SOLVED LM 14/Cinnamon on HP Mini 311 - review partitions

[CorkVDH]

I'm new to Linux, having primarily used MS-DOS/Windows machines since the mid-80's. To try Linux I chose to install Mint 14 on my HP Mini 311, (3 GB RAM, 160 GB drive). I intend to use this to determine if I can make Mint the primary OS for all my home PC's, including my wife's laptop, so I'll be playing with applications to see if I can cover all the bases in a manner that's acceptable to her.

For the first install, I let the installation program create it's own partitions and all went fine. After reading a great deal of conflicting advice regarding what partitions should be set up (some of which I actually understood!) I tried to reinstall multiple times with various combinations of partitions, but none of the installations succeeded. Finally, I created a new install "disk" on a USB stick and successfully installed into a set of custom partitions. Here's what I have:
sda1 487 MB /boot
sda2 1k ?
sda5 23.9 GB /
sda6 2.9 GB swap
sda7 121.9 GB /home

I know some of the partitions are likely the wrong size (the /boot and / partitions are too big, and the swap is either slightly too small or too big, right?) However, I just read another thread in which the advice was to have a /data partition rather than a /home. Keeping in mind that this is a test bed for me, is it worth redoing again?

I must say I am impressed with the performance of the system compared to Windows 7 Pro, and I'm having a blast learning about Linux. The support community is astounding.

Cork

[remoulder]

You do not really need a /boot partition unless you are planning to install lots of OSes and want to keep control of the boot. With 3GB ram you could get away without a swap unless you want to do something like video editing, a smaller swap between 128=512MB might be better as a safeguard anyway. Re separate home or data, it depends what you intend to do. If you are planning to share your data with another OS then use a /data partition with common filesystem and symlink documents, etc back to your home's Documents, etc, otherwise stick with a /home.

[CorkVDH]

Thanks, remoulder; I'll drop a spare HD in and redo without the /boot partition and with smaller /root and swap partitions. Interestingly, I think the default install created a relatively large swap area. I have that on the spare HD so I'll check it before overwriting with a fresh install, but I'm more interested in extra disk space than in hibernation mode. I think I'll drop the /root to 15 GB.

Again, thanks for the comments!
Cork

[remoulder]

think I'll drop the /root to 15 GB

Sorry didn't notice your initial size. Yes 15 should be more than enough if you have a separate home partition, you could even get away with 10, my / is less than 4, but it all depends on what apps you install.

[CorkVDH]

I have begun testing applications for Kelly and suspect I'll need a larger than normal root as a result. Based on what I've seen so far with Mint/Cinnamon, I probably will not need to try different distributions, so I'm just going to focus on creating an environment my spouse can use with minimal effort/learning. Fortunately, she is sick of the blue screen of death and is ready to consider alternatives to Windows.

Thanks again for the comments and help!
Cork