Which LINUX should I use ?

[kato]

I am getting a new hard disk of 80 GB tommorow so will use the present hard disk for Linux. Its 40 GB and I want to install Ubuntu and Fedora Core. But I see both will be releasing there new versions soon so should i install them now or wait for the newer versions.

 

[QwertyManiac]

Is Fedora 5 Releasing this month ?

EDIT :

Oh, It should have released today! but...
*lwn.net/Articles/175159/

on 20th then... k

 

[mehulved]

Kato you can install one distro for a while and play around with it. And when FC5 and Dapper Drake come out then you can install them. So, in the meanwhile you can start understanding more about linux installation and how linux works after being installed.

 

[kato]

k so i guess I will go ahead with ubuntu installation

 

[kato]

Okay I got my new Hard disk but I seem to have reached a dead end. Currently I have 120 GB exactly on my PC 80 GB and 40 GB hard disks. Now the Thing is I have 20 GB partitions that makes a total of 6 partitions. Now the 40 GB hard disk is divided to drive D and H. So how can i merge this and will there be any problem after I merge these. So I can install Ubuntu on them. The problem is these both are unevenly partitioned so I wanted to merge them

Sorry for bumoing but adding to my earlier post couldnt have bring it up sorry for posting twice

 

[Satissh S]

hey karthik!! buddy.. you dunt have any data on it isn't it?? do-
# fdisk /dev/hdb
# d //deletes a partition
# 1 //selects the first partition on the 40 gb hd
# d //deletes a partition
# 2 //selects the 2nd partition on the 40 gb hd
# n // create new partition
# p // select as primary partition
# [ENter]
# [Enter]
# w // write to disk and quit.

 

[kato]

Isnt that for doing on to Linux but I am currently on Windows I will install Ubuntu by merging that Partition into a 40 GB. Or is this for Windows. My head is spinning

 

[naveenchandran]

@kato

Do you want the data on the partitions?

If you want to install ubuntu you need some unpartioned[free] disk space...

 

[mehulved]

Well kato you can just delete the partitions using disk manager in windows. And then you can use the free space from deleted partitions to install linux. And I guess you will be installing windows on the 80GB disk and linux on a 40 GB one? If so then don't use windows disk mgmt just use diskdrake(Am I right guys?) with fedora to partition it will be point and click too.

 

[kato]

its disk driud not disk drake and also what about the drives they are D and H drive on my windows wont that create a problem

 

[mehulved]

yeah got confused. Disk drake is for mandrake. D and H partitions are on a different disk na. Both the disk will be detected as different discs in linux. one will be hda and other hdb. Or sda and sdb for SATA drives. So, if you're using the whole drive partition it using disk druid. If you can provide your partition structure and which partitions are on which disk, this will make things clearer.

 

[kato]

Okay lets see I will try to put the proper list
1) My 80 GB Hrad disk is divided into following
(C: ) System 18.63 GB
(E: ) 18.63 GB
(F: ) 18.63 GB
(G: ) 18.63 GB

2) My 40 GB Hard Disk is divided into following
(D: ) Active 12.45 GB
(H: ) 24.79 GB


I dont know why it says D drive active eventhough i have formatted it. Now my WIndows is in C drive and i want to use D and H as for Linux.

 

[mehulved]

Well windows disk mgmt will format it to FAT32 or NTFS. Just leave it as they're and let fdisk(Ubuntu) or Disk Druid do the work. I guess ubuntu will detect your drive as 'hda'. Check if hda is 40 GB, if yes then format it, or else format hdb and install the distro(s).
You can have a look here if you 're installing Ubuntu and haven't seen any installation videos for it.

 

[kato]

Hey what about my question as its D drive will it affect my XP in anyways after installing Linux

Hey thanks for the linkie its very goood

 

[mehulved]

No not at all except AFAICR, your drives will be renamed. So, atmost the problems you will have is if you got links pointing to other drives, they will malfunction. If no software is installed on other drives except C, or you haven't made any such links yourself, then you won't have problems.

 

[kato]

So there wont be any probs I guess SO can anyone tell me a good Partition plan for installing Linux I may start with FC5(coz it has Anaconda Installer which looks easy) as its coming out by 20th I will be downloading it through Torrents. And its very easy to install(I think so). But I will also Install Ubuntu later so I want to know how should I make partitions for Linux keeping in mind the future installation of Ubuntu.

 

[mehulved]

Installing linux is as easy as installing windows if not easier. Only tricky step is partitioning, that too only fro first timers. Otherwise it is very easy to install linux.
A partition scheme I usually follow for a 40 GB hard disk is

/boot       100MB
/home     10GB
/             ~10GB
/windows 15GB
swap       550MB

You can adjust according to your needs. If you have fat32 partition on other hard disk you needn't make that one. You can make a 5GB /usr partition too. and make /home as 20 GB.
Or I would rather recommend to leave the 15GB for Ubuntu.

 

[kato]

So let me see I can make something Like this.

/ for Fedora Core around 10 GB
/home for all my files around 10GB
/swap around 550 MB

Now that leaves 20.5 GB approx
I will install Ubuntu in around 15 GB or so.
Is this right? I am not using boot as its not necessary as DW had said earlier. And am I leaving anything and where will all my softies be installed in such partition

 

[mehulved]

There's not one place for installation of softwares in linux. There are many places like /bin, /sbin, /usr, /opt ,sometimes even /home. So don't worry about that part. It will be taken care on its own.
Have a look at Linux Filesystem Hierarchy. It will throw a light on issues which you're concerned like partitioning, where the softwares are installed and more. Read it before installing FC, it will help you a lot.
Another documentation worth reading is Introduction to Linux.
Read them before installing linux they will help you a lot in understanding linux.
And if you want to go further there are a lot more documentations available at TLDP

 

[kato]

With help from everyone i installed Ubuntu and thanks you for that to everyone. The only problem i seem to have is that i can see all my windows partition in it and even the file but i dont see my linux partitions in it. How come this is happening