HD Install :: fresh drive partitions wanted



I have my **Four** decTOPs.  They arrived over the weekend.

No Bios options.  You got what you got.

So I am working with the first one.  it has a 10Gb HD, 128Mb memory, 4 1.1 USB ports, VGA connector.

I have an ATEN USB to kyebd/mouse adapter in one of the USB ports; that and the VGA are plugged into my ATEN KVM.  All this is working fine.

I have a USB CDrom in a second USB port.  It has the DSL CD iso image.  It is booting just fine from this CD.

I have the USB ethernet adapter in the 3rd port, and the forth is empty.

Thing is I got this bug about partitioning.  I want a SWAP partition.  I want a /boot partition.  I want a /home partition, and the rest in a / partition.

The /boot and / would be ext2 type and the /home ext3.

And I can't figure out how to do the directory mapping with cfdisk.  It is so easy with DIsk Druid with my Centos installs.

Also what are the type numbers for ext2 and ext3.  I see that Linux swap is type 82...

Then when I run DSLinstall, will it put things where I want them?  And Grub as my boot loader....

Or do I put this drive first in a system that has Centos and use Disk Druid.  Or wait until I upgrade the memory to 256Mb and run the Centos install to get Disk Druid?
A bug about partitioning?

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Also what are the type numbers for ext2 and ext3.  I see that Linux swap is type 82...

Number (singular). Linux is 83, Linux swap is 82. You're talking about partitioning, not making the file system so ext2/3 has nothing to do with it.

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Then when I run DSLinstall, will it put things where I want them?

No, because it's not set to install in the configuration you described. If you're doing a frugal install, you have the option to add /home and /opt but not /boot. I don't recall frugal giving options for a different filesystem for the ISO (/).

The traditional install lays everything out on one partition. You can (re-)set it up however you want once it's installed.
Oh, in cfdisk, what do I set up as a Primary partition and what a Logical?

So I install DSL on the 2Gb partition that I is hda3, then I mv /boot to hda1.  Somehow I tell the install that hda2 is the swap partition, and then I mv /home to  hda5 (don't know why it ended up hda5....).

I saw i the little I let the install go that it asked me if I want ext2 or ext3.  How do I set hda1 as ext2 and hda3 as ext3.  And how do I get grub to boot from hda1?
I don't know why you want to do all this. A normal set up is perfectly adequate for someone at your skill level (edit) and for how DSL is intended to be used. Moving /home to a persistent partition is understandable. Why in the world do you want /boot on a unique partition?

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Oh, in cfdisk, what do I set up as a Primary partition and what a Logical?

http://www.netadmintools.com/html/8cfdisk.man.html

How many partitions do you intend to use? Do you need logical partitions?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_(computing)#Types_of_partitions

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How do I set hda1 as ext2 and hda3 as ext3.

http://linux.die.net/man/8/mke2fs

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And how do I get grub to boot from hda1?

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html
I agree that my skill level is moderate.  I have a dozen Centos based systems here.  Servers of different sorts, and two notebooks running Centos 5.

DSL is of interest to me as a low-overhead LInux that I will may use for special projects, and potentially as a NAS solution  I don't know if I will use it long-term as a desktop.  I have too much invested in Centos, and a number of my production systems pretty much have to be Centos, or pay Redhat big bucks I do not have.

But I am getting into low-power system design, and here DSL is attractive.  I am looking at different drive options.  Compact Flash is interesting, but we all know that it is not good for constant writing.  But I am seeing the Hitachi 4Gb microdrive for around $25 on ebay, much less than I can get 4Gb CF from ecost.com.  And not much more in power drain.  I definitely can go a 2-drive approach (IDE-CF dual adapters are only pennies more than single drive adapters) too if I need the capacity (8Gb midrodrives are still expensive).

I am also looking at just using 2.5" drives.  The 1.8" drives were dropped as they all seem to have ZIF connectors, and micro-ITX systems do not and adapters are very pricey.

Memory is always a concern.  Not just for cost, but also power demands.  So again, DSL over throwing 512Mb or more memory at a problem.
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