niewbie help needed
Forum: HD Install
Topic: niewbie help needed
started by: cognitive tweak
Posted by cognitive tweak on Dec. 16 2005,13:14
The link below is a tut i found in the download folder on how to install a DSL compressed image to a harddrive.< http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub....wto.pdf >
(1) Is this the only way to install a DSL operating system on your hard drive? is it not slow because it's an compressed image? is there an other way to instal a non-compressed image making it faster? how big should i make the partitions if im not using a compressed image?
(2) I currently have 2 partitions. one with winxp and the other one without an os for file storage. can i make the 3 extra needed linux partitions out of my existing partitions without needing to format that entire partition? or can new partitions only be made out of non-partitioned space?
(3) Is it possible to only install 2 extra partitions: one primary and one swap. and then point my /home to one of my existing ntfs partitions? can this cause problems? i cant format that ntfs partition because i can't loose the data on it.
(3) Ones DSL is installed, will it take forever to start up just like a knoppix boot cd? or are the hardware settings saved? if not, can they be safed? how? is the DSL partition read-only only? like a live-boot cd? can that be changed?
(4) Can someone please explain what mySDL is. i figure it has to do with saving your personal files? so, if i download and install a fprogram in DSL, what do i need to do to save the system so that the program is still installed after a reboot?
in other words, space isn't a big issue. i'm chosing DSM because i need something efficient and fast. i only need a basic linux system to compile C++ with and such.. i want it to be small and fast. how can i configure /install DSL to be so? thanks for the help
~tweak.
Posted by Traveller on Dec. 16 2005,14:44
read the FAQ. read the resources that are already there. once you can't find the info, then ask here. partitioning a hard drive usually conducive to preserving anything else on the drive. if you're going to learn programming, learn to read the manuals. thank you for your attention.
Posted by ruserious on Dec. 16 2005,18:56
| Quote (cognitive tweak @ Dec. 16 2005,08:14) |
> (1) Is this the only way to install a DSL operating system on your hard drive?
no, you can also install it "normally to your harddrive, however AFAIK you can't easily upgrade to newer versions. Which IMHO is a major drawback. Even on older hardware, I prefer the frugal installs.
> is it not slow because it's an compressed image?
slow is relative, isn't it. ;) But seriously, it's not the fastest way, that's true.
> (2) can i make the 3 extra needed linux partitions out of my
> existing partitions without needing to format that entire
> partition?
There are some tools to resize existing partitions, but especially with NTFS partitions this is not a guarantueed thing. I have done it one some systems without problems. But one time the partition table became corrupted and all data went bye bye. There were enough warnings, and I had made backups.
You can take a look at qparted which you can install via mydsl, but I am not sure if it really works on ntfs. You'll have to make backups anhow though, even with the more expensive, commercial tools.
If your system is relatively new, why not try out the vmware player? I have it running on a 933 Mhz System with 256 MB RAM, and DSL runs ok (albeit after configuring the VMware player to use little RAM).
> i cant format that ntfs partition because [...]
*nix and writing on an ntfs partitions is still not a recommended thing to do. You may encounter dataloss. Not worth the risk.
> will it take forever to start up just like a knoppix boot cd?
> or are the hardware settings saved?
It's comparable, no at this point I am not aware that there is a way for saving it.
> is the DSL partition read-only only?
You can write to the partitions on the harddisk. However when booting DSL mounts the image and creates a ramdisk etc., so there is plenty of stuff there, that you cannot easily overwrite (somebody with better knowledge can fill in the details probably). However the integrated backup/restore is able to backup your modified files, and put them back over the "default" files after a reboot (helpful for configuration files for example).
> Can someone please explain what mySDL is.
It is the package system. There are packages available as .dsl, .uci and .tar.gz. Using mydsl on a pc with net-connection you connect to the repository and can choose from those and install them from the net. You are also able to use those packages to "remaster" your own version of DSL that is bigger than 50 MB and thus comes with more software.
> i'm chosing DSM because i need something efficient and fast. i
> only need a basic linux system to compile C++ with and such..
Personally for that purpose I would use cygwin, or Microsofts SFU. Remember that DSL is not mainly developer oriented. IIRC it doesn't come with a compiler or any dev-tools or libs. (Someone correct if I am wrong).
Posted by cognitive tweak on Dec. 17 2005,02:55
thanks for your extended answer. it helps alot! i only have a 550MHz AMD so im not sure if i should use vmplayer. so the advantage for using a compressed image is so you can update easily? why update? against exploits? i mean, are the update really that nessesary? when i do a normal install i wont need to worry about saving files and settings so.. thank you. ~tweak
Posted by skaos on Dec. 17 2005,15:16
I'm running DSL with VMware player on a P3-550 with 256 MB (64 MB for DSL). It's not very fast, but it is usable. It should run on your AMD if you have (at least) 256 MB. Here is how to use DSL with VMware player:< http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....;t=9475 >
< http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....;t=9288 >
Posted by cognitive tweak on Dec. 20 2005,20:00
so wait what IS this VMware player then? before i get flamed again for being to lazy to read up on things: i did read up all the links you gave me and the official site. but i still don't get why i need a virtual machine player. won't sound work without it? won't my network card work without it? won't firefox work without it? i mean, that's all i need, so do i need this VMplayer to make those work? :P thanks - CT.