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| Thread ID: 41825 | 2004-01-23 03:50:00 | Is a 2gb hdd big enough for linux? | somebody (208) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 209466 | 2004-01-23 03:50:00 | As a continuation of my previous posts, I would like to have a go at linux. I have figured that if I take my old 2gb Quantum Bigfoot out of my old PC currently being disused, and put it into my newer PC (with better hardware), then I could safely experiment with Linux without the risk of losing data. My question is, will I be able to do a reasonably feature-rich installation of Mandrake Linux 9.2 on a hard drive of this size? I probably wouldn't install any of the programming languages though - some of the server features are a possiblity. Also, due to the age of the HDD, would it's slow speed cause any serious performance problems, or would I be unlikely to notice them? I am unsure of the speed at which the drive operates at (but would make a guess that ATA-66 at less than 5400rpm) |
somebody (208) | ||
| 209467 | 2004-01-23 04:03:00 | 2GB would be fine ... and disk speed is never a problem.. because *nix code is much smaller, so there's less to load. But you won't have room for many MP3s. Like everything these days, more is better ... one Mandrake9 I have on a 2GB disk needs another drive to hold CD images. The main thing you need is RAM if you want to use a GUI. Less than 96MB will be "a bit slow" with GUIs. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 209468 | 2004-01-23 04:05:00 | I wouldn't use it as a production server but 2GB will be fine for a good install although having said that 1.5GB is a nice round figure for a reseasonably full installation of Mandrake 9.0. You will need a 300-400MB swap file so it doesn't leave much spare room. If you don't think you will play with different window managers I would install just Gnome or KDE (KDE is more popular I believe). Re your disk speed, you may well notice a difference with a 7200 ATA100 or whatever but install it and see how it goes from there (well thats what I would do). |
Dolby Digital (160) | ||
| 209469 | 2004-01-23 04:33:00 | I ran mandrake in a 1 . 2gb partition with no problems (except I couldn't have everything installed :-)) . The actualy disk usage was ~1gb and would have been much less if I didn't have the development stuff installed . My current 9 . 2 install is using only 3 . 4gb with all sorts of rubbish installed . The bigfoot drives are fairly slow but it will be fine unless it is swapping heaps . |
bmason (508) | ||
| 209470 | 2004-01-23 20:05:00 | Thanks guys. I'll let you know how I get along. | somebody (208) | ||
| 209471 | 2004-01-25 08:12:00 | Just be careful with what you install... You're not going to want kernel sources ;-) Try and allow room to work with too :-) Chill. |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 209472 | 2004-01-25 19:59:00 | Ok. Also, does the hdd have to be Primary Master? eg. can I have it as Secondary Master, and use a floppy disk to put the bootloader on? | somebody (208) | ||
| 209473 | 2004-01-25 20:09:00 | It shouldn't matter which position you take on the two IDE channels. But booting from a floppy is a pain - the boot loaders (either LILO or GRUB) are very good peices of software - take the plunge and install one to the mbr would be my advice. | JohnD (509) | ||
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