 GB, 13662609408 bytes 16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 26473 cylinders Units = cylinders of 1008 * 512 = 516096 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hdb1 * 1 26473 13342360+ 83 Linux This holds my data which I unplugged during install, just to make double SURE!!! Edited January 27, 2004 by Gowator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemers883 Posted January 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Well guys I have a problem :( I can't get online (I"m on a laptop now) My eth0 failed, I expected that though since it's my onboard SiS900 which I am not using. So once I got into mandrake I disabled it from startup. I enabled eth1 on startup (D-link DFE-530TX+ ) and restarted. eth1 hanged for quite a while on boot so I was expecting it to fail...but it didn't to my surprise. So when I got all up and running I tried going to google...didn't work. So I went into the control center I believe or something similar and tried to make it connect. Made th system hang. So I went to the terminal and did a "ifconfig eth1 up" and it said the device was busy. :( I have it running dhcp as well. I'm not quite sure what the problem is but I"m a bit frustrated, I"m hoping you guys can help me work through this. Is it something as simple as loading a certain driver? If so how do I do it? Any help will be appreciated. Mark my AIM screenname is "mdemers883" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdemers883 Posted January 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 oh, btw, on the box it says compatible drivers include: linux 2.2/2.4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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