Linux partition question
I'm considering installing linux on one of my computers but i'm confused about the partition. It is recommended to create at least a root partition and a /home partition. My questions are as follows:
1) During installation will it ask which partition to use for root and which partition to use for home?
2) I don't plan to dual boot, so what size should I make each partition? (including swap partition)
3) Is there any reason to make more partitions(/boot, /usr, etc)? If so, what size to make them, and again will I specify the partition(s) during setup?
4) What type of filesystem should I use for each partition?
thanks
1) During installation will it ask which partition to use for root and which partition to use for home?
2) I don't plan to dual boot, so what size should I make each partition? (including swap partition)
3) Is there any reason to make more partitions(/boot, /usr, etc)? If so, what size to make them, and again will I specify the partition(s) during setup?
4) What type of filesystem should I use for each partition?
thanks
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And a more unrelated question... How is the AMD driver on linux these days? The last time I used linux it seemed to be way behind the nvidia driver. Couldn't do much with wine or desktop composite effects.
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1) This is preference. I'd recommend that if you don't know the answer, you should go with what the installer defaults to.
2) For mostly everything, I'd recommend to default to what the installer does.
Swap is used for various things. If you have a lot of RAM, guaranteed to never page, it can be left out entirely if you never hibernate or suspend. I wouldn't... I have an 11GB swap due to how I've always formatted my swap partition but I've yet to actually use it a single time in years. I'd go with what the installer does if you're really unsure.
3) The point of making various partitions is to make them modular. For instance, you can create a partition that you mount for /boot on a separate filesystem (such as ext4), while the rest of / is btrfs. I've not actually changed my /home partition despite reformatting my harddrive several times. This is because /home is kept on a separate partition than the rest of my system.
This is really an advanced feature though. I'd just go with what the installer gives you, and if you'd like to change with persistent data, just back things up on a USB drive or similar.
4) ext4 under LVM or btrfs. Most installers will default to ext4 under LVM.
2) For mostly everything, I'd recommend to default to what the installer does.
Swap is used for various things. If you have a lot of RAM, guaranteed to never page, it can be left out entirely if you never hibernate or suspend. I wouldn't... I have an 11GB swap due to how I've always formatted my swap partition but I've yet to actually use it a single time in years. I'd go with what the installer does if you're really unsure.
3) The point of making various partitions is to make them modular. For instance, you can create a partition that you mount for /boot on a separate filesystem (such as ext4), while the rest of / is btrfs. I've not actually changed my /home partition despite reformatting my harddrive several times. This is because /home is kept on a separate partition than the rest of my system.
This is really an advanced feature though. I'd just go with what the installer gives you, and if you'd like to change with persistent data, just back things up on a USB drive or similar.
4) ext4 under LVM or btrfs. Most installers will default to ext4 under LVM.
The AMD proprietary driver is not good. It has alright 3D performance but it lacks stability and it is hoped that it will be deprecated soon.
The Open Source driver is currently in the most stable shape and is outperforming older version of itself every few months. Linux just recently achieved OpenGL 4.2 compliance in Core Mesa. Open drivers aren't too far behind.
The Open Source driver is currently in the most stable shape and is outperforming older version of itself every few months. Linux just recently achieved OpenGL 4.2 compliance in Core Mesa. Open drivers aren't too far behind.
Hi,
For /boot - this is often used when one updates to the next release of the OS (or at least it is for fedora, new releases are every 6 months), so 2 GB is good for this purpose.
Having a /opt is a good idea too, put any new software in there, so it will remain, even if you go with a different flavour of Linux - as in a change to Ububtu for example. AFAIK it should still work with different Linux OS's - but might need to check for any missing library files.
I have another separate partition for testing different flavours of Linux. So fedora is my main OS, but I can play with another one if I want. Having GRUB2 as a boot loader is handy, so one can choose which one to boot - this works with windows too.
Good Luck :+)
For /boot - this is often used when one updates to the next release of the OS (or at least it is for fedora, new releases are every 6 months), so 2 GB is good for this purpose.
Having a /opt is a good idea too, put any new software in there, so it will remain, even if you go with a different flavour of Linux - as in a change to Ububtu for example. AFAIK it should still work with different Linux OS's - but might need to check for any missing library files.
I have another separate partition for testing different flavours of Linux. So fedora is my main OS, but I can play with another one if I want. Having GRUB2 as a boot loader is handy, so one can choose which one to boot - this works with windows too.
Good Luck :+)
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