What partitions to make

[357mag]

I'm going to be installing either Xandros or Linspire soon. I'm aware that at bare minimum a /swap and a / is needed(although Linspire 5.0 manages to create just one partition during install). Others have recommended adding a /home partition. But with the other options like /var, /usr, /opt, /tmp it can get a little confusing. Oh I forgot the /boot. See what I mean? Post your recommendations for a beginner.

[Karnevil9]

I've never used more than the two necessary partition, swap partition and main partition for the OS.

[mikeL]

I agree with karnevil9, I only have two partitions swap and / the rest are all default size because I'm the only user on my Slackware install, so custom sizes aren't needed.

Mike

[LocoCoyote]

http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplan...orials/4269/4/ has an excellent primer on this question.

In a nutshell, you can optimize your performance and harden your security if you use seperate partions, but they are not needed! You will no doubt do just fine with the standard root and swap.


Oh, IMHO, Linspire (lindows, whatever) doesn't create a swap partion because it (as a distro) sucks (please..no offense intended. If you are using it, and it works fine for you, then more power to you). This "hybrid" OS gives you the worst of Linux without giving you any redeeming Windoze features. Hands off I say!

[357mag]

Well I have not installed either yet as I'm waiting for Xandros 3.0 to arrive. But I think people are not fair to Linspire. Some of the common gripes I hear don't completely hold water. "It forces you to run as root." True after you install it and you're at the desktop you're actually logged in as root, but all you need to do is create a new user account and log in as a normal user. "Well they nickel and dime you to death." True it does cost $50.00 a year to subscribe to Click and Run, but when you consider all the applications available and the ease of installation, I don't think that is much. Linspire and Xandros are doing remarkable things. They are taking a notoriously difficult OS and making it easier for a beginner to use. If you took the average Windows user and told him to switch to Debian or Slackware or perhaps some other distro, after he discovered all the hassle and complexity you have to go through in order to get the OS up and working, not to mention installing software, he would probably say screw Linux, and go back to Windows. Now Xandros and Linspire are taking Linux and making it much more accessible to that normal user. I think they both are filling an important niche in the Linux community.

[kilgoretrout]

For a single/home user, root and swap are all you need unless you intend to run a server. For a server, you should minimally have a separate /var partition because the server logs can get quite large and var can eat up your entire root partition if it's not seperated.