Subject: Re: requests install advice (partitions): Wallstreet PBG3 233, YDL2.1
From: Gordon Neault (gordo-x@shaw.ca)
Date: Sat Jan 12 2002 - 11:54:50 MST
On Saturday, January 12, 2002, at 03:44 AM, Andrew Stout wrote:
> ...Hi. I'm coming to Yellow Dog Linux after an almost- but not quite-
> successful installation of LinuxPPC 2000 Q4 (installed, but with
> X-server -related problems). I'm an undergrad computer science major,
> so I'm moderately experienced with using Unix/Linux, but this is more
> or less my first go at installing it on my personal computer. ...
> The /boot partition is not contiguous with the swap and / partitions,
> which in retrospect was not such a good idea. A knowledgeable friend
> of mine recommended that swap be between 1x and 2x the size of RAM, and
> LinuxPPC said it couldn't handle swap partitions bigger than 128Mb.
> (But apparently it couldn't handle my video card, either. grumble.) ...
Opinions vary as to the correct amount of swap necessary; and it is
fairly dependant on the final use of the machine. You will see 1x, 2x
and even 3x as a recommended amount. I would think with 288MB ram, 1x
should be enough, but some others are sure to disagree. Note that YDL
supports 256MB per partition, so it's either 1@256 or 2@256 as your
reasonable options.
> ... My questions:
> 1. From the online documentation it looks like the Yellow Dog
> installer isn't gonna like that I've already partitioned my disk...even
> the Custom install mode. Is this in fact the case? I don't really
> want to back up everything I've got on this disk and repartition. Is
> there a way to install without repartioning?
> 2. If I do have to repartiton (ugh), how much swap space do I want,
> what's the limit on the size of a swap partition, and will the
> installer let me make more than one? ...
The YDL partitioner will allow you to leave your Mac partitions intact.
Hopefully you can backup your Linux stuff (even to the shared volume). I
would try to create free space from all your Linux partitions and start
it from scratch; but there is no need (be careful) to delete any given
partition you don't want to.
When you eliminate all your Linux partitions, could you then correctly
describe your partition scheme as continuous with Mac HFS/HFS+ and then
continuous with Linux ext_2/swap? In that case, I see no problems. If
not, well you may find you lose some flexibility regarding partition
sizes, etc. No biggie, though.
I would not worry about the bootloader partition not being next to the
Linux partitions. Better earlier (lower partition number) than later,
though.
I think 8GB is a rather huge (to say the least) shared HFS volume; but
its your setup and I suppose you have some idea of what you're going to
put there.
Personally I would go with 1 256mb swap partition, I think 288MB real
RAM will be considered generous by Linux. As newer kernels tend to
support larger swap sizes, you may want to consider leaving some free
space at the end and making swap the last (highest number) partition,
allowing you to increase it later, or add a second swap partition if for
some reason you discover you need it.
You must not attempt to create more than 16 virtual partitions
(including the invisible formatting ones, usually 6 or so). Neither Mac
nor Linux will be able to use them. I have heard some say 15, but the
16th have always worked for me.
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