Linux Mint LMDE on Hybrid Disk Laptop
I have an old Thinkpad T43p that I am trying to extend the life of. So I recently fitted a cheap 60GB IDE Solid State Drive (SSD) and put a 320GB SATA Hard Disk Drive (HDD) in the Ultrabay. This is not a true hybrid disk, but the principles are similar. The root partition will go on the SDD (for performance) and the home partition will be located on the HDD (for capacity).
I’ve been running Arch Linux on the T43p and the SDD improves system responsiveness and boot time considerably, especially when using F2FS or btrfs (with LZO compression and SSD mount options) on the root filesystem.
I am also testing Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) with the MATE desktop to determine if this is a suitable operating system for my family to use. It appears they find GNOME 3 confusing and would prefer a familar desktop experience.
While testing LMDE 201203 I ran into a few issues, so I’ve decided to capture my notes here for future reference.
Fix the installer
In order to install LMDE using partitions on multiple drives you must use the ADVANCED USER install mode. However, the ADVANCED USER install mode has a bug that prevents the installer from completing, so that needs to be fixed first.
sudo nano /usr/lib/live-installer/frontend/gtk_interface.py
Find the following on line 1765.
self.wTree.get_widget("button_next").show()
After it add the following line, making sure the identation is correct.
self.wTree.get_widget("button_next").set_sensitive(True)
Installing LMDE
- Double click the
Install Linux Mint
icon on the desktop. - Select your Language and click
Forward
. - Select your Timezone and click
Forward
. - Select your Keyboard layout and click
Forward
. - Enter your User info and click
Forward
. - From the Hard drive window Select
Manually mount partitions (ADVANCED USERS ONLY)
and clickForward
.
The Please make sure you wish to manually manage partitions window will
appear. On my system the SSD is detected on /dev/sda
and the HDD is detected
on /dev/sdb
. Start GParted
and partition and format the drives as follows.
/dev/sda1 Size: 256MiB Create as: Primary Partition File system: ext4 Label: boot /dev/sda2 Size: 2048MiB (or the size you prefer) Create as: Primary Partition File system: linux-swap Label: swap /dev/sda3 Size: Remainder Create as: Primary Partition File system: btrfs Label: root /dev/sdb1 Size: All Create as: Primary Partition File system: ext4 Label: home
Apply the changes and close GParted.
I use ext4 for the /boot
partition because GRUB can’t currently boot from btrfs
in LMDE. I use ext4 for /home
because it offers the best performance on rotational
drives on my Thinkpad T43p. I use btrfs on the /root
partition because performs
best (by some margin) on solid state drives in my Thinkpad T43p.
The filesystems need mounting under /target
so the installer can install the
OS. Open a Terminal and do the following.
sudo mkdir /target sudo mount -t btrfs -o compress=lzo,ssd /dev/disk/by-label/root /target sudo mkdir /target/{boot,home} sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/disk/by-label/boot /target/boot sudo mount -t ext4 /dev/disk/by-label/home /target/home
Return to the Linux Mint Debian Installer.
- Click
Forward
. - From the Advanced options check
Install GRUB
and select/dev/sda
. ClickForward
. - Confirm the Summary is correct and click
Install
.
Time for a cup of tea while the install runs. A pop-up, titled Installation
Paused, will appear. Click OK
.
Create /target/etc/fstab
Do as the installer says and create /target/etc/fstab
. Open a Terminal.
sudo nano /target/etc/fstab
The following fstab
works for my T43p.
# /etc/fstab: static file system information. # # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 LABEL=root / btrfs defaults,noatime,compress=lzo,ssd 0 1 LABEL=boot /boot ext4 defaults,noatime 0 2 LABEL=home /home ext4 defaults,relatime 0 2 LABEL=swap none swap sw 0 0
Upgrade MATE 1.6 and remove legacy MATE 1.4 packages
MATE 1.6 has been released for LMDE 201203 so it is a good idea to upgrade and remove legacy packages before the first boot to ensure a clean configuration. Open a Terminal.
sudo chroot /target apt-get update apt-get install apt-show-versions apt-get dist-upgrade
Some MATE 1.4 packages will be left behind that are no longer required. The following can help identify them.
apt-show-versions | grep 1\.4\.[0-9]\-[0-9]\+wheezy | cut -f1 -d' '
Purge the old MATE 1.4 packages.
PKGS=`apt-show-versions | grep 1\.4\.[0-9]\-[0-9]\+wheezy | cut -f1 -d' '` apt-get purge ${PKGS}
Exit the chroot
.
exit
Finish the install
Return to the Linux Mint Debian Installer.
- Click
Forward
. - Some final installation steps will now complete.
- A pop-up, titled Installation finished, will appear. Click
Yes
.
Your computer will reboot and start LMDE.
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