# How Do I Go About Installing Linux?



## shady_inc (Jun 22, 2007)

i have a 40 gb hdd with two paritions and xp installed in one of them.I wish to install linux 7.04 from Digit bootable DVD on second partiton.but i don't want to lose the data on either of the partitions.how do i go about doing it??

I have no experience on even the basics of linux.so can someone plz tell me the exact steps i need to follow...


----------



## QwertyManiac (Jun 22, 2007)

The best way is to make an empty partition, preferably the last one, and install Linux on it.

You need to make a free partition or some free space for Ubuntu 7.04. Move all your important stuff from D: to C: and delete D: and resize/split it as you wish (Give Linux about 10-15 GB, though the minimum's 3~ GB, you'll need the space later). Now boot from the CD and follow it .. easy from there on.


----------



## praka123 (Jun 22, 2007)

also make a swap partition of 400MB


----------



## faraaz (Jun 22, 2007)

400 will be enuf praka?? I remember reading somewhere that rule of thumb was Swap has to be 2x your RAM size...


----------



## vish786 (Jun 22, 2007)

that too is not required... becoz swap is hardly used nowadays.   it was meant only before when memory was less.   

if ur using too many multiple applications only then its used mostly.


----------



## saurabh kakkar (Jun 22, 2007)

shady_inc said:
			
		

> i have a 40 gb hdd with two paritions and xp installed in one of them.I wish to install linux 7.04 from Digit bootable DVD on second partiton.but i don't want to lose the data on either of the partitions.how do i go about doing it??
> 
> I have no experience on even the basics of linux.so can someone plz tell me the exact steps i need to follow...



i think this thread will help a bit just scan through the sites  :

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61019


----------



## infra_red_dude (Jun 23, 2007)

faraaz said:
			
		

> 400 will be enuf praka?? I remember reading somewhere that rule of thumb was Swap has to be 2x your RAM size...



i use ubuntu 7.04 widout any swap! been long since i left making a swap partition in linux. when i feel the need i share windows page file file in linux as its swap file


----------



## amitava82 (Jun 23, 2007)

How do you share windows page file as swap?


----------



## praka123 (Jun 23, 2007)

faraaz said:
			
		

> 400 will be enuf praka?? I remember reading somewhere that rule of thumb was Swap has to be 2x your RAM size...


Yes,more than enough that thumb rule was for 2.4 range of linux kernel's.I am using 256 MB RAM for now and my swap usage at anytime never crossed 150MB. So dont make BIG 2GB swap partitions as some suggests.


----------



## faraaz (Jun 23, 2007)

I already made a 2055 MB partition...but hello, that was made automatically when I decided to let Sabayon's installer do whatever it wanted with my HDD...


----------



## shady_inc (Jun 23, 2007)

QwertyManiac said:
			
		

> The best way is to make an empty partition, preferably the last one, and install Linux on it.
> 
> You need to make a free partition or some free space for Ubuntu 7.04. Move all your important stuff from D: to C: and delete D: and resize/split it as you wish (Give Linux about 10-15 GB, though the minimum's 3~ GB, you'll need the space later). Now boot from the CD and follow it .. easy from there on.



i have about 10 gig free space in D: drive
so,can i install linux in this free space WITHOUT having to format or delete this partition??


----------



## Sykora (Jun 23, 2007)

By saying d: drive, I assume it's a partition you can access from windows, ie ntfs? In which case, the answer is no, you can't. You'll have to reformat the partition with a different filesystem.


----------



## QwertyManiac (Jun 23, 2007)

Yep, you need a new partition, somehow or the other. Splitting it can be dangerous, so better move the data to someplace else temporarily (Make a HDD Image perhaps) and split D: into 2 sizes, one for Windows usage as you wish and the other for Linux. Then you can move back the data onto D: and use it just as before.


----------



## infra_red_dude (Jun 23, 2007)

amitava82 said:
			
		

> How do you share windows page file as swap?



offtopic: keep windows page file on a partition wid full read-write access in ur linux system. then make sure that partition is auto mounted at startup in linux (pref. a fat32 partition)

then put these commands in ur startup script:
mkswap <mount point of page file partition>/pagefile.sys
swapon <mount point of page file partition>/pagefile.sys

thats it! you are sharing ur windows page file in linux as ur swap file!: )

ontopic: instead of moving the data on ur second partition to ur active windows partition (C, it'd be better to burn ur important data on a cd or dvd.


----------



## eddie (Jun 23, 2007)

infra_red_dude said:
			
		

> mkswap <mount point of page file partition>/pagefile.sys
> swapon <mount point of page file partition>/pagefile.sys


 How much RAM do you have?


----------



## praka123 (Jun 23, 2007)

afaik Linux swap is a seperate file  format?how can


----------



## vish786 (Jun 23, 2007)

praka123 said:
			
		

> afaik Linux swap is a seperate file  format?how can



yes pagefile.sys can be used as swap.


----------



## eddie (Jun 23, 2007)

praka123 said:
			
		

> afaik Linux swap is a seperate file  format?how can


 Windows would be be rewriting the pagefile.sys headers on every startup and then he is removing them at his every Linux startup using the script. So it can be done.


----------



## praka123 (Jun 23, 2007)

Oh!he's actually formatting swap every boot session to get going!innovative ways


----------



## infra_red_dude (Jun 23, 2007)

eddie said:
			
		

> How much RAM do you have?



me has 512mb ram and i rarely need to enable swap. everything runs jus fine!

yeah, swap doesn't need an exclusive partition. a file may also be used as swap. i've been using this thing since a long long time... and i've not been creating a separate partition. once u boot into linux, the contents of windows page file are useless. so i jus use this to share the pagefile.sys as linux swap file. its simple and works like a charm! 

actually i dun enable it at every boot up. i jus enable the swap file as and when required.


----------



## saurabh kakkar (Jun 23, 2007)

infra_red_dude said:
			
		

> me has 512mb ram and i rarely need to enable swap. everything runs jus fine!
> 
> yeah, swap doesn't need an exclusive partition. a file may also be used as swap. i've been using this thing since a long long time... and i've not been creating a separate partition. once u boot into linux, the contents of windows page file are useless. so i jus use this to share the pagefile.sys as linux swap file. its simple and works like a charm!
> 
> actually i dun enable it at every boot up. i jus enable the swap file as and when required.



where is the pagefile.sys located i searched my comp  but no result


----------



## praka123 (Jun 23, 2007)

it will be a seperate partition for windows(if u made) or u'll find in ur windows installed partition  for eg: C:\> drive


----------



## eddie (Jun 23, 2007)

infra_red_dude said:
			
		

> me has 512mb ram and i rarely need to enable swap. everything runs jus fine!


 You should enable swap. If you are using a reasonably new kernel then you will benefit from excellent prefetch and swapiness stuff that is going in


----------



## QwertyManiac (Jun 23, 2007)

I don't really mind putting in a GB for Swap .. What's wrong if its not being used currently, at least avoids hassles when you need it.


----------



## infra_red_dude (Jun 24, 2007)

hmmm.. guess i'll put it in the statup script then


----------



## praka123 (Jun 24, 2007)

@infra_red_dude:swap is needed,I too thought swap is not used very often.now with system of 256 MB DDR  Swap usage too is high.
In windows,it wont ask for swap file creation-it just create pagefile.sys of around 750mb right?


----------



## infra_red_dude (Jun 24, 2007)

praka123 said:
			
		

> In windows,it wont ask for swap file creation-it just create pagefile.sys of around 750mb right?



yeah, correct! but u can modify it the way u want too!

btw, jus being curious i created a swap partition (split it for an existing not-much-used partition). set it as linux swap, and still the swap usage is nil! i dun understand why or how!

can somehere here who does some heavy work on linux system try and benchmark the results with, without and sharing of swap? i'd be very eager for the results. i cudn't find any difference.

btw, @shady_inc, i'd suggest you create 3 basic partitions (apart from swap if u wish):

1) linux root, mounted on '/' say about 5gb
2) a partition for housing boot files mounted as '/boot' of about 40mb or so
3) a partition for ur files, documents, downloads, pic and anything personal mounted as '/home' of the remaining space (~5gb)

this way u'll segregate everything on ur system u can be carefree


----------



## gary4gar (Jun 24, 2007)

^^^^
why is a seprate a boot pariton needed?


----------



## faraaz (Jun 24, 2007)

From what I have seen, thats where your grub.conf files and all are stored. Dunno why though...maybe Linux likes to boot up this way?? Makes editing and all easier than writing to MBR?? I dunno...I'm just a noob! >.<


----------



## mehulved (Jun 24, 2007)

gary4gar said:
			
		

> ^^^^
> why is a seprate a boot pariton needed?


 Not needed but recommended. On many people they have different partitions for /, /boot, /home, /usr, /var, It's not unusual. There can be other directories on separate partitions too, depending on the need.


----------



## gary4gar (Jun 24, 2007)

what are the advantages for a separate /boot partition over having them in main root file system


----------



## infra_red_dude (Jun 25, 2007)

well, u may tinker around ur system and it *MAY* go wrong sometimes. if something happens to the grub/lilo config files ur system will be rendered non-bootable. this is in the context of a dual boot system. u'll lose the ability to boot in to the other OS too. then u'll hafta grab the installation cd and start repairing. 

hafing a separate boot partition helps. all the boot config files are stored there. if something happens to ur root partition then u'll stil be able to boot into any other OS. also all ur personal files will be safe if /home is on a separate partition. problem will occur only when u try to boot into ur root partition. now in case like this, since grub is accessible, recovery mode can be initiated widout the need for install media. so its safe to segregrate things.

i follow the same rule in my windows setup too. install only the system files (windows only) on one partition. all the programs on a different, personal files on the next and entertainment in the last. it help... believe me! experienced a lot!


----------



## mehulved (Jun 25, 2007)

Another reason you will get if you read man page of fstab and a couple of articles on fstab.


----------



## infra_red_dude (Jun 25, 2007)

yeah.. and if u are the kind of guy who likes to test new and diff stuff and tinker then u should make a boot partition of abt 100-150mb.


----------



## kalpik (Jun 25, 2007)

gary4gar said:
			
		

> what are the advantages for a separate /boot partition over having them in main root file system


The most important reason is if you have a filesystem, from which grub cannot boot, you can create a /boot of ext2 and the have any filesystem the kernel supports for / and /home..


----------



## infra_red_dude (Jun 25, 2007)

ok folks, help me out. i dunno if there is some problem wid my installation or not. i split a parition and made abt 600mb out of it. formatted it as linux swap and setup the fstab to use it as swap. linux perfectly activates swap partition at startup but the usage is always nil! its ZERO. why is it not using anything?

btw, in fstab i only provided the device id not UUID. is that the problem?

one more advantage of hafing a separate /home partition is that no what what distro u install or upgrade all ur personal files will be accessible. so u never lose ur files when u migrate from one distro to other or something bad happens during upgrading.


----------



## praka123 (Jun 25, 2007)

Linux kernel from 2.6.22 may show some changes,it includes a new/changed memory management subsystem which already was available with ck patches(kolivas?).this is what the page in:


> Con Colivas' RSDL process scheduler, which seems to work much better than the stock scheduler according to some reports (LWN article)


*kernelnewbies.org/Linux_2_6_21#head-1e87824aa4636cc57408ac7b268ceb44681781c9


----------



## eddie (Jun 25, 2007)

infra_red_dude said:
			
		

> linux perfectly activates swap partition at startup but the usage is always nil! its ZERO. why is it not using anything?


 Your kernel will notice your activities and start swapping & caching according to that. You need to wait for like 2-3 hours at least


----------



## Pathik (Jun 25, 2007)

^^ izzenit that if ur ram can manage all the tasks efficiently then there isnt any use of ur kernel using swap at all??


----------



## infra_red_dude (Jun 25, 2007)

updated the kernel, now its using swap but the usage peaks at 10mb!!!! dunno why but till i hadn't updated the kernel swap usage was nil!

so all in all i must say to the thread starter to haf a swap partition also a separate /home partition is preferred.


----------



## mediator (Jun 26, 2007)

gary4gar said:
			
		

> what are the advantages for a separate /boot partition over having them in main root file system



*******
*/boot*
Files used by the bootstrap loader, e.g., LILO or GRUB.  Kernel images are often kept here instead of in the root directory.  If there are many kernel images, the *directory can easily grow rather big*, and it might be better to keep it in a separate filesystem. Another reason would be *to make sure the kernel images are within the first 1024 cylinders of an IDE disk.* This 1024 cylinder limit is no longer true in most cases.  With modern BIOSes and later versions of LILO (the LInux LOader) the 1024 cylinder limit can be passed with logical block addressing (LBA).  See the *lilo* manual page for more details.            
*******

*tldp.org/LDP/sag/html/root-fs.html


----------



## infra_red_dude (Jun 26, 2007)

mediator said:
			
		

> Another reason would be *to make sure the kernel images are within the first 1024 cylinders of an IDE disk.* This 1024 cylinder limit is no longer true in most cases.  With modern BIOSes and later versions of LILO (the LInux LOader) the 1024 cylinder limit can be passed with logical block addressing (LBA).



yeah this was a problem till maybe RH linux 9.0. but now its irrelevant. however, its advantageous for hafing a separate boot partition in linux.


----------



## mediator (Jun 26, 2007)

I feel its a wastage of disk space and a partition! I dont have fedora core installation cds with me anymore, but just a knoppix cd that saves a lot of headaches at times. Windows gets corrupted quite frequently and then u have to repair it or reformat its partition and reinstall it. In such cases, it may get annoying when the windows restarts itself again n again like 5 times during the installation stage itself and then wasting another few seconds on the grub screen or u have to be active around to watch it and press enter again n again to save those few seconds.

Instead, I think its better to let the whole process complete first automatically and then repair the grub. Neways my PC is dying. Windows refuses to even start up sometimes and when it starts, it restarts!! So mah family haf been using fedora only for around last 6 months and for those who have only Linux installed I guess boot partition is really not needed!!

I feel its more of ur choice to have a boot partition or not!


----------



## goobimama (Jun 26, 2007)

Hey I'm having some problems with my Ubuntu installation. 7.04.

Here's the rundown:
C: Vista
D: Free Space 15GB
E: Free Space 40GB

Now I start the installation, go into "Manual" instead of "Use entire Disk".

Then I format the D drive into ext3 or something. Then refuse the Swap. It goes through the installation but gives a fatal error at the end.

Using a brand new Core 2 Duo system with P965RY board. Any guides that I should follow for this installation type?


----------



## QwertyManiac (Jun 26, 2007)

At the end? Might be GRUB giving it? What's the error exactly?


----------



## goobimama (Jun 27, 2007)

Ah. I forgot what the error was. Will do it again tomorrow and note it down. The comp I'm installing it is in the office...

At the end...of the installation progress bar (copying files, doing all that stuff)

Just wanted to know if my steps were right.


----------



## mediator (Jun 27, 2007)

goobimama said:
			
		

> Hey I'm having some problems with my Ubuntu installation. 7.04.
> 
> Here's the rundown:
> C: Vista
> ...



1. End of what? Installation or some configuration?
2. What fatal error?
A little description of ur problem wud be very helpful.


----------

