[SOLVED] Doubts partitioning my drive during instalation

[linux_69]

Hello people. I was installing Mageia in my laptop as the sole OS (i.e. erasing Windows totally) and I was a little confused during the partitioning process. First I choose custom mode so I could put the size i wanted to the partitions I wanted to create. When I was creating the swap partition I didn't know if it had to be primary or extended, so I would like to know which. In the second place I wanted to know if under the conditions I wish to install Mageia, should I check the drive for bad sectors or no? And as a last comment, each of the partitions had an option called Label, but I didn't know if I had to put anything on it.

*EDIT* One more thing guys, I want to install Mageia with the less pre-installed software possible, cause I want to put my own stuff and learn while doing it. In the package selection section I de-select everything except for the LXDE environment. My question is, everything I could have chosen in this section for installation, such as 'console tools', can be added later, right?

One more thing, I don't know what monitor I have, and I have read in the help section that choosing this incorrectly could damage my screen, so I would like to know what setting should I choose.

Thanks for your help in advance.

[dutchman]

Making a Linux swap partition primary is always the best option. As far as partition labels, no, they're not necessary.

It never hurts to check a disk for bad sectors, even a new one. It can saw you a lot of frustration later.

I wouldn't de-select anything that has to do with the console or command line. If you run into trouble, you may need some of those programs. Most of them are very small and single-purpose, so they won't take much disk space, and don't occupy any memory unless you're using them. It's also a bad idea to de-select anything unless you know what you're doing. Many programs have dependencies, and if you don't install them the program doesn't work, or worse, the entire system. Again, if you don't know what a particular piece of software does, leave it alone. As you learn more, you can always delete it later if it is indeed useless to you. Better safe than sorry.

I'm going to assume here that the question about the monitor has to do with choosing a default screen resolution. Not having any information at all about you're monitor, again I would opt for the safe path. Most any monitor made in the last 10 years or more can safely display at 800X600. This is only a boot default setting anyway, to get the system up and running. Once you video driver loads and the X-server starts it should detect you monitor's optimum resolution and refresh rate, and set your DE to that. If you want to change your boot screen resolution you can always do it later when you find out what your monitor will work with.

Hope this helps.

[linux_69]

Mr. Dutchman you're totally right about the de-selection of everything. I'm just going to de-select the basic: no office workstation (I barely use them), no game station (I don't play games in the pc). But should I select the Linux Standard Base (LSB)? It says that it is support for third party applications, but I don't know what that means.

Also, I want to use LXDE as my DE. But should I also install KDE, knowing that (most likely) I will never use it? I've read that LXDE and KDE use a different toolkit (GTK+ and Qt, resp) and that running applications made under one toolkit different to the DE can cause some problems. My question would be if installing KDE would solve those hypothetical problems?

About the screen resolution, you say it's safe to put 800 x 600 but there are three options: Flat Panel 800 x 600, 800 x 600 @ 56 Hz and 800 x 600 @ 60 Hz. Which one is the right one? (I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop, just one year old).

Thank you for your help.

[dutchman]

Linux Standard Base is a collection of libraries, utilities and other things that much of the system depends on, and are necessary for an installation. The things in the LSB package are like the worker bees that make much of what you see and do function.

If you're going to use LXDE then there's nothing in the default KDE install you need. You're right, they use different toolkits, but nowadays mixing programs made with one under a DE made with another isn't really a problem. If anything it's the DE's and their libraries when loaded together that cause conflicts. Anyway, you can safely leave out KDE, adding it won't solve anything but may cause a hiccup here and there. If you change your mind later and decide you want to try KDE you can always install it via the package manager.

I find it always best for new users to stick with one desktop until they get familiar with the rest of the system. Then if they want to experiment or try something different they at least have a better idea on where to look and what to do when something goes wrong. LXDE is a good, light desktop, I think you'll enjoy it.

Being it's a laptop and the monitor is hardwired into the system, you can use the Flat Panel setting. The difference is Flat Panel is for digital monitors, which yours is, the other two are for analog. But knowing now that you have a laptop, is there a higher setting, like 1024X768? The kernel should have at least probed the monitor to see what resolutions it would support, and they should be in the list. Generally the highest one is the best one for a particular monitor, what's known as it's "native resolution". While 800X600 would work, it'll look pretty awful on a laptop monitor. If you have higher settings, you should be able to safely pick the highest "Flat Panel" one. If in doubt, check the users manual for the laptop, it should list the default resolution somewhere in the specs. If you don't have it anymore, you should still be able to find out with a trip to Toshiba's web site.

Let us know how you make out.

[doktor5000]

Just one hint: If you want an installation with a minimal footprint and LXDE, you could take a look at the dualarch CD
Everything else can be added later on, for what it's worth.

[linux_69]

Mr. Dutchman you're right, there are plenty of option to choose from in the resolution menu. But I checked with this web page 'what is my screen resolution' and it says I got 1366 X 768. Then I right-clicked on the desktop and there is an option called 'screen resolution' and, in effect, it says it is the one above but additionally, in parenthesis, it says that's the recommended one. So, would it be safe to use 1366 X 768 on the Mageia installer?

One more thing, since this is my personal laptop and I will be using it only as a home machine (surfing the web, viewing videos, listening to music, writing some tex documents, etc), I should not select any of the software packages for installing in the 'Server' section right? By default the installer checked none.

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Mr. Doktor5000 thank you for the advise, but when I talked about the minimal installation above I thought it would be a great learning experience to install everything from scratch, but since I am an absolute Linux beginner maybe I should start with training wheels first and make my progress from there

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Thank you for your help.

[Ken-Bergen]

Mr. Doktor5000 thank you for the advise, but when I talked about the minimal installation above I thought it would be a great learning experience to install everything from scratch, but since I am an absolute Linux beginner maybe I should start with training wheels first and make my progress from there

The Doktor is correct. Everything your asking for is on the DualArc CD.
There is no install media that comes with training wheels. You can search this forum and our wiki for answers and if not found ask here.

[linux_69]

Oh no Mr. Ken, when I said training wheels I meant having some basic software installed through the installer instead of adding absolutely everything on my own as I had planned. I think that for me, a newbie, is better to have a working terminal, Internet tools, maybe some office tools (though I almost don't use it) and some other stuff ready to use in my first login instead of a naked installation, so the learning process is somewhat smoother, that was all. I'm sorry if I caused some confusion with my use of words.

[dutchman]

I would just choose the "recommended" screen resolution if it were me, even if it's not the highest the main thing is it should work properly. As I said earlier, you can always play around with it later, right now it seems you just want to get the system installed and running. By the way, I like your attitude, taking it in small steps. Too many people dive right into the deep end and get overwhelmed, then frustrated and quit. Taking it in small bites will make it easier to digest, and, should you run into problems, easier to resolve.

No, you don't need any of the server stuff, you're just doing personal home-use. You'll find most if not all of the defaults are what you need. Options that aren't check as default are generally for more advanced uses or purposes, and you can safely leave them unchecked.

I should mention that while I've been using Linux exclusively for over 17 years, this is my first go with Mageia. It's been steadily climbing the charts in popularity, and I wanted to see what it was like. I installed the version 3 beta, so my experience in the install will be different from yours, and I'll also say there's a lot that's different from what I'm used to. So I guess we're both learning something new.

[Ken-Bergen]

Oh no Mr. Ken, when I said training wheels I meant having some basic software installed through the installer instead of adding absolutely everything on my own as I had planned. I think that for me, a newbie, is better to have a working terminal, Internet tools, maybe some office tools (though I almost don't use it) and some other stuff ready to use in my first login instead of a naked installation, so the learning process is somewhat smoother, that was all. I'm sorry if I caused some confusion with my use of words.

The DualArc gives you everything you're asking for.
A desktop.
An internet connection.
A terminal.
A text editor.
All the drake tools.
Probably not a word processor but that's easy to install.

[doktor5000]

There is no install media that comes with training wheels. You can search this forum and our wiki for answers and if not found ask here.

Well, that is not true, to be honest there are training weels for all installation media
http://doc.mageia.org/
http://doc.mageia.org/installer/2/en/co ... aller.html
IIRC also the in-installer help should be available since the documentation team worked on that, but i'm not quite sure what the current status for Mageia 2 is

Apart from that, there's also a wiki page describing all installation media: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Installation_Media