I just installed Kubuntu 14.04 on my "new" laptop (Dell Latitude D520, Core2Duo 1.8 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD), and for the first time, used the "guided" install option that let me choose how much of the NTFS partition to shrink and use for Kubuntu -- I semi-randomly set at about 60 GB, which should leave plenty of room for the (presumed) seldom-used Windows 7 partition.
I noted, however, that "guided" didn't create a separate /home partition, but rather included /home in the root partition. When I was learning Linux, I understood there were good reasons not to do it that way (a lesson driven home when I tried to preserve /home during a reinstall of antiX and wound up corrupting the partition and wasting several hours -- fortunately, no data lost that wasn't duplicated elsewhere). Most likely what I'll do in this case is shrink the Kubuntu partition and create a data partition, as I've done on my desktop machine (I don't expect to regularly use multiple Linux distros on the laptop, but there's room for a spare OS, so I'll probably also include symlinked data folders for things that aren't install-specific). What I'm wondering about, however, is why Canonical or the Kubuntu group would set up the installer this way -- just to simplify the transition for Windows users who are used to keeping their OS, installed programs, and user data all in one partition (asking for loss of data, IMO)? It'd be just as easy to include a choice in the installer with a short explanation that user data is best segregated from OS/programs, and that this separation is transparent in operation, and asking permission to set things up that way -- or to just automatically set up 20 GB for the OS (which seems plenty; my desktop Kubuntu, with lots of added stuff installed, uses just over 10 GB out of a 20 GB partition with the /home separated) unless there's a shortage of space.
Sure, I could have used "manual", but partitioning the HDD myself would have cost me time at a moment when I had other stuff to do and wanted to get the install running -- and I know how to fix this without reinstalling by shrinking/creating partitions, copying the /home tree from root, and changing the fstab entry for /home, but a transitioner from Windows is very unlikely to have that level of knowledge (I certainly wouldn't have, two years ago when I was fleeing the sinking XP ship).
I noted, however, that "guided" didn't create a separate /home partition, but rather included /home in the root partition. When I was learning Linux, I understood there were good reasons not to do it that way (a lesson driven home when I tried to preserve /home during a reinstall of antiX and wound up corrupting the partition and wasting several hours -- fortunately, no data lost that wasn't duplicated elsewhere). Most likely what I'll do in this case is shrink the Kubuntu partition and create a data partition, as I've done on my desktop machine (I don't expect to regularly use multiple Linux distros on the laptop, but there's room for a spare OS, so I'll probably also include symlinked data folders for things that aren't install-specific). What I'm wondering about, however, is why Canonical or the Kubuntu group would set up the installer this way -- just to simplify the transition for Windows users who are used to keeping their OS, installed programs, and user data all in one partition (asking for loss of data, IMO)? It'd be just as easy to include a choice in the installer with a short explanation that user data is best segregated from OS/programs, and that this separation is transparent in operation, and asking permission to set things up that way -- or to just automatically set up 20 GB for the OS (which seems plenty; my desktop Kubuntu, with lots of added stuff installed, uses just over 10 GB out of a 20 GB partition with the /home separated) unless there's a shortage of space.
Sure, I could have used "manual", but partitioning the HDD myself would have cost me time at a moment when I had other stuff to do and wanted to get the install running -- and I know how to fix this without reinstalling by shrinking/creating partitions, copying the /home tree from root, and changing the fstab entry for /home, but a transitioner from Windows is very unlikely to have that level of knowledge (I certainly wouldn't have, two years ago when I was fleeing the sinking XP ship).
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