As an Ubuntu/Mandriva long-time user... I am spoiled by"automatic" partioning. I always choose"use the whole disk" so that the distro will be the one to automatically partiition the whole thing while I just sit back and relax then wait for the installation to complete.

Now that I've grown-up a bit and I want to use AntiX, I was wondering as to what is the best way to do the partioning process as a complete AntiX (Debian/Mepis/Gparted) newbie.

In the installation process... there is an option to choose"auto" installation or"use the whole" disk too but it does an error and makes me use Gparted. When I am inside Gparted... I simply do not know what to do. I know that there are instructions on the left side...but these instructions are vague for newbies who do not know"home","swap","root" etc and how to partition and allocate space for them.

Remember, the best instructional aid for newbies is always a"visual aid".

For example: I have an 80gb hard disk that I can totally use without any other operating system... what would be the best way to partition this 80gb disk?

How much gb for swap, root, home... etc? In what order (or does it matter).

I apologize for all these questions... but I am sure that those newbies out there that will try antiX will also encounter the same bumps on the road.

Thank you once again.

First the swap: it's a space on disk that serves as a ram substitute but, of course, is much slower than ram (as the disk is a physical device and ram is electric). So you'll need it if you have few ram or if you do ram intensive tasks like video editing, for example. antiX uses few ram so if you have a lot you can even go without swap. On the other hand you may create a swap space if you pretend to install other Linux systems that are more resource hungry or if you intend to do some ram hungry tasks. In the Terminal, enter and post the result here so we know your machine resources.
The other main directories (/ -root- , /home, /tmp, /var, /usr) you may install all in the same partition (in the installer, choose it for / - root). When you first install antiX it uses about 1,5 GB of disk space so you may give it, say, 8 GB so it has some room to grow.
The rest of your disk you keep for all kinds of data (music, videos, documents etc.). This way, if you reinstall your system or change the OS you don't even have to touch the data partition.

Done that, after you got it installed you create at your /home partition (the one that takes your name) links to your folders in the data partition (in antiX just drag the original folders to your home partition and choose 'absolute link') so you always save your files in a safe place and at the same time have it right in your home folder (which is the first one that the file managers open).

BTW, to keep your resolution settings. just edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

About swap: the closer to the beginning of the disk (the left side in Gparted), the better the performance. And here's a swap FAQ (even showing how to use a swap file instead of a swap partition):
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gives lots of links for setting up and using MEPIS. Still useful for antiX especially this one for gparted.


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Thank you for the fast replies.

The command
inxi -F

does not work. i am currently using Xubuntu 9.04 on my desktop.

based on the system resources (system monitor):
1002.7 MIB - MEMORY
64.5 GIB - AVAILABLE DISK SPACE

INTEL PENTIUM 4 CPU 1.80 GHZ

i only have one line in the directory
/dev/sda1 / ext3

i hope this helps.

Thank you.

Thank you Anti... this is perfect for newbies to understand

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perfect visual aids.