From fe41c88336ce6e6634f5f7651706f22f97998f96 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Robby Workman Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:09:00 -0600 Subject: Miscellaneous cleanup to Chapter 2. * grammar and style fixes * enhancements to information about "how much swap" to use, including brief discussion of suspend to disk. --- chapter_02.xml | 91 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------------- 1 file changed, 47 insertions(+), 44 deletions(-) (limited to 'chapter_02.xml') diff --git a/chapter_02.xml b/chapter_02.xml index 7df4c57..2458d80 100644 --- a/chapter_02.xml +++ b/chapter_02.xml @@ -6,13 +6,13 @@ Installation -Slackware's installation is a bit more simplistic than many other Linux -distributions use, and is very reminiscent of installing one of the +Slackware's installation is a bit more simplistic than that of many/most + other Linux distributions, and is very reminiscent of installing one of the varieties of BSD operating systems. If you're familiar with those, you should feel right at home. If you've never installed Slackware or used a distribution that makes use of a non-graphical installer, you may feel a bit overwhelmed. Don't panic. The installation is very easy -once you understand it, and works on just about any x86 platform. +once you understand it, and it works on just about any x86 platform. @@ -20,10 +20,10 @@ The latest versions of Slackware Linux are distributed on DVD or CD media, but Slackware can be installed in a variety of other ways. This book will only focus on the most common way: installing via optical media. In order to install Slackware, you'll need at least an Intel -486 or equivilant CPU, but we recommend you obtain a 586 or better CPU -if at all possible. Slackware can be pared down to run on as little as -32 MB of RAM (or even less), but with the size of the 2.6 kernel and -user-space applications, you will find yourself having a much easier +486 (or equivalent) or x86_64 CPU, but we recommend you obtain a 586 +or better CPU if at all possible. Slackware can be pared down to run +on as little as 32 MB of RAM, but with the size of the 2.6 kernel and +userspace applications, you will find yourself having a much easier time if you have a minimum of 64 MB of RAM. If you wish to use anything older than these, you might want to obtain an older copy of Slackware which will perform better with fewer CPU Megahertz and less @@ -50,12 +50,12 @@ FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN! Unlike many other Linux distributions, Slackware does not make use of a -graphical disk partitioning tool in its installer. Rather, Slackware +graphical disk partitioning tool in its installer; rather, Slackware makes use of fdisk(8) and -cfdisk(8), both console tools. +cfdisk(8), both of which are console tools. cfdisk is a curses-based partitioning tool -while fdisk is not. Whichever you choose to -use should only rarely matter. In this book, we'll only discuss +while fdisk is not. Which one you decide +to use should only rarely matter. In this book, we'll only discuss fdisk. @@ -63,12 +63,12 @@ use should only rarely matter. In this book, we'll only discuss In order to partition your hard drive, you'll first need to know how to identify it. In Linux, all hardware is identified by a special file called a device file. These are all (typically) located in the -/dev directory. If your hard drive is IDE, you -will most likely find it as /dev/hda; however, -many hard drives today including SATA disks are identified as SCSI -devices by the kernel. If you don't know what your hard drive is -identified in Linux as, fdisk can help you -out. +/dev directory. Hard drives, both the older IDE +(PATA) and Serial ATA (SATA) disks are identified as SCSI devices by +the kernel, and as such, they'll be assigned a device node such as +/dev/sda. If you don't know which device node is +assigned to your hard drive, fdisk can help you +find out. root@slackware:/# fdisk -l @@ -81,13 +81,13 @@ Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Here, you can see that my system has a hard drive located at /dev/sda that is 72.7 GB in size. You can also -see some additional info about this hard drive. (In my case, this is -actually three SCSI hard drives on a hardware RAID controller that -makes them appear as a single drive.) The -l argument to +see some additional information about this hard drive (in my case, this +is actually three SCSI hard drives on a hardware RAID controller that +makes them appear as a single drive). The -l argument to fdisk tells it to display the hard drives -and all the partitions it finds on those drives, but won't make any +and all the partitions it finds on those drives, but it won't make any changes to the disks. In order to actually partition our drives, we'll -have to tell fdisk what drive to operate on. +have to tell fdisk the drive on which to operate. root@slackware:/# fdisk /dev/sda @@ -103,11 +103,11 @@ Command (m for help): -Now we've told fdisk what disk we wish to partition and it has dropped +Now we've told fdisk what disk we wish to partition, and it has dropped us into command mode after printing an annoying warning message. The -1024 cylinder limit has not been a problem for some time, and +1024 cylinder limit has not been a problem for quite some time, and Slackware's boot loader will have no trouble booting disks larger than -this. Typing m and hitting ENTER will print out a helpful +this. Typing m and pressing ENTER will print out a helpful message telling you what to do with fdisk. @@ -124,18 +124,18 @@ FILL THIS IN! FILL THIS IN! -Now that we know what commands will do what, it's time to begin to -partition our drive. At a minimum, you will need a single -/ partition and should create a swap partition. -You might also want to make a seperate /home +Now that we know what commands will do what, it's time to begin partitioning +our drive. At a minimum, you will need a single / +partition, and you should also create a swap partition. +You might also want to make a separate /home partition for storing user files (this will make it easier to upgrade -later, or install a different Linux operating system by keeping all of -your users' files on a seperate partition). So, let's go ahead and +later or to install a different Linux operating system by keeping all of +your users' files on a separate partition). Therefore, let's go ahead and make three partitions. The command to create a new partition is -n (which you would have noticed if you read the help). +n (which you noticed when you read the help). -Command: (me for help): n +Command: (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) @@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (975-8841, default 8841): -Here we have created two partitions. The first is 8GB in size and the +Here we have created two partitions. The first is 8GB in size, and the second is only 1GB. We can view our existing partitions with the p command. @@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Both of these partitions are of type "83" which is the standard Linux filesystem. We will need to change /dev/sda2 to type "82" in order to make this a swap partition. We will do this with -the t command. +the t argument to fdisk. Command (m for help): t @@ -199,13 +199,16 @@ Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes virtual memory by the Linux kernel. If for some reason you run out of RAM, the kernel will move the contents of some of the RAM to swap in order to prevent a crash. The size of your swap partition is up to -you. A great many people have participated have participated in a -great many flamewars on the size of swap partitions, but a good rule of -thumb is to make your swap partition about twice the size of your -system's RAM. Since my machine has only 512MB of RAM, I decided to -make my swap partition 1GB. You may wish to experiment with your swap -partition's size and see what works best for you, but generally there -is no harm in having "too much" swap. +you. A great many people have participated in a great many flamewars +on the size of swap partitions, but a good rule of thumb is to make your +swap partition about twice the size of your system's RAM. Since my machine +has only 512MB of RAM, I decided to make my swap partition 1GB. You may +wish to experiment with your swap partition's size and see what works best +for you, but generally there is no harm in having "too much" swap. +That being said, there's generally no good reason to follow this "rule of +thumb" if you have a *lot* of RAM (e.g. more than 2 GB). If you plan to +use hibernation (suspend to disk), you will need to have at least as much +swap space as you have physical memory (RAM), so keep that in mind. @@ -232,12 +235,12 @@ Now it's time to finish up and write these changes to disk. The partition table has been altered! Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. -Synching disks. +Syncing disks. root@slackware:/# -At this point, we are through partitioning our disks and are ready to +At this point, we are done partitioning our disks and are ready to begin the setup program. However, if you have created any extended partitions, you may wish to reboot once to ensure that they are properly read by the kernel. -- cgit v1.2.3