Re: [vox-tech] AAARRRGGGHHHH! (Translation: Linux got hosed)

[Peter Jay Salzman <pMAPS@dirac.org>]

begin: Mark K. Kim <mkkim@ucdavis.edu> quote
> On Wed, 9 May 2001, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> 
> > mark, i've never installed mandrake, however with debian, you are asked which
> > partitions to mount, and debian will NOT touch any partition that you don't
> > mount.  so if you don't want /home == /dev/hdawhatever touched, then don't
> > mount it.  as long as you skip actual partitioning, whatever partitions you
> > don't mount /should/ be left alone.
> 
> A problem with that is... I'm not sure if that partition is big enough
> to hold the temporary /usr and /usr/local that'll be installed.
 
i'm not sure you're following.   /usr/local should be zilch.   after
installing linux, just delete the contents of /usr/local and update
/etc/fstab to mount it from the "old" partition (which you didn't erase).

as for /usr/, there's really nothing much worth keeping there.

the two big ones are /usr/local and /home.   just leave them be during the
installation process.

when you're done, delete the contents and modify /etc/fstab to mount the old
partitions onto the new mounting points.


> > if you're unsure about mandrake's behavior, get a spare hard drive and back
> > up the partitions.
> 
> Time to get a new hard drive...  How big of a drive should I get?  How
> much should I spend?
 
the price starts to shoot up in the 30GB-40GB range.   basically, drives
between 25 and 35 GB are the same price (this is research done a few months
ago.  maybe stuff has changed).  this should be your target range.  you can
get a nice ibm deskstar, about 35-40 GB for under 100.

pete