Setting partitions

[Robo_Pi]

I'm trying Linux for the first time.  I'm loading Linux Lite 3.8 on the following old notebook computer:

Compaq Persario CQ56
Intel Celeron 2.2Ghz processor
2 GB Memory
320 GB hard drive (brand new drive no preexisting OS)

Initial Installation

I've loaded Linux Lite 3.8 using a USB stick.
The original installation went fine the first try.
However I wasn't sure of some of the options to chose when installing.

Drive Configuration
I partitioned the drive into two units of about 150 GB each plus a small "swap area" with the leftover space.
I set the boot partition to be mounted at the "\", and set that to Primary.
I set the second partition to be mounted at the "\HOME" directory.
FIRST QUESTION: Can I set both partitions to be mounted at "\" or root position?
And if so would they then show up as two different drives?
The reason I ask is that the way it is now they only show up as one drive. 
And I'm guessing the second partition is actually the HOME directory? 
Is that right?
I would actually prefer to have the partitions show up as two physical drives.
This is somewhat trivial but I'm just not sure how this is working.
I like the second partition to show up as a whole separate drive.  That's the way I've always done it in Windows.

Drive Configuration Con't
I formatted both drive partitions with the ext4 file system simply because this was the default choice
I was tempted to use FAT 32 as I think it would suit my purposes and I like to use older compatible stuff.  ;D
The reason I ask will become clear later when I talk about OPENSHOT video editor.
SECOND QUESTION: Is it possible to format one partition in ext4 and the other partition in FAT 32?
The reason I ask is because I basically install programs on the boot drive with the OS.
And then I use the other partition as solely a DATA drive.
I'm thinking that it might be preferable to have the DATA in FAT 32 to facilitate older programs.
But I don't really know if this would be a problem or not.
In fact, I could just do everything in FAT 32.  I very seldom run out of space.  My DATA storage requirements are quite small.
Also just for the record, I use a lot of older software and very simple software.
I have very specific things I use the computer for.  And I don't download unnecessary junk.
I've never had a drive space issue and I've never had a drive larger than 500GB
So my usage is very minimal.  FAT 32 would probably be just fine for me if ext4 is an issue?

Quick Comment about the Initial Installation

Linux Lite installed just fine the first try. I then installed all the lasted updates.
It connected to WiFi with no problem
Firefox seems to be working just fine.
I only just did this yesterday but thus far no serious issues until I tried loading my first program:

OPENSHOT Video Editor
One of the first programs I wanted to use is a video editor called OPENSHOT
I downloaded the latest version for Linux.
No installation required, just "Make File Executable".
I did that and OPENSHOT opened.
However, I immediately noticed problems.  Right off the bat things weren't working right.  The program wasn't responding normally.
I tried to load an MP4 video file into the program and it just freezes and won't respond.  I have to go down to the task bar and click "Close window" to exit the frozen editor.
THIRD QUESTION: Could this problem be related to the ext4 file system?
The reason I'm suspecting this might be related is because OPENSHOT freezes up when trying to open a file.
So now I'm tempted to reinstall Linux using FAT32 instead of ext4 in the hopes that OPENSHOT might then run smoothly?

Anyway, that's where I'm currently at.  Linux seems to be working fine until I tried to run OPENSHOT.  I even downloaded OPENSHOT a second time to start fresh but that didn't help.  So now I'm suspecting that the ext4 file system might be related to this problem?

Recap of important questions:
FIRST QUESTION: Can I set both partitions to be mounted at "\" or root position?
I would like for the partitions to show up as individual drives if possible.
SECOND QUESTION: Is it possible to format one partition in ext4 and the other partition in FAT 32?
Or should I just do the whole shebang in FAT 32?
THIRD QUESTION: Could my problem with OPENSHOT be related to the ext4 file system?
I'm secretly hoping that if I reinstall Linux using FAT 32 OPENSHOT might then work ok.

Thank you for your patience to read my questions.

[Moltke]

Hi [member=7348]Robo_Pi[/member]

OPENSHOT Video Editor
One of the first programs I wanted to use is a video editor called OPENSHOT
I downloaded the latest version for Linux.
No installation required, just "Make File Executable".

Why don't you try installing it? It's in the repositories, so all you have to do is open a terminal and type

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install openshot

I don't use openshot but I installed it using this method just to confirm that it was available in the repositories, which it is, and second that this wasn't a Linux Lite bug but rather some particular issue regarding your install/system and although I just used it like 10 minutes or so I didn't have any issues at all, and you said it freezes instantly and that wasn't my case. Maybe you should try this method to make sure every dependecy is satisfied and see if that works. Regarding your other questions I can't give you an answer since I'm not that knowledgeable on those topics. Here's a screenshot of the program running, by the way, my system's Spanish.



Hope this helps!

[Robo_Pi]

Hi [member=7348]Robo_Pi[/member]

Why don't you try installing it? It's in the repositories, so all you have to do is open a terminal and type

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install openshot

I didn't know I could do that.  I'll give it a shot and let you know how it worked.

[Robo_Pi]

Hi [member=7109]Moltke[/member]

That's worked beautiful!

The GUI looks quite different, but it RUNS perfectly now!

I was able to load the MP4 video file instantly and it plays the video in real time flawlessly. 

So far so good.

Thanks for the tip!  I never thought of using the get-apt install thingy.  I'm a Windows idiot! 

I do have some experience with Raspberry Pi though so I used the get-apt install command a lot with that.

Ok that's great! Thanks!

[Robo_Pi]

Oops!  I think I spoke too soon.

It seemed to be working great at first.  At least it loaded a video and played it smoothly in real time.  So that's encouraging.

Unfortunately it's still freezing up for no apparent reason.  It froze up on me three times already and each time seemed to be just random for no specific reason.  What a bummer!

I'm still tempted do another install using FAT 32.  I'm thinking that might be better in the long haul for me anyway.

I would also like to get the second partition to appear as a separate physical drive, so I'm going to give that a shot too.

It's probably best to get the initial installation correct before loading too many applications anyway.

The main program I'll be using on this computer is Openshot, so getting that running dependably is #1 priority.

As an additional note, I didn't download any device drivers after the original installation?  Should I have done that?

Could some device driver be a fault here?

[Robo_Pi]

UPDATE:

I completely reinstalled Linux from scratch again.
I used the ext4 file system again
I couldn't figure out how to make the second partition show up as a physical drive so I had it mount at the /HOME Directory again.
I updated Linux
Then reinstalled Openshot using sudo apt-get install openshot
It still does the same thing.
It loads a video and plays it smoothly but then crashes
It's clearly not working right.
I just had to physically turn the computer off and reboot.

So I don't know if the problem with with Linux, or Openshot, or maybe some simple configuration that I need to change?

It's a bit frustrating.  I hope I can get this up and running reliably.
Maybe I should try a different version of Linux?

I'm trying to keep it as lite as possible because it's just a 2.2 Ghz computer with 2GB of ram.
That's why I chose Linux Lite.
I've never had a problem with Windows.  But I'd need to buy a new copy for this computer, I don't want to spend $119.

[Valtam]

Topic renamed and moved to correct Forum section.

Openshot minimum requirements:

[Robo_Pi]

Ok, I'm dead in the water then.  This is a single-core processor.
I could upgrade the memory, but I can't change the processor.

I wonder if there is another video editor I could use?

[Valtam]

Video editing is typically a multi-core activity.

[Robo_Pi]

Video editing is typically a multi-core activity.

Just in case anyone is interested I found a Linux Video editor that will run on a single core processor and with as little as 1GB of ram.  I'm not sure how well it's going to work, but it downloaded and installed easily and so far it's been running without a hitch.

There is one major problem thus far, and that is that it plays the video extremely slowly.  Like one frame at a time.  Hopefully there's a way to change some settings in the program to get it playback faster.  In any case it might be usable.  I'll have to learn how to run it.

The editor is called Cinelerra.  At least it isn't crashing,... yet. 

Hopefully it will serve my purposes.