mark_667 Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 I'm still fairly new to Linux and didn't expect it to have to use 3 partitions on install so I have a few questions: 1. Why does it need 3? 2. How can I find out if the free space I'm being shown is for one partition or the entire drive? 3. How can I reduce the amount of space it takes up on the drive becasue I want to dual-boot Win XP. 4. I have read that you can recompile the kernel so it is optimised to your system for faster response times and a smaller footprint. How do I go about this and what should I bear in mind? Thanks for any help :D [moved from Software by spinynorman] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 1. one is for swap (memory a program uses that doesn't 'fit' in RAM), one is for '/' the root, where all your programs, system settings, configs are located and the 3th and last is for your '/home' where the user settings, user data like music, movies, docs etc etc are stored. You use three partitions because swap on a seperate partition is faster and because it means you don't have to format /home when you install mandrake again so all your data are saved. 2. open a console and type 'df' (without '') 3. That won't work because windows will overwrite your existing mandrake installation. You will have first to install windows and then mandrake. Use some partitioning tool to make a partition for winxp (partition magic etc etc) 4. Don't go there. The mandrake kernel is fine. If you want to use a custom build kernel, make sure you know the in and outs of your PC (chips, hardware, of all your peripherals and then you will have to build a new kernel when you buy a new camera or something. It's not worth the trouble if you want to 'use' your computer. However if you want to experiment go for it. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixthusdan Posted August 28, 2004 Report Share Posted August 28, 2004 The number of partitions is really not what you are asking about. You want to know how much total space linux requires in order to operate. A linux system can be built using a total of 2G of space or a total of 40G of space! So the number of partitions is really not your issue. Plan your system before installing, decide your total spcae, and make your partitions based upon a plan. Whatever you do, windows will require 4 times the space it really needs in order to function. That's just the way windows is bloated. Different partitions gains a degree of efficiency and flexability with a system. By backing up partitions, repairs can be made without reinstalling an entire sustem. Windows just isn't designed that way. Usually, you must reinstall windows periodically just to keep it running. You can access a visual representation of your harddrive(s) with harddrake. The tabs are physical drives and the partitions are represented as color sections within the tabs. Check it out. And I agree that recompiling a kernel without a specific need is a great education and a great waste of time. I suspect you need to just plan your installation better. If you give us the size of your drive and what you are trying to do with it, I'm sure we can recommend a good installation plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_667 Posted August 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 If hard drake shows the partition usage it doesn't do it very well (It showed the model, vendor, bus type, channel, new devfs device, old device file and media class. Alas no mention of the partitions). I found system monitor, however, did under the resource monitor tab. My HD is only 17GB in size with the root allocated 5.8GB and using 1.8 the swap partition uses a varying small amount of less than 1MB of the 156MB (although the memory and swap history panel above it says 0 bytes of 494MB ?) allocated and the home partition36MB of 9.7GB. Devries: typing df in the console gave me different 'used' amounts (even when I had the two running side-by-side), but the percentages were the same. I have a partitioning tool (Partition Magic 8 for Windows), but will this only reallocate the parts of the partition that do not contain data or should I back it up first and does this depend on which partitions I am re-sizing? Plan your system before installing, decide your total spcae, and make your partitions based upon a plan. LOL! This isn't quite the way I operate Whatever you do, windows will require 4 times the space it really needs in order to function. That's just the way windows is bloated. You don't need to tell me that, I wrote the book.And I agree that recompiling a kernel without a specific need is a great education and a great waste of time. Perfect! Although finding out that I will need to do it again after I add a new piece of hardware all for the sake of using a few less megs makes me wonder if it's worth it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted August 31, 2004 Report Share Posted August 31, 2004 The values in SWAP is the memory being used. The partition is 494MB big. The different sizes can (I think) be explained by the fact that the df commands shows the real disksize (my 40GB disk hows as 37GB big). Linux is brutally honest and shows the real size, not what the manufacturer wants you to belief. You should really start over again if you want to install windows on that PC. Installing windows after you have installed mandrake will almost certainly break it. If you want a kernel build for speed look for 'low-latency' (responsiveness). There are different patches floating around (ck, nitro, love, gentoo-dev are the most used I think) Have a look here: http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/soft...tunesystem.html Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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