* [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install @ 2008-07-21 5:47 Alan E. Davis 2008-07-21 8:01 ` Mick 2008-07-21 9:09 ` Dirk Heinrichs 0 siblings, 2 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Alan E. Davis @ 2008-07-21 5:47 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Having been (mostly happily) using Ubuntu for a number of months I yearn to install Gentoo again. Tried a beta release of Gentoo 2008.0, and was pleased, at least to be able to boot and not have the confusion about naming HDDs, and using Grub was simpler. Now, as I approach the Live CD installer (AMD64) some problems are keeping me at bay. Now, however, I've tried three or four times to install on an existing partition. Grub will not install over the ubuntu grub, or else something else is crazy. After a 2 hour preparation the last time around, emerging the extra packages, the system just stopped, and when at long last I finally rebooted, it was back to Ubuntu. May I ask a few questions? - Live CD only installs over a clean partition. How can I resume an installation? - I only have a unsupported atheros wifi card for connection. I've been using it for years. No easy way to connect by wire. Any ideas? - I have an 80GB fast SATA drive and three slower 7000 RPM drives. What partitions are best kept on the fast drive to maximize performance (I have basically an all purpose workstation). My /home will be about 100GB: is it wiser to split it up into a smaller core /home with several slower archive and storage partitions (Library, Project archives, Videos, Music)? - Advice about UUIDs? I lost a partition (a large one) over a misidentification of a partition when the Ubuntu scheme started swapping around names of devices. Old /dev/hda became /dev/sda and old /dev/sda became /dev/sdb. What a mess that turned out to be. For now this will be enough. Alan ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 5:47 [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install Alan E. Davis @ 2008-07-21 8:01 ` Mick 2008-07-21 8:36 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 8:39 ` Dale 2008-07-21 9:09 ` Dirk Heinrichs 1 sibling, 2 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Mick @ 2008-07-21 8:01 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 563 bytes --] On Monday 21 July 2008, Alan E. Davis wrote: > May I ask a few questions? Of course you may. Please start a new thread and address it to gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org. What you have done is hit the reply button to an existing thread titled "Warning: locale not supported by Xlib, locale set to C" and just changed the title (but not the message headers). This is called "thread hijacking" and in most mail and news clients shows up underneath the original thread which has nothing to do with your installation questions. -- Regards, Mick [-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part. --] [-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 197 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 8:01 ` Mick @ 2008-07-21 8:36 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 8:39 ` Dale 1 sibling, 0 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Dirk Heinrichs @ 2008-07-21 8:36 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 486 bytes --] Mick schrieb: > On Monday 21 July 2008, Alan E. Davis wrote: > >> May I ask a few questions? > > Of course you may. Please start a new thread and address it to > gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org. What you have done is hit the reply button to > an existing thread titled "Warning: locale not supported by Xlib, locale set > to C" and just changed the title (but not the message headers). No, he did not. There's no "In-Reply-To" header in his mail. Bye... Dirk [-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part. --] [-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 189 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 8:01 ` Mick 2008-07-21 8:36 ` Dirk Heinrichs @ 2008-07-21 8:39 ` Dale 2008-07-21 22:06 ` Mick 1 sibling, 1 reply; 19+ messages in thread From: Dale @ 2008-07-21 8:39 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Mick wrote: > On Monday 21 July 2008, Alan E. Davis wrote: > > >> May I ask a few questions? >> > > Of course you may. Please start a new thread and address it to > gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org. What you have done is hit the reply button to > an existing thread titled "Warning: locale not supported by Xlib, locale set > to C" and just changed the title (but not the message headers). This is > called "thread hijacking" and in most mail and news clients shows up > underneath the original thread which has nothing to do with your installation > questions. > It seems to have shown up here as a new thread. Something odd going on with your email Mick or is it me, again? o_O Dale :-) ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 8:39 ` Dale @ 2008-07-21 22:06 ` Mick 0 siblings, 0 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Mick @ 2008-07-21 22:06 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 943 bytes --] On Monday 21 July 2008, Dale wrote: > Mick wrote: > > On Monday 21 July 2008, Alan E. Davis wrote: > >> May I ask a few questions? > > > > Of course you may. Please start a new thread and address it to > > gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org. What you have done is hit the reply button > > to an existing thread titled "Warning: locale not supported by Xlib, > > locale set to C" and just changed the title (but not the message > > headers). This is called "thread hijacking" and in most mail and news > > clients shows up underneath the original thread which has nothing to do > > with your installation questions. > > It seems to have shown up here as a new thread. Something odd going on > with your email Mick or is it me, again? o_O Apologies to Alan & all, I could swear that it showed up threaded! I have deleted it since so I cannot check. I trust your good judgment on this. Carry on Alan! -- Regards, Mick [-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part. --] [-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 197 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 5:47 [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install Alan E. Davis 2008-07-21 8:01 ` Mick @ 2008-07-21 9:09 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 9:19 ` Dale 2008-07-21 11:09 ` Neil Bothwick 1 sibling, 2 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Dirk Heinrichs @ 2008-07-21 9:09 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Alan E. Davis schrieb: > Now, however, I've tried three or four times to install on an existing > partition. Grub will not install over the ubuntu grub, or else > something else is crazy. Why do you do this at all? Grub is already in your MBR, so why bother with it again? > May I ask a few questions? > > - Live CD only installs over a clean partition. How can I resume > an installation? Boot the CD again, perform the steps to mount your already created filesystems (incl. bind-mount of /proc and/dev, enter chroot and start with (or after) the last step you finished before. > - I only have a unsupported atheros wifi card for connection. I've > been using it for years. No easy way to connect by wire. Any ideas? On x86 they're supported by madwifi, isn't this true for amd64? > - I have an 80GB fast SATA drive and three slower 7000 RPM drives. > What partitions are best kept on the fast drive to maximize > performance (I have basically an all purpose workstation). I don't think you'll see much difference. However, with a setup like this, I would look into using LVM or EVMS logical volumes eventually combined with a software RAID5 over the three slower discs (in case they're equal in size. My /home > will be about 100GB: is it wiser to split it up into a smaller core > /home with several slower archive and storage partitions (Library, > Project archives, Videos, Music)? I usually use one LV for each user's ~ (/home/johndoe, not /home). This way, I can increase size for each user individually w/o having to setup quota. I can even use different filesystems depending on users needs (i.e. large media files are best kept on XFS). In addition, I can also setup kernel automounter (autofs), so that they're only mounted when the user is really logged in. > - Advice about UUIDs? I lost a partition (a large one) over a > misidentification of a partition when the Ubuntu scheme started > swapping around names of devices. Old /dev/hda became /dev/sda and > old /dev/sda became /dev/sdb. What a mess that turned out to be. This can't happen with logical volumes, because they get a unique name of the form /dev/<volume group>/<volume>. Here's my setup: sda1: /boot (~64M, ext2) If you don't want to use an initramfs: sda2: / (256M, xfs) sda3: LVM (to end of disc, no fs) If you use an initramfs: sda2: LVM (to end of disc, no fs) Then create LVs for everything else: /usr: /dev/vg-machinename/usr (3G, xfs) /var: /dev/vg-machinename/var (1G, xfs) /opt: /dev/vg-machinename/opt (1G, xfs) /home/user1: /dev/vg-machinename/user1 (1G, xfs) /home/user2: /dev/vg-machinename/user2 (1G, xfs) swap (if needed): /dev/vg-machinename/swap (twice the RAM) Some Gentoo related volumes: /gentoo/distfiles: /dev/vg-machinename/distfiles (2G, xfs) /gentoo/build: /dev/vg-machinename/build (2G, xfs) /gentoo/overlays: /dev/vg-machinename/overlays (1G, xfs) (portage tree goes into /gentoo/overlays/portage) However, in your case, I'd use the 80G disc as a system disc with one volume group (system-<machinename>) and setup the three slower drives as either RAID 5 or JBOD, containing a second VG (data-<machinename>), where the first hosts /boot, /, /usr, /var, /opt, swap and the /gentoo volumes, while the seconds hosts all the /home volumes and additional data volumes (/data/music, /data/photos, ...) which are shared by several users. HTH... Dirk ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 9:09 ` Dirk Heinrichs @ 2008-07-21 9:19 ` Dale 2008-07-21 9:29 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 11:09 ` Neil Bothwick 1 sibling, 1 reply; 19+ messages in thread From: Dale @ 2008-07-21 9:19 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Dirk Heinrichs wrote: > Alan E. Davis schrieb: > > >> Now, however, I've tried three or four times to install on an existing >> partition. Grub will not install over the ubuntu grub, or else >> something else is crazy. >> > > Why do you do this at all? Grub is already in your MBR, so why bother > with it again? > > >> May I ask a few questions? >> >> - Live CD only installs over a clean partition. How can I resume >> an installation? >> > > Boot the CD again, perform the steps to mount your already created > filesystems (incl. bind-mount of /proc and/dev, enter chroot and start > with (or after) the last step you finished before. > > >> - I only have a unsupported atheros wifi card for connection. I've >> been using it for years. No easy way to connect by wire. Any ideas? >> > > On x86 they're supported by madwifi, isn't this true for amd64? > > >> - I have an 80GB fast SATA drive and three slower 7000 RPM drives. >> What partitions are best kept on the fast drive to maximize >> performance (I have basically an all purpose workstation). >> > > I don't think you'll see much difference. However, with a setup like > this, I would look into using LVM or EVMS logical volumes eventually > combined with a software RAID5 over the three slower discs (in case > they're equal in size. > > My /home > >> will be about 100GB: is it wiser to split it up into a smaller core >> /home with several slower archive and storage partitions (Library, >> Project archives, Videos, Music)? >> > > I usually use one LV for each user's ~ (/home/johndoe, not /home). This > way, I can increase size for each user individually w/o having to setup > quota. I can even use different filesystems depending on users needs > (i.e. large media files are best kept on XFS). In addition, I can also > setup kernel automounter (autofs), so that they're only mounted when the > user is really logged in. > > >> - Advice about UUIDs? I lost a partition (a large one) over a >> misidentification of a partition when the Ubuntu scheme started >> swapping around names of devices. Old /dev/hda became /dev/sda and >> old /dev/sda became /dev/sdb. What a mess that turned out to be. >> > > This can't happen with logical volumes, because they get a unique name > of the form /dev/<volume group>/<volume>. > > Here's my setup: > > sda1: /boot (~64M, ext2) > > If you don't want to use an initramfs: > > sda2: / (256M, xfs) > sda3: LVM (to end of disc, no fs) > > If you use an initramfs: > > sda2: LVM (to end of disc, no fs) > > Then create LVs for everything else: > > /usr: /dev/vg-machinename/usr (3G, xfs) > /var: /dev/vg-machinename/var (1G, xfs) > /opt: /dev/vg-machinename/opt (1G, xfs) > /home/user1: /dev/vg-machinename/user1 (1G, xfs) > /home/user2: /dev/vg-machinename/user2 (1G, xfs) > swap (if needed): /dev/vg-machinename/swap (twice the RAM) > > Some Gentoo related volumes: > /gentoo/distfiles: /dev/vg-machinename/distfiles (2G, xfs) > /gentoo/build: /dev/vg-machinename/build (2G, xfs) > /gentoo/overlays: /dev/vg-machinename/overlays (1G, xfs) (portage tree goes > into /gentoo/overlays/portage) > > However, in your case, I'd use the 80G disc as a system disc with one volume > group (system-<machinename>) and setup the three slower drives as either RAID > 5 or JBOD, containing a second VG (data-<machinename>), where the first hosts > /boot, /, /usr, /var, /opt, swap and the /gentoo volumes, while the seconds > hosts all the /home volumes and additional data volumes (/data/music, > /data/photos, ...) which are shared by several users. > > HTH... > > Dirk > > > Just to add something from experience, if you plan to use XFS, make sure you have a UPS. XFS, at least in my experience, does not like power failures. Dale :-) :-) ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 9:19 ` Dale @ 2008-07-21 9:29 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 9:34 ` Dale 2008-07-21 13:32 ` Neil Walker 0 siblings, 2 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Dirk Heinrichs @ 2008-07-21 9:29 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Dale schrieb: > Just to add something from experience, if you plan to use XFS, make sure > you have a UPS. XFS, at least in my experience, does not like power > failures. Not my experience, though. Never had any problems with XFS due to power failure. Bye... Dirk BTW: No need to quote everything. ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 9:29 ` Dirk Heinrichs @ 2008-07-21 9:34 ` Dale 2008-07-21 13:32 ` Neil Walker 1 sibling, 0 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Dale @ 2008-07-21 9:34 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Dirk Heinrichs wrote: > Dale schrieb: > > >> Just to add something from experience, if you plan to use XFS, make sure >> you have a UPS. XFS, at least in my experience, does not like power >> failures. >> > > Not my experience, though. Never had any problems with XFS due to power > failure. > > Bye... > > Dirk > > BTW: No need to quote everything. > There may have been improvements in the past couple years but I had Mandriva installed with XFS and 2 out of 2 installs died after a power failure. I have read of others having the same thing to happen to them. I switched back to ext3 and reiserfs and they seem to handle power failures better at least. Just that little fs check at next boot up. Your mileage may vary tho. Dale :-) :-) ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 9:29 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 9:34 ` Dale @ 2008-07-21 13:32 ` Neil Walker 2008-07-21 22:16 ` Mick 1 sibling, 1 reply; 19+ messages in thread From: Neil Walker @ 2008-07-21 13:32 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Dirk Heinrichs wrote: > Not my experience, though. Never had any problems with XFS due to power > failure. > Nor mine. I have machines with ext3 and reiserfs here. There is also one with xfs. Recently, I had problems with an over-sensitive breaker tripping at irregular intervals. The only machine that didn't have fs problems as a result was the one with xfs. ;) Be lucky, Neil -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 13:32 ` Neil Walker @ 2008-07-21 22:16 ` Mick 2008-07-21 22:33 ` Neil Bothwick 2008-07-22 5:17 ` Dale 0 siblings, 2 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Mick @ 2008-07-21 22:16 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 690 bytes --] On Monday 21 July 2008, Neil Walker wrote: > Dirk Heinrichs wrote: > > Not my experience, though. Never had any problems with XFS due to power > > failure. > > Nor mine. I have machines with ext3 and reiserfs here. There is also one > with xfs. Recently, I had problems with an over-sensitive breaker > tripping at irregular intervals. The only machine that didn't have fs > problems as a result was the one with xfs. ;) Just over two years ago or so, /usr/portage on xfs, battery ran out on laptop. The partition was borked (twice). The remaining reiserfs partitions were totally unharmed on both occasions and a few more since. It seems that YMMV. -- Regards, Mick [-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part. --] [-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 197 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 22:16 ` Mick @ 2008-07-21 22:33 ` Neil Bothwick 2008-07-21 23:24 ` Alan E. Davis 2008-07-22 5:17 ` Dale 1 sibling, 1 reply; 19+ messages in thread From: Neil Bothwick @ 2008-07-21 22:33 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 377 bytes --] On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:16:02 +0100, Mick wrote: > Just over two years ago or so, /usr/portage on xfs, battery ran out on > laptop. 1) Set your laptop to shutdown gracefully when power drops below 3%. 2) Use ext2 for /usr/portage, it's fast and the journalling is unnecessary overhead. -- Neil Bothwick She's fine, upstanding, and wonderful laying down. [-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --] [-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 197 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 22:33 ` Neil Bothwick @ 2008-07-21 23:24 ` Alan E. Davis 0 siblings, 0 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Alan E. Davis @ 2008-07-21 23:24 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Comments for this thread have been helpfu. I have done a test install from the live install cd. For now, I guess, 74 GB is enough for the entire system, leaving out my older /home directories and archives, so I just let the installer pick a preferred partitioning configuration. Next I think I'll try LVM for some partitions. During the installation, the installer quit at the 50% point, right after installing the optional packages, and would not restart. This had thrown me off during previous attempts. As it turned out, it was simply necessary to copy the boot information from /boot/grub/grub.conf over to Ubuntu's existing grub/menu.lst. So far, so good. Thank you. Alan -- Alan Davis, Kagman High School, Saipan lngndvs@gmail.com "It's never a matter of liking or disliking ..." ---Santa Ynez Chumash Medicine Man "We have no art. We do everything as well as we can." ---Balinese saying ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 22:16 ` Mick 2008-07-21 22:33 ` Neil Bothwick @ 2008-07-22 5:17 ` Dale 1 sibling, 0 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Dale @ 2008-07-22 5:17 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Mick wrote: > On Monday 21 July 2008, Neil Walker wrote: > >> Dirk Heinrichs wrote: >> >>> Not my experience, though. Never had any problems with XFS due to power >>> failure. >>> >> Nor mine. I have machines with ext3 and reiserfs here. There is also one >> with xfs. Recently, I had problems with an over-sensitive breaker >> tripping at irregular intervals. The only machine that didn't have fs >> problems as a result was the one with xfs. ;) >> > > Just over two years ago or so, /usr/portage on xfs, battery ran out on laptop. > The partition was borked (twice). The remaining reiserfs partitions were > totally unharmed on both occasions and a few more since. It seems that YMMV. > What is funny, I think I was reading about these power failure issues on this list a couple years ago. It may have been corrected since and from what I read it is a excellent fs if you never have a crash. I think any fs can have problems depending on the hardware and other variables. So 'your mileage may vary' could hit the nail on the head. Dale :-) :-) ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 9:09 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 9:19 ` Dale @ 2008-07-21 11:09 ` Neil Bothwick 2008-07-21 11:31 ` Dirk Heinrichs 1 sibling, 1 reply; 19+ messages in thread From: Neil Bothwick @ 2008-07-21 11:09 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 617 bytes --] On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:09:09 +0200, Dirk Heinrichs wrote: > Here's my setup: > > sda1: /boot (~64M, ext2) > > If you don't want to use an initramfs: > > sda2: / (256M, xfs) > sda3: LVM (to end of disc, no fs) > > If you use an initramfs: > > sda2: LVM (to end of disc, no fs) If you don't want t use an initramfs, you don't need a separate /boot, I use sda1: / 400M sda2: swap LVM for everything else swap could ba on a LV too, but I don't see the need. If I need more swap, I can always add a LV. -- Neil Bothwick ERROR #0915: MONITOR NOT PRESENT. CLICK ON OK TO CONTINUE. [-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --] [-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 197 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 11:09 ` Neil Bothwick @ 2008-07-21 11:31 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 11:46 ` Neil Bothwick 0 siblings, 1 reply; 19+ messages in thread From: Dirk Heinrichs @ 2008-07-21 11:31 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Neil Bothwick schrieb: > If you don't want t use an initramfs, you don't need a separate /boot However, there's some advantage in using one: 1) Can use a different fs than /. 2) Can be shared by different installations/distributions. 3) Allows to encrypt (and/or use LVs for) everything else. But yes, it always depends on what you want/need. Bye... Dirk ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 11:31 ` Dirk Heinrichs @ 2008-07-21 11:46 ` Neil Bothwick 2008-07-21 13:02 ` Alan E. Davis 0 siblings, 1 reply; 19+ messages in thread From: Neil Bothwick @ 2008-07-21 11:46 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 810 bytes --] On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:31:51 +0200, Dirk Heinrichs wrote: > > If you don't want to use an initramfs, you don't need a > > separate /boot > > However, there's some advantage in using one: > > 1) Can use a different fs than /. Not a lot of point though, for a minimal / any general purpose FS will be fine. > 2) Can be shared by different installations/distributions. True, but that can get messy. I've done it in the past, but now keep each distro self-contained, apart from /home and swap. > 3) Allows to encrypt (and/or use LVs for) everything else. But then you need an initramfs. I'd say this was the strongest argument for using an initramfs. -- Neil Bothwick Why marry a virgin? If she wasn't good enough for the rest of them, then she isn't good enough for you. [-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --] [-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 197 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 11:46 ` Neil Bothwick @ 2008-07-21 13:02 ` Alan E. Davis 2008-07-21 13:56 ` Alan McKinnon 0 siblings, 1 reply; 19+ messages in thread From: Alan E. Davis @ 2008-07-21 13:02 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user Thank you for some thoughtful suggestions. I have just gotten a 500GB SATA drive, intending to back up all of my data. What I fear most about LVM is the possibility of losing the data somehow. I may be too yesterday, but I sense that ordinary partitions (at least "ordinary" to me) will be more portable. I may want to unpack my system, and carry my Drives with me. I've been trying to work around the same /home/USER directories for several years. I have archived them from time to time when they have gotten too crazy. And (correct me if I'm wrong) I've become some kind of intimidated about using the same directory and username on a new install, so I generally end up copying all the pieces over. Outside of this possibly irrational fear that LVM mayn't be portable, I actually did delete an entire install once that was on LVM, but that was due to my own ignorance. I am no less ignorant now, but if my fears about portability can be allayed, I would be willing to try. And learn. Be that as it may, I have just cleansed my 74GB 10000RPM drive, and look forward to installing on this, and hanging various directories off of this. Assuming, for now, I am only going to be using some unexotic partitioning system, which partitions will be most advantageously situated on this fast drive? I am thinking along these lines: FAST PARTITION / /boot /usr/bin /usr/sbin /usr/local/ part of home with well-used files /tmp? I have a lot of ARCHIVED data that should be on a separate partition and this could be slow. I actually find it makes quite a bit of difference, the speed difference. I have looked around for comments about this strategy. Maybe if LVM is indeed portable, this could be incorporated into the scheme. Abut Grub issues: I may try to edit the grub that was installed by Ubuntu. However, one of the serious issues I have encountered with Ubuntu Hardy Heron has been a capricious device assignment scheme that is not consistent from install to install. And I had to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to the correct partition to boot from because even grub didn't get it right out of the box! After three or four ubuntu installs, ubuntu wouldn't touch grub anymore, so I booted a beta Gentoo 2008.0 and was able to rectify the master boot record. Maybe my motherboard is crazy---an ASUS M2N-E. Thank you again. I'm already feeling better about getting this done. Alan ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
* Re: [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install 2008-07-21 13:02 ` Alan E. Davis @ 2008-07-21 13:56 ` Alan McKinnon 0 siblings, 0 replies; 19+ messages in thread From: Alan McKinnon @ 2008-07-21 13:56 UTC (permalink / raw To: gentoo-user [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 3282 bytes --] On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 3:02 PM, Alan E. Davis <lngndvs@gmail.com> wrote: > Thank you for some thoughtful suggestions. > > I have just gotten a 500GB SATA drive, intending to back up all of my > data. What I fear most about LVM is the possibility of losing the > data somehow. I may be too yesterday, but I sense that ordinary > partitions (at least "ordinary" to me) will be more portable. I may > want to unpack my system, and carry my Drives with me. So consider this: Virtually any system you will use these days that can read ext2/3/reiser drives will also be able to use LVM volumes. If not, it can easily be gotten to do so (via modprobe) > I've been > trying to work around the same /home/USER directories for several > years. I have archived them from time to time when they have gotten > too crazy. And (correct me if I'm wrong) I've become some kind of > intimidated about using the same directory and username on a new > install, so I generally end up copying all the pieces over. nah, that's false paranoia. cp, scp, rsync, chown, chmod. Used i the right combinations, will fix any problems in this regard. They are just files after all. > > > Outside of this possibly irrational fear that LVM mayn't be portable, > I actually did delete an entire install once that was on LVM, but that > was due to my own ignorance. I am no less ignorant now, but if my > fears about portability can be allayed, I would be willing to try. > And learn. LVM is an old, old, old technology. Originally developed by IBM for their mainframes. It predates that absurb concoction called "partition tables". Apart from 640kB, that must rate as one of the worst screw-ups in computing ever... > > Be that as it may, I have just cleansed my 74GB 10000RPM drive, and > look forward to installing on this, and hanging various directories > off of this. Assuming, for now, I am only going to be using some > unexotic partitioning system, which partitions will be most > advantageously situated on this fast drive? I am thinking along > these lines: > > FAST PARTITION > / yes, keep this separate /boot good to keep this separate too /usr/bin > /usr/sbin > /usr/local/ No, this is simply thick. Maybe one could make a case for /usr/local, but /usr/bin and /usr/sbin were usually separate on Unix several decades ago *purely because* disks were small and it's a convenient way to split things up to fit on available disks. Just stick all of /usr on one volume and be done with it. You might want to move /usr/portage and perhaps /usr/portage onto their own filesystem, because those directories do have different usage patterns than everything else in /usr part of home with well-used files ALL of /home. Why split it up? You lose the very benefit of having /home separate - the ability to update the entire system and guarantee that you won't stuff up your personal files while doing it /tmp? /tmp benefits from being separate. If you have a lot of RAM, it really benefits from being tmpfs rather than disk-based I have a lot of ARCHIVED data that should be on a separate partition > and this could be slow. Good idea. It also lets you tar up an entire filesystem for backup purposes -- Alan McKinnon alan.mckinnon@gmail.com [-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 5147 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 19+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2008-07-22 5:17 UTC | newest] Thread overview: 19+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed -- links below jump to the message on this page -- 2008-07-21 5:47 [gentoo-user] A few questions on trying to install Alan E. Davis 2008-07-21 8:01 ` Mick 2008-07-21 8:36 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 8:39 ` Dale 2008-07-21 22:06 ` Mick 2008-07-21 9:09 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 9:19 ` Dale 2008-07-21 9:29 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 9:34 ` Dale 2008-07-21 13:32 ` Neil Walker 2008-07-21 22:16 ` Mick 2008-07-21 22:33 ` Neil Bothwick 2008-07-21 23:24 ` Alan E. Davis 2008-07-22 5:17 ` Dale 2008-07-21 11:09 ` Neil Bothwick 2008-07-21 11:31 ` Dirk Heinrichs 2008-07-21 11:46 ` Neil Bothwick 2008-07-21 13:02 ` Alan E. Davis 2008-07-21 13:56 ` Alan McKinnon
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