To do the simplest thing sometimes may turn out to be the hardest. If one has prepared partitions for the installation of OpenSUSE 11.2 what could go wrong? It seems that the system is well trained to destroy, and less eager to listen. Following the hard drive partition analysis the system already has a suggestion list that start with deleting the last Linux partition on the second drive, and creating two new partitions as / and /home. It seems there is no direct way to reject this suggestion. One may try to eliminate the assigned mounting points and mark not to format and not to mount them, then mark the mounting point for the actually desired partition. But there is no way to restore the last partition to its original form. Instead the two suggested newly created partitions are listed. And, when the changes are accepted, then the system complains that cannot mount the first of the suggested newly created partitions, and stops with an error message.
But why on earth insists the system on mounting that partition whereas a / mounting point is assigned to another Linux partition, and noting assigned to that ( actually nonexisting ) partition that is marked in addition not to be mounted. I find this my-way-or-no-way approach rather irritating!
Before suggesting anything, the system should give a chance to the user to determine the mounting point(s), partitioning e.t.c. Furthermore, suggestions should be no more than only suggestions. The suggestion list should be editable and, and associate with an accept/reject button.
Under the circumstances I like to know whether this is a hard-core bug, or “only” a difference in a philosophical approach. And finally is away to install OpenSUSE in a user-specified directory?
Under the circumstances I like to know whether this is a hard-core bug, or “only” a difference in a philosophical approach. And finally is away to install OpenSUSE in a user-specified directory?
That makes no real sense. You install to partitions not directories two different things.
And at the point it is suggesting a partition scheme there is an option to do it manually. Just read the screen. Just be sure that it is exactly the way you want it before moving on to the next part of the install. The installer will do exactly what you tell it even if it is not what you intended. Nature of the beast.
You will need 2 partitions at minimum. But if you already have a flavor of Linux installed you can share the swap partition assuming you are not using suspend to disk in one or both.
I recommend also to make a home partition It makes upgrades and distro changes much easier since you can protect your personal data, but it is your choice.
> To do the simplest thing sometimes may turn out to be the hardest. If
> one has prepared partitions for the installation of OpenSUSE 11.2 what
> could go wrong?
Just as much - or as little - as if you did the creating/deleting of
partitions from within the setup tool.
> It seems that the system is well trained to destroy,
> and less eager to listen.
It’s not a dog. It’s not trained and can’t listen.
Sometimes it’s not event housebroken.
> the system already has a suggestion list that start with deleting the
> last Linux partition on the second drive, and creating two new
> partitions as / and /home. It seems there is no direct way to reject
> this suggestion.
Of course there is. It’s only that - a suggetion. Go and edit the proposed
layout so it fits your needs, or define one from scratch.
–
Any time things appear to be going better, you have overlooked
something.
During installation, on about the 7th screen (Suggested Partitioning) towards the middle of the screen are two buttons (Create Partition Setup & Edit Partition Setup). Click on create and you can specify the partitioning.
