Hello everyone--
Given my inability to get the firewall wizard up and my font problems,
I've decided the easiest way to deal with them is to reinstall Mandrake
8 and got everything in its defaults before I start messing again. I'd
like some advice on a few things.
1. I have a 30-gig IBM Deskstar IDE hard drive. There is a Windows
primary partition of about 8 gigs, a FAT32 extended, and about 7-1/2
gigs are available for Linux (not partitioned by FDISK, currently
occupied by Linux and its swap partition); the extended partition takes
up the rest of the drive and contains two Windows logical drives. Except
for the swap partition, all of Linux is on one ext2fs partition.
Partition rules are that you can have a total of four partition entries,
in my case, three primaries and one extended. Should I keep the same
Linux arrangement I have now (everything on a Linux primary) or should I
create either a /usr or a /home partition in the extended partition? I
can easily move what's on my current Drive E and make a smaller drive E
to give a Linux /home partition more room. Or I can move the little I
have on Drive D and Drive E, wipe out the extended partition, make
smaller primary partitions for Linux and its swap partition, and make a
larger extended partition shared by Windows Drive E and Linux /home or
Linux /usr? If I have Linux and Windows sharing the extended partition,
can they use FAT32 for Windows and ext2fs or Reiserfs for Linux? Where
does Linux like to put programs--in /usr or /home or somewhere else? I
imagine that would have some influence on desirable partition sizes.
I am the only user and will continue to be the only user. Nobody else
has access to the computer; it's in a home so there's no chance of
someone wandering over and doing anything to it. Network sharing is not
relevant in this situation. Is it better to have a /usr partition or a
/home partition? Or doesn't it matter for a single user?
2. Should I use Reiserfs with this dual-boot system, or should I stick
with the tried-and-true ext2fs?
3. Is there any problem with /judy and /root having the same password?
There doesn't seem to be within the context of the single-user system.
But does it make any difference as far as Internet security goes? I
would like a four-letter alphanumeric password. What about three-letter
alphanumeric? The less I have to type the better. Internet safety is the
only issue here.
4. I want to do as much setting up as possible from /home/judy. Will
most programs let me install them as user? I'll be using kdesu and other
tools I've learned about to make it easier for user to do root things.
I'm going to let the font problem go for now and just work with what
comes with the system, plus Arial, Times New Roman, and Trebuchet from
Windows.
Advice appreciated!
--Judy Miner
