On Friday 13 February 2004 11:39 pm, Red Wolfman wrote:
> My PM primary master is my 60 gig with w2k on half---the second half
> is a question as to format with Partition Magic 7.0 into
> swap,ext2--or ext2,swap,ext2,---or leave "unassigned"?
>
> My PS(primary slave) is a 120 gig -used to hold ghost images and
> other backups
And so now you are trying to decide how to use the space right?
I'd install on my fastest drive. Plus realize that if you put two drives
on the same cable and one is slower than the other (i.e. 33MHz and
133MHz) this will slow down the faster drive.
Also, whenever possible it's almost always better to use ext3 over ext2.
I've removed my MEPIS install and I don't recall if it supports ext3 but
I would imagine so as it's a pretty good distro.
run hdparm -tT /dev/hda
run hdparm -tT /dev/hdb
and you'll see how they compare. The high number is read from the cache
while the slower is from the disk.
Meanwhile what I think you should do is make sure you don't overwrite an
existing partition and then go ahead and install it a few times. Make
different choices and see how it affect things. Make sure you write
down what partitions you create. Remove them and start over.
Soon you'll be and old hand at installing Linux.
You can easily install whole distro's on 5G of space. Keep the same swap
for all of them. I have had 16 of them at one time. : )
Learn how Grub works and then for each new install you can have it
create a boot manager on it's own partition (this way you see how it
boots) and then later when you know how it works you don't install a
boot managers once you have one in the boot partition (initially for
Linux and w2k). Then you just add a boot option for each distro you
install.
Now you can check them all out and see what you prefer.
At a later point you should get an installation program called apt. It
automatically gets all the libraries it depends on for you. Whereas rpm
only installs whatever is in the rpm. Usually that does not include
things it depends on. Apt is a big time saver. Yum is another one.
There is a fundamental difference in philosophy between Unix versions
and windows. Windows has a "trust us to take care of it for you"
approach. Every single configuration option is hidden behind a window.
This can be all very well provided it functions as advertised and does
not inhibit your ability to get the "job" done.
Linux on the other hand started from the very opposite side and is
reaching towards windows.
What is so different is that is built on entrusting the user with the
ability and choices to make it work the way he/she needs it to. Unix is
based on many small programs doing one and one thing only Very well.
If you need multiple functions you string them together. And everything
can talk to everything else.
I think that bill gates got the idea that he could improve on this very
simple approach. What he did was adding a huge amount of complexity in
his quest of improving on Unix. He did not succeed as is evident. It's
a nightmare to manage.
So under Linux you should take the time to learn a little bit more than
under windows. But the gain is many times larger in terms of freedom
and power. It really pays of to know your tools well.
Now this may not be for you and if so you'll only install what the
distribution has included.
If you are not comfortable in messing with installs you might want to
use the second drive exclusively for this to start with. This way you
can see what happens as you add and remove different distro's or
whatever.
If you have data on your "backup" drive already then move it to CD.
> On Feb 13, 2004, at 10:51 PM, Steve wrote:
> > On Friday 13 February 2004 05:36 pm, Red Wolfman wrote:
> >> I partitioned the second half of my HD with 4 Gig ext2, 2 Gig
> >> SWAP, remainder ext2
> >>
> >> click on the MEPIS Installation center- meinstall----password
> >> (root). Install MEPHIS on Hard Drive--next
> >>
> >> USE disk pull down choice sda or hdb ??????
> >> At this point I'm lost help please
> >
> > Danger Will Robinson! Danger!!
> >
> > You don't give enough information to do what you're doing without
> > risk.
> >
> > You need to discover what partitions you have and any free space.
> > If you have used up all your disk space then you need to defrag
> > Windows (at least twice, or it will leave clusters scattered across
> > the disk) and pack it up in the beginning of the disk.
> >
> > Detecting which partitions are in use is key especially if you're
> > going to erase any. Both windows and Linux can tell you what you
> > have before you get going with the new install. Take notes. Backup
> > any important data to some other disk or computer.
> >
> > Hard drives are labelled according to what type of interface they
> > use. IDE's are hda, hdb, hdc etc. SCSI are sda, sdb, sdc etc.
> >
> > Your newer BIOS will let you choose what to boot on. If you decide
> > to use a SCSI then make sure it's on SCSI ID 0. In your case it
> > does seem that your ZIP drive might be sda.
> >
> > The fact that you have a hdb and not a hda indicates your hard
> > drive is jumpered to be a slave instead of master.
> >
> > List your drive letters and what they point to under windows.
> > Reboot into the BIOS and list what drives it says you have.
> >
> >
> > Windows really badly wants to be the first OS on the first
> > partition on the first drive. You can fool it with Grub but it's
> > usually easier to just leave it there. Once windows is installed
> > it's safe to install something like Linux or whatever. Reinstalling
> > windows will wipe out the boot sector, just to be sure it's the
> > "boss". You can easily handle that by simply load grub and have it
> > write in a new boot sector. F.ex.:
> > 'grub'
> > 'root (hd0,1)' first drive, 2nd partition (pointing to /boot)
> > 'setup (hd0)'
> > 'quit'
> >
> > This will rewrite your boot sector with grub. Keep a boot floppy or
> > CD to run this if needed.
> >
> > --
> > Steve
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > You actually need to constantly be alert
> > and willing to handle things, or life
> > will find a way to get you good!
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------
> >---- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by
> > Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in
> > messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily
> > reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its
> > employees.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>-- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by
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-- Steve__________________________________________________ You actually need to constantly be alert and willing to handle things, or life will find a way to get you good! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
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