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  • From: Jason Flatt <jasonflatt AT wizard.com>
  • To: sm-discuss AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [SM-Discuss] Multiple SGML on one pc
  • Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2002 09:03:24 +0000

On Tuesday 10 December 2002 08:13 pm, Duane Macolm wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This is a bit off the topic of bugs and problems but it gives us an
> oppotunity to think kind of sideways a little.
>

In my opinion, this is exactly the kind of stuff to talk about here. That's
why it's called SM-Discuss and not SM-Bugs.


>
> I use my pc for work and to play around with linux. Unfortunately, when
> playing around with linux I sometimes screw my pc over and can't work.
> So I have been thinking alot about how to setup my computer so I work
> and play without jeopardizing each other.
>
> This is what I have come up with (HD = 80GB):
>
> Primary partition 1 (10GB): work partition using the stable tree of SGML
> Primary partition 2 (20GB): home partiton
> Primary partition 3 (30GB): backup partition
> Primary partition 4 (10GB): play partition 1 using stable tree of SGML
> Extended partition 5 (10GB): play partition 2 using devel tree of SGML
>

Keep in mind that there are only 4 primary partitions and that the extended
partition counts as one of them. What you will end up with is:
Primary partition 1 (10GB): work partition using the stable tree of SGML
Primary partition 2 (20GB): home partition
Primary partition 3 (30GB): backup partition
Extended partition 5 (20GB):
Logical partition 6 (10GB): play partition 1 using stable tree of SGML
Logical partition 7 (10GB): play partition 2 using devel tree of SGML


>
> I will use partition 5 to play with linux and test new spells.
> I will use partition 4 as my stable play partition and will run "sorcery
> system-update" on to ensure there are no problems before updating
> partition 1. I had a problem two days ago where I couldn't work
> yesterday because I did a "sorcery system-update" and pango wouldn't
> play nice. This would provide a way around this problem. I could also
> use this partition to test fresh installs if need be.
> I will rsync partition 1 and partition 2 to the backup partition.
>
> I was wanting advice on improvements and other peoples experience. This
> issue must have been thought about in the past and there is probably a
> "best" way to do this.
>
> Cheers, Duane.

I also have a multi-boot situation on my computer. However, I have three
hard
drives (20, 30, & 40 GB), and I boot between 4 and 10 different OSs depending
on my mood. Most of them are Linux, but since I do computer service and
support for a living and most of my clients run Windows, I have 2 or 3
Windows OSs available.

I also use a boot loader (currently BootIT, but I am looking at the open
source alternatives, like SBM, GAG, and XOSL) rather than Lilo (or Grub).
The reasons I use a boot loader are:
1) I can set it up to boot to many different possible configurations of
OSs
and/or partitions.
2) I can hide OSs and partitions from each other (sometimes important
w/Windows).
3) I can choose to share partitions between OSs.

For your purposes, Lilo will probably be fine and would work for me except
for
item #2 and I want more flexibility. For my setup, I created a separate 24
MB /boot partition for each Linux installation and placed all of them at the
beginning of the drive (Lilo has a hard time booting from a partition that is
beyond some magic number that I have forgotten).

I also placed my swap partition at the end of the drive, using all remaining
space. My swap partition is some odd size between 1 and 1.5 GB.

Someone mentioned that 10 GB is way too much, however if you want to cast
something huge like OpenOffice, that extra space is necessary. My / partion
is 8 GB w/50% free. Just something else to consider.

I also have a shared /var/spool/sorcery and a /var/cache/sorcery. My spool
directory is too small at 2.5 GB. It is probably plenty for normal
operations, but if I felt like summoning an entire grimoire, I would run out
of room. I will probably bump it up to 4 or 5 GB at some point in the
future. The reason I share my cache is that all of my SMGL partitions are
configured the same way and I basically operate from the same grimoire
w/minor variations.

Another thing I did was to setup my /home and /root directories as partitions
right at 600 MB. I also have a FAT32 /data directory for sharing files
between Windows and Linux at the same size. Those are the partitions I
actually care about backing up, and they each will fit on a single CD.
Actually, if I culled all the unnecessary stuff, all three would fit on a
single CD, but that's the way it goes. :^) I keep most of the 30 GB drive
as my "garbage" drive where I do things like download files to. If I lost
everything on that drive, it would merely be an annoyance.

Enough rambling.


--
Jason Flatt
Section maintainer for printer
E-mail (remove the spaces): jasonflatt @ wizard . com
E-mail (remove the spaces): jflatt @ sourcemage . org
IRC: Oadae





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