D.2 Required Disk Space

YaST normally proposes a reasonable partitioning scheme with sufficient disk space. If you want to implement your own partitioning scheme, consider the following recommendations concerning the requirements for different system types.

Table D-1 Partitioning Recommendations

System Type

Size

Description

Minimal System

500 MB

No graphical interface (X Window System) is installed, so only console applications can be used. Also, only a very basic selection of software is installed.

Minimal System with Graphical Interface

700 MB

This includes the X Window System and some applications.

Default System

1.5 GB

This includes a modern desktop environment, like KDE or GNOME, and also provides enough space for large application suites like Netscape* or Mozilla.

Full Installation

4 GB

All the packages included with Novell® Linux Desktop can be installed.

Depending on the amount of space and how the computer will be used, adjust the distribution of the available disk space. These are some basic guidelines for partitioning:

Table D-2 Partitioning Guidelines

Disk Space

Partitioning Guideline

Less than 4 GB

One partition for the swap space and one root partition (/). In this case, the root partition must allow for those directories that often reside on their own partitions if more space is available.

4 GB or more

A swap partition (1 GB or more), a root partition (2 to 4 GB), and one partition each for the following directories as needed: /usr (4 GB or more), /opt (4 GB or more), and /var (1 GB). The rest of the available space can be used for /home.

Depending on the hardware, it might also be useful to create a boot partition (/boot) to hold the boot mechanism and the Linux kernel. This partition should be located at the start of the disk and should be at least 8 MB or 1 cylinder. As a rule of thumb, always create such a partition if it was included in YaST’s original proposal. If you are unsure about this, create a boot partition to be on the safe side.

You should also be aware that some (mostly commercial) programs install their data in /opt. Therefore, you might want to create a separate partition for /opt or make the root partition larger.