Re-partitioning my Laptop

JP · Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2025 3:47 am Post subject: Re-partitioning my Laptop

I've got AntiX on sda6 with 4.88 Gb.

/dev/sda1 is 37+Gb extended
/dev/sda2 is 1Gb Linux Swap
/dev/sda3 - unknown fs - 9.32 Gb - /mnt/sda3
/dev/sda4 - reiserfs - 11.43 Gb - /mnt/hda4 - boot - Knoppix
/dev/sda5 - ext3 - 9.77 Gb - /mnt/hda5 (ubuntuCE?)
/dev/sda6 - ext3 - 4.88 Gb - / - AntiX -
/dev/sda7 - ext3 - 956.97 Mb - /mnt/sda7

This is what I would like to do, if possible. I would like to merge /sda3 and /sda4 to make one partition, as well, I would like to merge /sda5, /sda6, and possibly /sda7 to make one partition ...... all this without losing any data on /sda6 (AntiX). Is this possible? If not, I'll probably re-install. I forgot to mention, AntiX has gparted (which I detest) instead of cfdisk, so I will probably be asking some questions concerning that unless I can download cfdisk from the repos (a different thread) Wink

.

I had chopped up this 40Gb HDD in anticipation of using 4 or 5 distros, but I've changed my mind and now I'll just use AntiX and/or sidux or Arch -- I may keep sda7 for Puppy, I haven't made up my mind about that yet.

AntiX works so great for wireless, I won't get rid of that soon unless I find that Puppy can take it's place, but I haven't had any experiences with Arch or sidux using wireless yet. Any advice concerning wireless with sidux and Arch would be appreciated, as would any advice or experiences concerning Arch and/or sidux on a Dell D600 laptop. My first experience with sidux on this laptop was not a happy one, but that doesn't mean I would trash-talk sidux without giving it another chance Wink

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jester · Sr. Member Joined: 19 Apr 2025 Posts: 1166

@JP: I'd start over to be honest with you; that looks a bit of a mess.

With 40Gb I wouldn't go over 3 distros on that; I'd also push the extended to the back rather than have it on /dev/sda1. Another suggestion would be to put the distro with the greatest expected longevity on /dev/sda1; as we've discussed here before, you don't need 1G of swap, I'd go 512Mb.

Suggested scheme:

JP · Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2025 8:45 am Post subject:

Thanks jester
That looks good, as you point out, it will be easier to re-install and re-configure the partitions. I will only have the two main distros, other than when I said I might use Puppy, it would be used for "roaming wireless hookups" - to avoid hacking I just change the root password on a live CD -- that only needs a 1Gb (or less) place to put a pup_file that holds the config files and a little more so the disk can be used live Wink

. The main will probably be Arch, it's becoming an easy distro for me now, and then I'll use sidux to back it up. I'll wait to see what others say about Puppy, Arch and sidux for wireless but if one of them works well with "roaming" wireless like Antix does, I'll drop AntiX, because I prefer the rolling releases (I hate having to download new versions every 6 months or so .... ) I like the layout you've mapped out, THX Very Happy

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Dell Lappy - DreamLinux 3.5 - Default OS
Mepis 8.0 - Backup

jester · Sr. Member Joined: 19 Apr 2025 Posts: 1166

@JP: you're welcome, if you're going the arch + sidux + pup, how about this

Germ · Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2025 7:33 pm Post subject: Re: Re-partitioning my Laptop

anticapitalista · Member Joined: 13 Jan 2025 Posts: 185 Location: Greece

antiX is a rolling release in that you can apt-get update && apt-get upgrade/dist-upgrade to keep repos up to date as Debian Testing.

You will also be able to upgrade antiX-M7.5 to antiX-M8 via a script if you want some of the newer apps included/modified/improved.

BTW cfdisk is installed in antiX-M7.5

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eriefisher · Jr. Member Joined: 12 Jul 2025 Posts: 89

My laptop has been running antiX since pre 7. I have never reinstalled it and I am now current to the available version of 8.

As for your partition scheme, I would keep it simple. I would install your primary OS to the first partition with grub in the mbr and /home in /. Make the second partition /swap, keeping it minimal. The third one would be a separate data partition to be mounted in /home of all OS's and would be the largest. Next would be extended so it can be chopped up for other OS's.

As for Puppy, I don't think it actually needs a partition. The file could just sit in the data partition and be booted from the primary grub. If you install grub of the secondary OS's to /root, they could just be added to the primary menu.lst and changed as you change the OS. None of this will ever effect the primary OS.

My $0.02.

JP · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2025 6:16 am Post subject:

masinick · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2025 7:19 pm Post subject:

I agree with the simplicity comments. As far as saving and moving data, the best idea would be first to do some form of backup. I would say that is a must, especially if you are not well versed in how to use the various commands. Personally, I use tar most of the time when I back up. You may want to use something simpler, but if you do want to try a standard tool, tar works with pipes, filters, command grouping, and most of the other shell command conveniences, and that is one reason I like it.

For example:

(cd fromdir; tar cvpf - .) | (cd todir; tar xvpf -)

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Brian Masinick
Distros: SimplyMEPIS
sidux - no CAPS!, antiX, Debian

JP · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2025 8:57 pm Post subject:

masinick · Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2025 11:19 pm Post subject: wireless tools

For sidux, there is a command line tool called ceni, which I personally feel is one of the best, if not THE best wireless connectivity tool. If you are in the same place, it will remember settings from use to use. It can also be used for roaming. What is good about it is that when the connection is made, it doesn't wait another minute - it connects and releases.

AntiX includes mnetwork, ceni, and wicd. The wicd tool is arguably the best wireless GUI based tool around. Sadly, wicd recently made some rather significant changes and many existing implementations got messed up, resulting in a lot of questions - this was seem on Ubuntu forums, MEPIS, and AntiX forums. The fix is straightforward if you do get caught with an issue.

Some people have good results with knetworkmanager. It is truly easy to use, but I've seen occasional erratic behavior - connections bouncing up and down with it. Again, probably a configuration issue, but you have to ask the question why the distro did not just get it right to begin with?

Those are a few of the ones that I have used. There is also wifi-radar - cannot speak to it, and there are undoubtedly other tools as well.

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Brian Masinick
Distros: SimplyMEPIS
sidux - no CAPS!, antiX, Debian

eriefisher · Jr. Member Joined: 12 Jul 2025 Posts: 89

Sidux has wpa_gui which gets some great reviews.

anticapitalista · Member Joined: 13 Jan 2025 Posts: 185 Location: Greece

masinick · Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2025 12:53 am Post subject: Who has actually USED it?

ghostdawg · Member Joined: 27 Dec 2025 Posts: 130 Location: MO

You can use Partimage to clone those partitions and after you repartition the hard drive, restore the ones you want back into the new partition. I normally do this and clone mine onto an external drive.

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