[Discuss] Ubuntu Install Question

Jerry Feldman gaf.linux at gmail.com
Thu Mar 7 15:34:10 EST 2019


Over the years running installfests I have used a number of partitioning
tools. Today, GPARTED is included in most Linux distros and is used by the
installers, I generally trust both the Fedora installers (anaconda) and the
Ubuntu installers to shrink windows partitions. In recent years I have not
had an issue. Sometimes I may boot live USB and use gparted to resize the
partitions. Then I run Windows to double check.

On Thu, Mar 7, 2019 at 3:28 PM Mike Small <smallm at sdf.org> wrote:

>
> Hi Ivan,
>
> The Linux partitioning tools (that the installation programs use) claim
> to be able to shrink existing partitions to make room for a Linux
> partition, but I've never trusted that. Could be paranoia on my
> part. I'd be especially careful when Windows is involved, but I have no
> recent experience with it. If it were me I'd put Ubuntu on the 2nd drive
> and leave Windows with what it originally had. I haven't installed
> Ubuntu in this situation, so I don't know how much help it gives you,
> but I believe the boot loader (Grub) has the ability to do this. Someone
> else could give better advice here.
>
> As a general comment, whenever you partition, make filesystems or
> install 2nd systems, you want to know in advance that if you make a
> mistake what you lose is no big deal. For most people that means that
> everything you care about (including what you didn't remember you had
> and would care about) needs to be backed up and the back up confirmed to
> some degree to be recoverable. Another answer I often flirt with is to
> know in advance that I'll be able to shrug off accidents thinking,
> "well, I didn't really need that anyway -- how many times do I need to
> listen to Cortez the Killer or all those other old songs anyway," but
> now that I have child photos that's a less interesting disaster recovery
> strategy than it used to be.
>
> - Mike
>
> Ivan Klimov <iklimov87 at gmail.com> writes:
>
> > Hi Mike,
> >
> > Thank you for the clarification.
> >
> > I thought of swap partition to be more for temp file storage/exchange.
> > Thank you for introducing the concept. When you said shuffle parts of
> > programs... I have not done it and do not envision how it is done. Maybe
> it
> > is an advanced concept for me;) I have installed FULL programs on
> different
> > partitions -never parted programs out.
> >
> > Do you think it is a good idea to partition 50/50 SSD where windows 10 is
> > already installed ?.. and install Ubuntu on the second partition ? Is it
> > safe ?
> >
> > Best,
> > Ivan
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 7, 2019, 12:10 PM Mike Small <smallm at sdf.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Ivan Klimov <iklimov87 at gmail.com> writes:
> >> ...
> >> > Excerpt from the post:
> >> > On this step we’ll create our custom partition layout for Ubuntu
> 18.04.
> >> On
> >> > this guide will recommend that you create two partitions, one for root
> >> and
> >> > the other for home accounts data and a partition for swap (use a swap
> >> > partition only if you have limited RAM resources or you use a fast
> SSD).
> >> >
> >> > My thought was
> >> > DISC C (SSD):
> >> > Partition 0:
> >> > Win10 : ~60 GB SSD
> >> > Partition 1:
> >> > UBuntu: ~ 200 GB SSD
> >> >
> >> > Disc D:
> >> > Partition 2:
> >> > 650 GB HD
> >> > Partition 3:
> >> > 350 GB HD
> >> >
> >> > home accounts data and a partition for swap (use a swap partition)
> >> > What is swap partition ?
> >> >
> >>
> >> A swap partition is disk space the operating system can use to
> >> temporarily shuffle parts of programs out of the way when memory gets
> >> low or when it can think of better ways of using memory than holding a
> >> part of a program that isn't used much. Sometimes the OS will even swap
> >> out whole programs when you're really pushing your memory usage.  The
> >> suggestion used to be to make it twice the size of your RAM, but I've
> >> seen advice more recently to cap it at some amount smaller than
> >> that. New machines have so much ram that if you ever activated that much
> >> swap, well the experience would not be pleasant, waiting for all that
> >> I/O.
> >>
> >> >
> >> > Any input is welcome.
> >>
> >> I'm not going to try to give much advice on how to lay out your
> >> partitions, since I always regret my choices later. One nice piece of
> >> advice I read on an openbsd mailing list once was to only create
> >> partitions holding the space you imagine right now that you'll need. The
> >> rest leave to create partitions with later, when you'll know what it
> >> should be used for. This advice maybe applies more to OpenBSD since it
> >> has no options like LVM, ZFS, or btrfs. On the other hand, maybe you
> >> don't feel like learning how to exercise those options right now, plus
> >> if you're splitting with Windows, something like LVM won't help you if
> >> you wanted that space instead for Windows.
> >>
> >> >
> >> > Best,
> >> > Ivan
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > On Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 12:39 AM Ivan Klimov <iklimov87 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Eric,
> >> >>
> >> >> Greatly appreciate it !
> >> >>
> >> >> I will refer to the guide once will have some time to go through the
> >> >> process.
> >> >>
> >> >> Best regards,
> >> >> Ivan
> >> >>
> >> >> On Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 10:39 PM Eric Luther <luther84 at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >>> I found this comprehensive and up to date walkthrough of the steps
> >> needed
> >> >>> which includes pictures.
> >> >>>
> >> >>> https://askubuntu.com/a/1031994
> >> >>>
> >> >>> On Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 10:34 PM Ivan Klimov <iklimov87 at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> >>>
> >> >>>> Eric and Greg,
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> Many thanks for your reply.
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> I went to Microcenter and grabbed $1000 machine with 6 cores (12
> >> threads)
> >> >>>> 16 Gb RAM SSD -- awesome specs for the money.
> >> >>>> If someone shops for a laptop, it is good time now.
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> Now, I need to install Linux. The machine has 1 TB + 256 SSD (with
> >> >>>> Win10).
> >> >>>> Any recommendations on how to prepare for Ubuntu install ? How to
> >> divide
> >> >>>> HD/SSD, etc.?  I would like to make it dual-boot.
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> FYI.
> >> >>>> I clarified with my colleague and compatibility problem was with
> the
> >> >>>> motherboard - not the chip itself. Let's hope that this machine
> will
> >> not
> >> >>>> have the same issue.
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> Best,
> >> >>>> Ivan
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> On Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 8:47 AM Greg Rundlett (freephile) <
> >> >>>> greg at freephile.com> wrote:
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>> > On Sun, Nov 18, 2018 at 9:58 PM Ivan Klimov <iklimov87 at gmail.com
> >
> >> >>>> wrote:
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> >> Dear Linux Group,
> >> >>>> >>
> >> >>>> >> Background:
> >> >>>> >> Friend of mine upgraded PC with new motherboard and RAM some
> time
> >> ago
> >> >>>> and
> >> >>>> >> could not install Ubuntu due to some conflicts with hardware.
> >> >>>> >>
> >> >>>> >> I am just about to buy a laptop with the following spec. Do you
> see
> >> >>>> any
> >> >>>> >> problems/conflicts  installing Ubuntu on this machine as dual
> boot
> >> ?
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> > You could compare details of your hardware with the official
> >> >>>> "certified"
> >> >>>> > hardware for Ubuntu desktops listed at
> >> >>>> > https://certification.ubuntu.com/certification/
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> >> Is
> >> >>>> >> there a way to check it beforehand ?
> >> >>>> >>
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> > If you can put a LIVE CD into the product, you can boot it
> without
> >> >>>> > installing Ubuntu.  However, I'll assume you don't have physical
> >> >>>> access to
> >> >>>> > the machine (ie. buying online).
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> > HTH. Some others on the list have more experience with
> >> installations,
> >> >>>> so
> >> >>>> > perhaps they'll offer advice too.
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> > Greg Rundlett
> >> >>>> > https://eQuality-Tech.com <https://equality-tech.com/>
> >> >>>> > https://freephile.org
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> >
> >> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >> >>>> Discuss mailing list
> >> >>>> Discuss at blu.org
> >> >>>> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >> >>>>
> >> >>>
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Discuss mailing list
> >> > Discuss at blu.org
> >> > http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >> --
> >> Mike Small
> >> smallm at sdf.org
> >>
>
> --
> Mike Small
> smallm at sdf.org
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at blu.org
> http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>


-- 
--
Jerry Feldman <gaf.linux at gmail.com>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 6F6BB6E7
Key fingerprint: 0EDC 2FF5 53A6 8EED 84D1  3050 5715 B88D 6F6B B6E7



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