Disk partitioning on SSD-equipped Asus

niftyprose · October 01, 2020, 06:02:29 PM

Hello guys, I don't post here regularly so am providing a brief context. You can skip the stuff in brackets if it's irrelevant.

(I work on the road a lot and need a cheap fanless laptop with good battery life. I've had a succession of Asus X205 and E200H. These are 11" laptops with no cooling fan and a 20 or 30Gb SSD rather than a hard disk. They have all kinds of problems but work really well for me. I've been using Sparky ever since #! forked -- not perfect, but OK for me. Now I have a secondhand E200H to set up. It previously had Mandriva set up by a power user.)

I have downloaded the latest Sparky Stable LXQT edition and can run the installer without any problems. However, the existing disk partitioning scheme is quite complex -- three small FAT partitions and two Ext4s, and the Sparky installer doesn't want to work with it. It prompts me to do a new installation.

I could probably take a guess as to a disk setup that would work but since I've never repartitioned an SSD under these circumstances I'd appreciate some guidance. What's a good scheme for me? I use the computer primarily for writing and webmail; I surf a lot including YouTube; I do a small amount of Zoom and Skype.

Also, can anyone point me at an idiot guide for understanding the scheme of /, /root and so on? I found the Sparky Wiki too dense and couldn't interpret what it was trying to tell me.

TIA, NP

8bit · October 02, 2020, 12:39:45 AM

Legacy boot or UEFI?

8bit
AKA DX2300

penguin · October 02, 2020, 09:08:24 AM

Quote from: niftyprose on October 01, 2020, 06:02:29 PM
Hello guys, I don't post here regularly so am providing a brief context. You can skip the stuff in brackets if it's irrelevant.

(I work on the road a lot and need a cheap fanless laptop with good battery life. I've had a succession of Asus X205 and E200H. These are 11" laptops with no cooling fan and a 20 or 30Gb SSD rather than a hard disk. They have all kinds of problems but work really well for me. I've been using Sparky ever since #! forked -- not perfect, but OK for me. Now I have a secondhand E200H to set up. It previously had Mandriva set up by a power user.)

I have downloaded the latest Sparky Stable LXQT edition and can run the installer without any problems. However, the existing disk partitioning scheme is quite complex -- three small FAT partitions and two Ext4s, and the Sparky installer doesn't want to work with it. It prompts me to do a new installation.

I could probably take a guess as to a disk setup that would work but since I've never repartitioned an SSD under these circumstances I'd appreciate some guidance. What's a good scheme for me? I use the computer primarily for writing and webmail; I surf a lot including YouTube; I do a small amount of Zoom and Skype.

Also, can anyone point me at an idiot guide for understanding the scheme of /, /root and so on? I found the Sparky Wiki too dense and couldn't interpret what it was trying to tell me.

TIA, NP

You can read on net. Personally I use only /.

My recommendation. Start you laptop by Sparky USB. Fire Up Gparted. If you have lets say a 60 gb SSD, I would suggest.

If you have nothing to save from this laptop.
From scratch.Delete all partitions that you have. Create 2 partitions ( lets say . For Sparky Linux an 20 or 25 GB partition and the rest of your SSD use for a Storage partition.Format them ext4. Install Sparky Linux in the first partition and keep all documents on the Storage one (also downloads from web) .

If you have documents and so on... Backup all materials that you have to a external SSD,HDD or USB. Continue having in mind what I suggested above.

niftyprose · October 02, 2020, 05:07:24 PM

Thanks Penguin. I'm reformatting this SSD and don't have any need for backups. I prefer a simple setup.

Since I have 30Gb, I'm thinking 20GB for Sparky and 10GB for data, both ext4.

i. Would those be / and /root?

ii. Presumably if I set up those two partitions in gparted, the Sparky installer will allow me to specify a Sparky install in / ?

Best, NP

penguin · October 02, 2020, 07:00:39 PM

As I said. Use Gparted for format and divide partitions. Ny my experience (and I install many programs) 25 GB is more than enough for a Linux System. 20 or 25 GB is enough(you can resize partitions in the future if needed by the same way -Sparky Linux Live USB).

When came to moment when Calamares asks for partition chose Sparky partition and in the next only : Mount as / ).

See this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0yK20zFrlM

( Manual Partition ) and mount point as /

niftyprose · October 02, 2020, 09:54:12 PM

Last clueless questions on partitioning the 30 Gb SSD disk in a second-hand Asus E200HA.

Thanks to 'Penguin' I've got:

/ {Linux partition 20Gb Ext4}
/home {documents partition 10Gb Ext4}

Some sites want me to add a UEFI boot partition:

/boot/efi {200Mb Fat32}

I'm expecting to reformat the hard disk using a gparted live USB, then run the Sparky live USB.

Questions:
Do I need to set up the boot partition or does it get made automatically?
When I install Sparky, will Calamares pick up the partitions described above?

Best, W.

penguin · October 03, 2020, 07:19:22 PM

Simply I choose only / and nothing else.As I said : all my documents I save in Storage partition. So Sparky partition remains clear.

About UEFI.

I prefer to install simply and not in UEFI mode. For this need to enter in BIOS and dissactivate UEFI mode . One of the follow (depends by your BIOS)

disable "secure boot"
disable "UEFI mode"
enable "legacy boot"

If Calamares find your UEFI mode active will ask user to create a new partition of 200 or 300 MB where the required files will installed.

So . Simply as follow.

Only / (home will be create inside automatically )
Install in legacy mode.

I have in my laptop 3 Linux partitions, One NFTS partition and 2 Windows partitions. Little tricky to start because Grub will not know 2 Windows partitions. To solve problem I have installed grub for window (in windows partition) and in this way I can run all my OS from grub for windows. Another method is to install grub for windows (in windows partition) and run grub from one of my linux systems to detect and recognize grub for windows installed in Windows partition.

niftyprose · October 11, 2020, 10:39:35 PM

Hi everyone, and belated thanks to Penguin for care and guidance. I had to delay completing my Sparky installation due to problems at work, but completed the process today. I'm sending this in case anyone else using the excellent but flawed E200H is in need of reassurance.

I listened carefully to Penguin who clearly knows more about Sparky than I do, but in the end took only part of his advice.

* I used Gparted to reformat my computer's hard disk into three partitions: a FAT32 boot partition of 300Mb, an ext4 partition of 18Gb for Sparky, and another ext4 of 11Gb for my own files. I set BOOT and ESP flags on the first in Gparted.

* I ran the Sparky installer and set the drives as /boot/efi, / and /home

The resulting installation seems very stable. I've been able to run the expected Linux software, but have also got Zoom, Skype and (yuk) Teams working, and I even got Bluetooth to operate.

I will post separately about a couple of lingering issues and to discuss the Bluetooth implementation.

Best, NP.