Hello again all,
I am writing this here as it is quicker to see responses than sending it
directly to Mandrake/Macmillans and in case it is of benefit to others. I
am a little confused about the sizes of various kernels and as a result it
is adding to my confusion regarding the size of the "/" partition. I have
received this from Macmillans yesterday, and I am uncertain as to a proper
working size for this new partition.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~
We recommend that your native or primary partition ("/") be
<-------------------------------1
approximately 500MB-1GB, your swap partition be about 2 times the
RAM (2 x 64 RAM = 128MB or 2 x 128 RAM = 256MB), and your boot
partition ("/boot") be about 10-20MB.
<------------------------------------------------------2
The boot directory, which may occupy its own partition, contains the
Linux kernel (operating system program) and additional configuration
files. Many users make extra room in this partition to allow for
multiple kernels. (When building a new kernel, it may be helpful to
have old ones as backups.)
Kernel sizes vary depending on their configurations. It is not
unreasonable to allow 750MB for the kernel which comes with a
<-----------------------------3
distribution. Custom built ones tailored to the system can be
smaller. Lilo permits up to 16 kernel images; most people will need
no more than two or three; a 5MB boot partition is probably ample.
<-------------------------4
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~
As per above
1- says ("/") is a "Primary Partition" and a size of "500MB-1GB"?
2- says "/boot" is about 10-20MB with no mention if it is Primary or Logical?
3- says it is not unreasonable for a kernel to be 750MB and that this 750MB
kernel resides inside of a 5MB (see below) partition?
4- says that a 5MB "/boot" partition is probably ample for two or three
kernels?
Is it any wonder I have been a little bit confused? :)
My own deductions for the above
1- "/" is a Primary Partition and (I was making mine 4GB at first) must
reside below the 1024th cylinder boundary, this means it must both begin
and end before the 1024th cylinder. However if you are running a dual boot
system you will also have to have win/dos within the same 1024th cylinder
boundary.
2- "/boot" I will assume should be a Logical Partition (as you are
restricted to only 4 Primary Partitions on a hard drive and you want to
conserve them for when they are needed the most), although the 10-20MB size
recommendation also does not work with item 4's size of 5MB.
3- I just do not know how to do this sort of math without running into a
deep negative integer.
4- This math also appears to rely on squared and or cubed integers, some
method of powered multiplication factors.
b/web
