On Fri, Jul 06, 2001, Dr. Sharukh KR Pavri wrote:
>
> I have rh 6.2 (it used to be 5.2 then 6.1) which , because
> of some extensive *experimentation* is in a bit of a mess I
> feel. Besides, I had done an install on one large /
> partition with a swap partition.
>
Yes, with 2 HDs and a total of 9 GB disk space (as written
below) you can have Win-9x, and at least 2 distros, with
enough space for separate /home. If you are working with one
large partition presently ... you need to repartition the
whole thing ... and start from scratch. You would need a
primary partition for each boot-able system. Other things like
/home, /usr, /swap etc may be on extended logical partitions.
> I now want to have atleast a separate partition for /home so
> the next time I need to change something, I can just work
> with the partition other than home.
>
I have had various combinations of Win-9x, Linux, QNX and BeOS
from time to time. Theoretically, it is possible to have /home
shared, but you need to manually tinker groups and file
permissions for the different distros and the default setup of
each distro does not work. To give an example user "bish"
default on debian would be on bish.bish, whereas on RH or
Slackware bish.users. Got the point ?
> Also I'd like to load one more distro and be able to have a
> common /home. I know some folks on the list use multiple
> distros so some help here please.
>
I would advise against a common /home ... too many things to
take care of on a daily basis ... can work though. After all,
what you need is a common source for : a) data b) statically
linked executables to be shared between the two distros.
I have a common /opt, where I have statically linked programs
only inclusive of Opera, netscape, Star Office, XV etc.
Programs which need library support needs the same library
installed on both distros.
For my stand alone system, I also have a special partition
called /archive which is a MS-DOS Type "e" partition and
mounted as vfat. This way I can save html pages, mp3s, pics,
text files, zipped downloads and all and sundry accessible by
all systems inclusive of Win9x. On a stand-alone system (where
security is of lesser concern) you may even chmod it to 777 so
that any user can read/ write/ execute from it. Note: this
is NOT a recommended Unix practice, only a personal hack
which I found useful at a particular setting. Otherwise NOT
recommended.
> I have the foll. config: P120 16 mb ram (I know, I'm
> searching for some EDO ram), primary hd 8 gb secondary hd
> 1.2 gb. I have to leave ~2 - 3 gb for winduhs. The rest I
> can use for linux. I am thinking of rh 7.1 & either debian
> or suse as the other distro.
>
Your system is too anaemic for RH 7.1 or any other distro with
2.4.x kernel. 16mb RAM will NOT do ... Stick to kernels upto
2.2.x only ... Otherwise upgrade to (at least) 64 mb of RAM.
You need to know the quirks of various distros. Slackware and
SuSE use /opt for kde, netscape etc. RH uses /usr for kde and
gnome. Debian does not use /opt ... If you install without
this knowledge you'd find duplication of software with each
distro. I have a triple boot with Win-98, Debian and Slack
presently, but I use kde from /opt installed by Slackware for
both Slack and Debian, only my QT libs are duplicated for
requirements of kde and other stand alone QT based progs.
There are no laid down rules for this sort of jiggery-puggery.
Just install and tinker around !
> What would be an ideal sort of config for partitioning for
> this ? Should I make the swap on the 2nd hd ? can I load one
> distro on the 2nd hd ? A few tips please ...
>
For hda (8 gigs)
Primary /dev/hda1 ... Win 9x ................. 2 gigs
Primary /dev/hda2 ... / of one Linux distro .. 500mb to 1 gig
Primary /dev/hda3 ... Spare for 4th OS or /archive ... 1 gig
Extended Logicals (as per your desire) Logical 4, 5 .... You
have about 4 gigs left. You can have two partitions of 1.5 G
each for /usr of the two distros. Have a /opt of about 750
mb to be shared between both distros. Out of balance 250 mb,
you need 2xRAM size reserved for /swap and the rest 100+ mb
you can keep for a shared /tmp ( since this is volatile, with
no permanent stored items). Both /swap and /tmp can be shared
with no hassels.
For hdb (1 gig)
Primary 1 /dev/hdb1 .. / of second Linux distro .. 500 to 750
mb balance 250-500 mb you may like to keep as /home for one
of the distros only. On a stand-alone/ single user system the
need for a large /home is non-existant .... all your storage
requirement is being pushed to /archive anyway. This can be
used for /opt as well (in which case your /home will be on
hda). You may also make two 200+ mb partitions, primary or
extended logical for /home of both distros seperately.
> Sharukh.
>
HTH
Bish
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