Swap partition 1

[ddvlad]

Hi, everybody! I seem to have got myself in some sort of issue. I didn't take Fedora Core 4's advise and installed it without setting a swap partition. Could this be the cause why some programs just close without saying anything? Also, for future reference, what size should the swap partition be?

And one question that doesn't really fit with the post title: can I make my system dual-boot if I install Windows *after* Linux (i.e. make the Win boot loader 'see' Linux).

Thanks in advance,
Vlad

 

[RhythmAce]

Yes indeedy. The swap partition performs the same function as Windows' virtual memory. It sets aside a small portion of disk space to use as extra memory. There is no set amount but I think the recomended amount is twice the amount of ram. You can use "parted" to make room for the swap if all your disk space is allocated then create the partition using fdisk. In most dual boot installations. It is recomended to have windows installed first because it wants to ovewrite the MBR (master boot record. This is where the boot loader is installed. Usually it is one of two, lilo or grub. It seems like lilo is getting phased out these days. I don't know if the windows loader can load linux however, grub and lilo can load pretty much any os out there.

 

[ddvlad]

I can definitely spare twice my RAM -- I thought I needed something bigger like over a gigabyte (I have an older computer with 384 RAM and a 40gb hard disk, so 1gb solely for the linux swap would have been pretty large). As for the dual boot aspect, point noted; I'll scrap my Fedora installation and reinstall after installing Windows.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Kozusnik]

If you're planning a Windows install on a different hard drive, you could simply disconnect the FC drive, connect the other, install Win, reconnect the FC as master, boot to FC4, edit the lilo.conf with an entry for Win, and run lilo. I don't use grub, someone else will be able to help with that.

GL,
Mark

 

[ddvlad]

I don't have two hard drives, but thanks for the tip anyway. I just installed Windows, then Fedora Core again, this time with a swap partition. I must say an improvement in FC's performance is visible.

 

[RhythmAce]

If you want to change the delay time before the default os loads or the default os itself, you can edit /boot/grub/grub.conf with your favorite text editor. The two line in particular are 'timeout = 5 ' which means start the default os after five seconds if there is no input at the prompt. The other line is 'default = 0' this is a number from 0 to however many options there are. You will notice that some lines start with a label called 'title', then a block of stuff follows. With a fresh install, there should only be the systems you installed. But when linux updates the kernel it will add a new title block. Although you can delete the old title blocks and the files themselves in /boot, it is best to make sure your machine likes the new kernel. Hold on to at least the last one the worked. Everything in there is identified by a version and release number.

 

[ddvlad]

Thanks for the tips. I need to change the timeout so my mother can react (she plays Solitare in WinXP...).

 

[stevexff]

I think the windows boot loader is more restrictive. From memory, the documentation for the XP boot loader goes something like ...enables you to load other operating systems such as Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows NT ... If you are noticing a pattern here, I think it is intentional.

 

[stefanwagner]

needless to say there are a lot of solitaires for linux

Missing swap shouldn't lead to silently closing apps - should it?
At least there should be no difference between missing RAM and missing SWAP.

If possible, you should allways replace swap with additional RAM, which is of much more fun.

Big swap-spaces only make sense on devices, which use suspend-to-disk.

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