Re: SEUL: Partitioning

[Thomas Molesworth <thomas@bass.almac.co.uk>]

On 28 Jun 1997 jfm2@club-internet.fr wrote:

--disk file instead of partition stuff cut--
> I have a few objections on this:
> 
> 1) Letting Linux in a DOS partition will put him at the mercy of any
> rogue DOS program.

But surely the point is that once the user has tried Linux, s/he will not
want to go back to DOS? :-)

> 2) It puts Linux in position of inferiority (to the user it will seem
> it runs under DOS).

True.

> 3) It makes booting complicated specially if the user is running
> Windows 95 (most likely than DOS today): he has to boot unto DOS mode
> and then boot LINUX.

Many people do this anyway; I boot into Win95 so that my sound card driver
is loaded, but use multiple-boot options to go straight into Linux from
loadlin. However, this is not necessary; loopback devices can work from
lilo, although a small kernel patch may be necessary.

> 4) The user will later be unable to erase his DOS partition

Most users will need (or want) to keep DOS/Win95, if only for the programs
which need it (games, etc). It might be possible to turn it into a partition
later by editing the partition table?

> However I think than today's Linux installation programs let too much
> to be done by the user in the area of partitionning.  The user should
> have only to decide how much space he will keep for LINUX.  It should
> be to the installation program to decide, or at least to advise, how
> much for /, how much for /usr and how much for swap.

What happens when it goes wrong?
I agree that repartitioning is the best solution 99% of the time, but for
someone who wants to try Linux, repartitioning might be the main point which
scares them off. (it was for me - I used umsdos, then after 30 mins of Linux
I repartitioned).

--
Thomas Molesworth            (thomas@bass.almac.co.uk)

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