Minimum System Requirement for Linux Suse
arke...@gmail.com
i want to know minimum system requirement requirement for linux suse.
i have 40GB HD, with four partition Windows XP 14 GB, Win 98 9 GB & two
logical partitions of 9 GB & about 5 GB... 14 GB & 5 GB partions are of
NTFS. whereas other two are FAT32.
Will Linux Suse can be installed on 5 GB partition? & which file system
did it use?
i'm a new to linux., pls advice where to look for good
information/literature for linux suse on internet..
thanX in advance
Arkentos
Douglas Mayne
Caveat: I am not using Suse. My guess is you can install with 5 GB, but
it would be happier with 8 GB. The website associated with your distro of
choice should hold a mature set of documentation for your review.
You have asked a FAQ. You could easily review posts on this topic using
the friendly google. Groups: comp.os.linux.setup, comp.os.linux.misc,
alt.os.linux.suse.
Also, the wikipedia is your friend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SUSE
I proceed here giving you a few more hints. There are exceptions to every
rule, but here are some rules.
1. GNU/Linux uses its own filesystem. GNU/Linux can use a variety of
filesystems. ext2 is the old standard, with ext3 being a new
journaled filesystem. Other choices are ReiserFS, XFS, and maybe others.
2. A GNU/Linux systems needs (probably) two partitions at a minimum: a
root and a swap partition. These partitions are allocated from
free space somewhere on your disc. If there is no free space, then you'll
need to free some- possibly making backups beforehand. Knowing the rules
for disc partitioning in the PC world is the fundamental basis.
3. The boot loader is an important part of dual boot systems. If you are
keeping Windows, I suggest you do a little work in advance understanding
the what the bootloader's job is all about. I use the grub loader.
4. Suppose that you had a computer which did not have important data-
that you could sacrifice during the GNU/Linux setup procedure, then you
could run the distribution's setup program immediately without worring
about the steps above. Some setup programs are designed to be as newbie
friendly as possible and do things automatically for you. But, on the
other hand, if you can't afford to lose what is on your computer now, then
its your responsibility to know what you're doing. In any case, these
setup programs advise you to backup first.
--
Douglas Mayne
John-Paul Stewart
>
> 2. A GNU/Linux systems needs (probably) two partitions at a minimum: a
> root and a swap partition.
There is no requirement for a swap partition. You can run with a swap
file or no swap at all, if you like. However, multiple partitions are
strongly recommended. I'd suggest three or more: root, swap, and /home
to begin with. More advanced users may want partitions for /tmp, /var,
/usr, /opt, and others.
arke...@gmail.com
Thank you Douglas,
I'll do my homework before i start.
I can free up still 4-5 GB for another partition. i'have partition
magic to do it.
Pls guide me as how should i distribute space among them,.. root & swap
partitions..
& which file system should i use... u metioned too much.... which will
be best for me..?
Thanx in advance
Arkentos
Arkentos
Hi,
I've Asus P4VP-MX motherboard. Will Linux Suse support it?
I've searched web, found its audio device is not working in it.
advice
thanx
arnkentos
Douglas Mayne
You should make a table similar to the one below (on paper) which you can
refer to during your install. You should correct the table below for
your system- verify (via some method) the contents. Partition Magic
will be able to help you verify your assumptions are correct. You don't
want any surprises later.
Partition Used for Size or % Comments
--------- ----------- ---------- ---------------------
MBR boot loader 512 bytes Use grub
1 Windows ? Windows likes to be on part. 1
2 Suse Swap ? size relative to RAM (1x - 2x)
3 Suse root ? probably 4-8G minimum
Here are the basic rules for disc partitioning (in the PC world):
1. There can be a maximum of 4 primary partitions.
2. Windows likes to be on partition 1
3. A primary partition can be assigned to be an "extended partition."
4. An extended partiton can contain more partition entries (not limited
to 4).
4.A. Partitions within the extended partition are referred
to as "logical partitions."
4.B. The first logical partition is always the number 5
because the first 4 numbers are reserved for primary partitions.
The above is a simple scheme. You can get more fancy than that, and there are
good reasons too use more elaborate schemes (as noted by John-Paul Stewart on
this thread).
Here is another simple case:
Partition Used for Size or % Comments
--------- ----------- ---------- ---------------------
MBR boot loader 512 bytes Use grub
1 Windows ? Windows likes to be on part. 1
2 Suse boot 50M some small amount, use ext2 fs
3 extended ? Extened partition uses remainder
5 Suse swap 1.2G size relative to RAM (1x - 2x)
6 Suse root 7.8G use adv. fs: xfs, ext3, reiserfs
It's a good idea to use an advanced journalling filesystem on larger
partitions. I don't use Suse, so I am not sure of the support for xfs in
the installer, but that is the filesystem I use. AFAIK, ext3 is the most
popular. ext3 is backward compatible with ext2. ext2 is the most
compatible in the PC world; for example, Partition Magic has tools to work
with it. I also use ext2, but the scheduled fsck disk checks can
really take a long time to complete on larger partitions (>25G).
Are you starting to get the point I was making in step 4 above? You can do it,
but are you sure you wouldn't like it done for you automatically the first
time?
--
Douglas Mayne
Arkentos
Thanks
I've now some idea, regarding what i need to do before installing.
Thanks
One more thing i want to know,
I've Win XP on C: & Win 98 on D:, as you said win XP will be in boot
menu automatically upon detection by Suse installation,. but what about
Win 98, will it work well or i need to take some special care while
installing suse.
ThanX in Advance
Arkentos
Douglas Mayne
>
> Douglas Mayne wrote:
>> On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 23:10:29 -0800, arkentoss wrote:
>>
<snip>
>>
>> Are you starting to get the point I was making in step 4 above? You can do it,
>> but are you sure you wouldn't like it done for you automatically the first
>> time?
>>
>> --
>> Douglas Mayne
>
>
> Thanks
>
> I've now some idea, regarding what i need to do before installing.
> Thanks
>
> One more thing i want to know,
> I've Win XP on C: & Win 98 on D:, as you said win XP will be in boot
> menu automatically upon detection by Suse installation,. but what about
> Win 98, will it work well or i need to take some special care while
> installing suse.
>
> ThanX in Advance
>
> Arkentos
>
Where did I say the WinXP will be on the menu automatically upon detection
by Suse? That very well may be a fact, but I didn't say it. I did say that
Suse setup may be able to do things automatically for you- if you want to
let it.
I did say, "Caveat: I am not using Suse."
Plus, I gave a few warnings, such as, that you should review the
documentation for the distro of your choice (suse). And, if you can't
afford to lose what is on your computer now, then it's your responsibility
to know what you're doing. Backup before you start, etc.
I'll add some more here:
Caveat: I am not running Windows XP. I am not running Windows 98.
The first thing you should do is to stop referring to your drives as C:,
D:, etc. Instead, create the partition table(s) that I suggested. You
can add a column which maps to a Windows drive letter assignment where
applicable. If you have more than one physical drive, then you'll need a
partition table for each drive.
I have never used Windows 98. I ran Win98 setup a couple of times to help
friends recover from virus infection. I didn't pay that much attention to
the loader. In a way, you already have a dual boot system, 98 and
XP. Do you know how these two interact to boot now? If so, then you
should be able to reproduce that behaviour with grub using its
chainloader command. For example, it's possible that Windows 98 is an
entry on Windows XP boot menu. In that case, you'd only need to chainload
to the master boot menu for Windows, which will continue to display the
existing menu choices.
Study the grub manual:
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/index.html
Or I wrote this shorter summary of some key commands:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.misc/msg/5a91c5ebd5c18911
BTW, I have tried to give you general advice, not tell you specifically
what to do.
--
Ripley: And you let him in.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/quotes
Arkentos
Thanks for your extensive help.
I'm actually new to Linux, therefore before proceeds with installation
i tried to know as much as possible.
links you gave will surely help me in configuring multiboot with Grub.
& i'm also going to follow the table you explained.
Thanks again
Douglas Mayne
>
<snip>
>
> Thanks for your extensive help.
>
> I'm actually new to Linux, therefore before proceeds with installation
> i tried to know as much as possible.
> links you gave will surely help me in configuring multiboot with Grub.
> & i'm also going to follow the table you explained.
>
> Thanks again
>
You're welcome. Come back if you have more questions. This group can help
or give pointers of where to look. You could also look for a Linux user
group close to you, or a friend who runs Linux, etc. And as you
already know, these usenet newsgroups are a good resource, too.
--
Douglas Mayne