Hey Mouse, I did a little bit of googling and I found this vid that might be helpful...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxepmtjmilQ
In the first couple of minutes, he shows how to make a new partition in Windows (something I'd forgotten you could do). I think it'll be much simpler if you do it that way, as you'll know exactly where to put Mint. You can skip the BIOS bit in the vid, since you've figured that out already. At 6.00mins, he shows the partitioning bit, and it's much more straightforward when you have a chunk already marked 'free space'. Does that help to simplify things a little?
Towards the end, he uses another utility that I hadn't heard of before which switches the bootloader back to the Windows one, but with Linux added manually. You might want to do this too, though it isn't necessary. Do you remember before I'd said about some people wiping their Linux partition then their system wouldn't start? What he does here would get around that, so if you change your mind and want to reclaim the space, you can easily just reformat the partition and all the Linux stuff would be gone. However, it's not strictly necessary if you plan to keep Mint. Linux installs its own bootloader which will recognise both Linux and Windows installations.
About sizing, I just checked my installation properly tonight and it seems to have swollen up to 10gb. That's for my operating system and all programs. My own files are separate. So if you went for 50gb, that would leave at least 40gb for personal data files (assuming our installations are broadly similar - allow a gb or two either way!)
The odd numbers are because there are 1024mb in a gb. Just round everything off. It doesn't really matter.
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"
But then she might have to do "advanced partition management." I think she's just better off using the Mint installation wizard.
My $0.02.
40GB should be plenty. Heck, you just plan to save all of your working files to the NTFS partition anyway, right? And if you change your mind later I'm pretty sure that Mint comes with a partition manager.
I'm pretty sure that Mint is going to default to an 8GB swap partition, though, so you'll lose that, too. So maybe make the EXT4 partition 32GB?
Last edited by acrosome; 12-14-2017 at 05:18 PM.
My decade-long worldbuilding project: https://cartographersguild.com/showt...=25569&page=10
ROTFL! acrsome - I nearly wet myself laughing when I realised you thought idiot-proof was also 'Mouse proof'! A thing has to be a lot tougher than idiot proof to be indestructible when I'm around'Mouse logic' defies logic!
Thank you both for your superhuman efforts to try and get me launched. At this rate I might just manage to do it right.
I will watch both videos with equal interest
EDIT: Aaaaaah! So that's what happens. I was wondering where this swap file thing came into it. Thank you!!! Based on ChickPea's practical experience, and the fact that I won't be storing any user files in the Mint partition, I think I might go even lower than that - down to 25GB (not including the swap file)?
I'll watch the videos
Last edited by Mouse; 12-14-2017 at 05:23 PM.
Free parchments | Free seamless textures | Battle tiles / floor patterns | Room 1024 - textures for CC3 | GUILD CITY INDEX
No one is ever a failure until they give up trying
I think that video I linked to uses a slightly older version of Mint, so it's possible the installer may have been tweaked slightly, but the basics will still be the same. So long as you're able to recognise your Windows installation - and don't touch those partitions! - you can't really go wrong.
I think you should be OK with a 25gb partition, so long as you aren't using it for personal stuff. There's conflicting advice about swap size. I've heard some say you should set it to the same size as the amount of RAM you have, and others say double. I just checked mine out of curiosity, and it's only at 8gb though I have 16gb RAM. I can't even remember setting it up. Probably drunk when I did it!
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"
For swap I once heard "At least your RAM size, but not more than 8GB, because if you need more than 8GB there's something wrong with you."
So obviously opinions differ. The guy in ChickPea's video made his 3GB.
Really, I would not install the way ChickPea's video shows, by partitioning in Windows first. If you're just a wee shaky on partitions and file sizes I can't imagine using the "advanced partition management" installation. Hell, it scares me and I've done it before. Just let the Mint installation wizard do your partitioning.
The minimum install size on those videos is 10GB. So add a little space for GIMP and whatnot and that's all you need, really, if you're going to be saving files to your NTFS partition.
Last edited by acrosome; 12-14-2017 at 05:47 PM.
My decade-long worldbuilding project: https://cartographersguild.com/showt...=25569&page=10
LOL! ChickPea! I just can't imagine even being able to FIND my laptop when I'm drunk, never mind the on button
EDIT: Its ok, acrsome. As you may already have noticed I don't do anything in a hurry without really thinking about it, and I'm not going to hold anyone responsible if it doesn't work right or I'm unhappy with the result. I doubt I shall be, though.
I've just increased the free space on my hard drive from 150GB to 221GB, (of 444GB usable). I think the drive is already partitioned - the rest being taken by the 'recovery disk' that's always been there. Even more reason to keep this as small and as tight as possible. I did that, btw, just going through all my old map folders and deleting all the WIP images. A staggering 71GB of unnecessary data! Feeling much better that I've just removed all the crap and its left a space more than twice the size of the planned Mint partition.
btw - my autocorrect keeps adding an 'o' to your username for some strange reason acrsome. Many apologies for any that I miss!
Last edited by Mouse; 12-14-2017 at 05:49 PM.
Free parchments | Free seamless textures | Battle tiles / floor patterns | Room 1024 - textures for CC3 | GUILD CITY INDEX
No one is ever a failure until they give up trying
Hehe I always do the full-on manual partitioning, because my system is ridiculously complicated and the regular setup doesn't cut it. I think I've made every mistake that it's possible to make over the years (I did a LOT of distro-hopping in my early days with Linux) and god knows how many times I borked grub and my system wouldn't start. Fun times!Originally Posted by acrsome
Having said that, I've always a second machine (or a phone) so I've been able to google stuff and figure it out. I understand Mouse's hesitancy.
I can't really speak to the wisdom of using the Windows partitioner vs the Linux one. The vid did seem simple and it was obvious where to put the Mint installation. That was the main reason for suggesting it. But, of course, that's me speaking as someone who's very familiar with the installer and what's involved. It's hard to put myself in the shoes of a complete beginner again.
Mouse, we'll all drink to your Linux success ... when it happens. Don't let us down!
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"
In other words, if you want to try out the installation process without touching your Windows disk, using a 16GB thumb drive/memory stick would be fine.
Selden
I haven't found out how to do it on a stick.
Ummm... maybe I should re-word that a bit
I mean, do you know how to install Mint on a stick?
Free parchments | Free seamless textures | Battle tiles / floor patterns | Room 1024 - textures for CC3 | GUILD CITY INDEX
No one is ever a failure until they give up trying
Well, actually it is supposed to be acrosome, with an 'o'. I, uh, had a typo when I set up my account here.
I've been using that username since university.
My decade-long worldbuilding project: https://cartographersguild.com/showt...=25569&page=10
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