Thank you Gold_finger, Randomboy, and torreydale.
Yes, I initially had a 4gb swap (at end of physical disk) but the the first distro installed (Zorin 12 64) was not using much, 200mb+/-, while getting a bit bogged down on memory, et al. I have read about swappiness, and may try to increase it to 80 +/-. But in the meantime, I reduced swap to 2 Gb. I can always increase it later and will leave a little overhead on drive1.
I will try 8-10 Gb for Linux Lite. I did have errors trying to install it though. At beginning of install a msg popped about drivers and contact tech support for a download or something, but it seemed to install, until the very end when it reported an error and gave msg about install fail. I believe a support ticket was created ...but haven't been contacted yet. Maybe install will go thru on larger partition...I only had it at 5Gb on first attempt...
From my research, Mint Mate needs min. of 8.8 Gb per official documentation and Elementary needs 15gb. Wary Puppy is small, so 2gb - 5gb max?
Thanks for heads-up on DSL, I was not aware it was unsupported. Wary & DSL may be a bit more stripped down than I desire, but they were the first two that successfully booted, in a long list of distro's, and are the lightest. I believe DSL crashed twice when trying to switch to Fluxbox DE. Not really worth the time and effort.
TAILS was another that booted and ran okay, but I don't really need to be so anonymous or incognito, would prefer a fuller OS.
Thanks for tip on Grub/MBR and bootloaders...I was thinking that Zorin btldr would get overwritten at next OS install...
I did try LXLE, torreydale. I had the same issue with it as with Bodhi 64 Standard and app pack versions:
After the selecting them from the SARDU multi-boot dvd Linux Menu, the installers do not load. I get a boot prompt and I am not sure what to do. The same may have happened on main (modern) rig, so the verdict is still out until I discover the fix.
Maybe this is a Grub or Syslinux thing and I need to enter the exact path of vmlinuz file?? Maybe they do not like being on multi-boot media? I have come across some info for specific distro's that don't play well with certain multi-boot apps. Putting those two on back burner for now unless its an easy fix, and plan to proceed with the distro's that are working.
Thanks again for the info, I know this is a Linux Lite forum, so all your non-LL advice is greatly appreciated.
Arg....Messing with partitions in gparted has system booting to GRUB Rescue prompt, which keeps shutting down, all drives & partitions "unknown file system". About to try Rescatux...doesn't load, just Grub Rescue again...
now trying to install Lite on 10 gb partition, hoping it will fix btldr, at least temporarily...until I can repair it to see Win 7 & Zorin...
Maybe easier to just reformat, wipe Win 7, start over, only installing Linux?
Yes, I initially had a 4gb swap (at end of physical disk) but the the first distro installed (Zorin 12 64) was not using much, 200mb+/-, while getting a bit bogged down on memory, et al. I have read about swappiness, and may try to increase it to 80 +/-. But in the meantime, I reduced swap to 2 Gb. I can always increase it later and will leave a little overhead on drive1.
I will try 8-10 Gb for Linux Lite. I did have errors trying to install it though. At beginning of install a msg popped about drivers and contact tech support for a download or something, but it seemed to install, until the very end when it reported an error and gave msg about install fail. I believe a support ticket was created ...but haven't been contacted yet. Maybe install will go thru on larger partition...I only had it at 5Gb on first attempt...
From my research, Mint Mate needs min. of 8.8 Gb per official documentation and Elementary needs 15gb. Wary Puppy is small, so 2gb - 5gb max?
Thanks for heads-up on DSL, I was not aware it was unsupported. Wary & DSL may be a bit more stripped down than I desire, but they were the first two that successfully booted, in a long list of distro's, and are the lightest. I believe DSL crashed twice when trying to switch to Fluxbox DE. Not really worth the time and effort.
TAILS was another that booted and ran okay, but I don't really need to be so anonymous or incognito, would prefer a fuller OS.
Thanks for tip on Grub/MBR and bootloaders...I was thinking that Zorin btldr would get overwritten at next OS install...
I did try LXLE, torreydale. I had the same issue with it as with Bodhi 64 Standard and app pack versions:
After the selecting them from the SARDU multi-boot dvd Linux Menu, the installers do not load. I get a boot prompt and I am not sure what to do. The same may have happened on main (modern) rig, so the verdict is still out until I discover the fix.
Maybe this is a Grub or Syslinux thing and I need to enter the exact path of vmlinuz file?? Maybe they do not like being on multi-boot media? I have come across some info for specific distro's that don't play well with certain multi-boot apps. Putting those two on back burner for now unless its an easy fix, and plan to proceed with the distro's that are working.
Thanks again for the info, I know this is a Linux Lite forum, so all your non-LL advice is greatly appreciated.
Arg....Messing with partitions in gparted has system booting to GRUB Rescue prompt, which keeps shutting down, all drives & partitions "unknown file system". About to try Rescatux...doesn't load, just Grub Rescue again...
now trying to install Lite on 10 gb partition, hoping it will fix btldr, at least temporarily...until I can repair it to see Win 7 & Zorin...
Maybe easier to just reformat, wipe Win 7, start over, only installing Linux?