Re: [microsound] Linux on Mac (long)

[Michal Seta <mis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Whatever derek said, and others, is very very true.  I just wish
to add to the confusion.

The Expert <expert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> 9.2.2. I'm working with 10.3.2 at the moment (and I love it), but I'm
> completely new to the Unix system as well as Linux. 

MaxOS 10 _is_ UNIX.

> 1. Is it possible to re-partition the aforementioned hard drive area
> without touching the other areas (HFS+)? What tool do I need?

Any partitionung utility should be able to deal with any partitions.
However, It is risky to try to resize existing partitions with data on
them (I don't even know if you can do it on a mac, Diak Warrior,
perhaps).  Otherwise, if you want to keep you Mac partitions intact
and only mess around with the other partition you can do it pretty
safely.  Boot with your MacOS cd and you will find a utility for
partitioning (sorry, it's been too long since I touched a mac, my
mermory of partitioning app is fading...).

You can also do that at the stage of linux installation, the tools
will vary with the distribution you choose.  The only thing is that
the bootloader needs a small chunk of your HD and IIRC it needs to be
on the first sector of the HD.

> 
> 2. Regardless how question 1 is answerd: Are there
> "one-size-fits-all"-rules for partitioning (/boot, /swap, /usr
> etc.)?

there is no rule.  You need minimum 2 partitions: / (root) and
swap. It is recommended to keep your / (root) partition and /home
(where most of the user stuff will end up) separate but you can get
away with that easily.  

> What are the "must-be"-partitions and do they fit for popular Linux
> distributions? Can someone give me a scheme that works in 90% of all
> the possible cases?

Anything works.  The filesystem is organized in trees such as /usr,
/var, /etc, /home/, /lib,  They can all be associated with diferent
mountpoints (different partitions) but they all belong to / (root).
For some setups it is enough to have just / (therefore one partition
for everything) and everything will be fine. 

> 3. I came across Yellow Dog and Mandrake distributions that seem to
> fit for my purposes, with a final decision still pending. Are there
> any recommendations for these? Others?

I still have Yellow Dog 2000 running on one of my machines.  I don't
know how it evolved, but until recently its installation procedure was
based on that of red Hat and it's a PITA.  Mandrake's urpmi is much
better (it automatically fetches missing dependencies) and using it
for updates and even upgrades is a very pleassant experience.  I know,
that if I have to install linux on a ppc I will not use YDL, I will go
either with Mandrake or debian.  Debian's 'apt' is just as flexible
(or more?) as mdk's urpmi.

Mdk vs Debian:

I had debian running on an iMac and was very happy with it.  However,
as Derek mentioned, Debian is a little hardcore, while Mandrake is
more user-friendly.  That means that Mandrake has probably more GUI
tools for various configuration chores than debian (although, perhaps
that is changing, too, haven't looked into debian in at least 1.5
yrs).  Their architectures are slightly different but not much.  In
either case, whenever you feel adventurous enough, you can dive into
editing the conf files by hand rather than GUI (but in Debian you will
be forced to that form the very beginning, I fear).

I don't know about licencing, Mdk and such strongly suggest you spend
$$$ on tech support but you don't have to do that.  And you still have
access to all the tools needed and the community and the such.  It is
true, however, that Debian follows more closely the GNU
attitude/philosophy. 

Mdk installed with no fuss on a PPC powerbook (I think it was Pismo,
but I lost track of Apple nick names) a year ago, but I had some
issues with Debian, then.  Again, I'm sure debian improved since.

> 
> 
> I've had a look to quite a few sites and a read through a lot of "how
> to partition"-articles without finding the right one yet. As I need
> the Powerbook for daily work I can't risk a complete data loss by
> starting with the wrong steps. I'm able to clean and re-install the
> powerbook for complete re-partitioning, if that is necessary, but I'd
> love tho do this only once ... ;-)

Pay particular attention to how your partition for the bootloader is
supposed to be set up.  Otherwise, I would reccommend to back up your
HD anyways, just in case.  The tools for partitioning are much safer
and better than 10 years ago but still, messing with data on an HD is
a risky business.

Your needs for partitioning will vary depending on what is that you
want to use your computer for.   I once managed to install a recent
Mdk on a 1G partition (including /home space) but had a very minimal
system and not much room to move around.  7G should be enough for
fooling around.  My current / partition (excluding /home) is 7.5G and
I still have 1.5G of free space (and I could probably get rid of 30%
of stuff I've installed).

I have no experience with Gentoo but I recon that it's a Debian besed
distro but with special emphasis on multimedia apps.  User experience
is probably the same(?)...

HTH.

P.S.  For those who are linux curious, and especially Pure data, there
will be a Montreal Pd users meeting #3 at SAT, in Montreal this
Saturday, March 13th at noon.  Drop by if you wish.  Cost: 0.00$
(excluding Taxes).

-- 
	      _
      __  __ (_)___   Michal Seta
     / 	\/  \ _/^ _|
    /  	     V |_  \ @creazone.32k.org
   (___/V\___|_|___/
http://www.[creazone]|[noonereceiving].32k.org


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