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@bdthompson wrote:

I hope Dell is reading this forum.

 

While I understand systems shipped with Ubuntu are not really supported by Dell, the Mini 9 with 8 or 16 GB SSD is configured with a 4 GB file system. 

 

Dell should either configure the file structure correctly out of the box or include a script to do the job.

 

Could a soon to be named hero post instructions on how to add the missing space.

 

 

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What exactly do you mean by a 4GB file system? Are you saying that only 4GB is formatted for ext3 and everything else is unused?

I don't have a mini 9, but if the previous response is correct and you just have a bunch of unused disk space after the first 4GB, then I'd think you could just install gparted from the repos and use it to expand the main partition into the empty space.

Me thinks  bdthompson knows not of what he speaks. A file system is NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, ext2, ext3, reiserfs, etc. Usually Ubuntu uses ext3 file system which is capable of a smallest maximum file size of 16GB.

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@dwasifar wrote:

Out of curiosity, and off the topic, why do you dual-boot Ubuntu and Kubuntu on one of your machines?  Wouldn't it be easier to just install kubuntu-desktop over an Ubuntu installation and switch sessions between Gnome and KDE?  Just curious.

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For the heck of it. :manwink:   I had them on 120GB drive, so there was no reason to conserve diskspace. I should change my signature because the Ubuntu and Kubuntu was installed on a secondary hard drive which I had to commandeer to be the primary drive since the primary drive started acting up. Initially I didn't like Gnome much, but now I find that I like it more than KDE. I'm still not too keen on the earthy colors of Ubuntu. I like the slick PCLinuxOS colors, but there isn't a 2008 version.

That does seem odd, now that you put it that way.

 

Out of curiosity, and off the topic, why do you dual-boot Ubuntu and Kubuntu on one of your machines?  Wouldn't it be easier to just install kubuntu-desktop over an Ubuntu installation and switch sessions between Gnome and KDE?  Just curious.

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@ieee488 wrote:

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@dwasifar wrote:

Out of curiosity, and off the topic, why do you dual-boot Ubuntu and Kubuntu on one of your machines?  Wouldn't it be easier to just install kubuntu-desktop over an Ubuntu installation and switch sessions between Gnome and KDE?  Just curious.

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For the heck of it. :manwink:   I had them on 120GB drive, so there was no reason to conserve diskspace. I should change my signature because the Ubuntu and Kubuntu was installed on a secondary hard drive which I had to commandeer to be the primary drive since the primary drive started acting up. Initially I didn't like Gnome much, but now I find that I like it more than KDE. I'm still not too keen on the earthy colors of Ubuntu. I like the slick PCLinuxOS colors, but there isn't a 2008 version.

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I agree that the default Ubuntu theme is terrible.  The Hardy Heron wallpaper looks like someone puked a stork.  But you can always change it.  There's lots of interesting stuff over at gnome-look.org.  

 

Here's a link to my current Ubuntu desktop:  http://www.dwasifar.com/Screenshot.png

 

I tried posting it directly but it messed up the thread.

 

 

Correct.  However, the Ubuntu Dell forum has an excellent tutorial that gives step by step instructions to fix it.  Look at the Mini 9 thread. 

 

Apparently Dell created an image for a 4 GB drive.  While Linux whizzes can fix it with no problem, noobs or

grandma who was convinced by her grandson to get the Ubuntu version may well never know she has 12 GB of missing file space.

 

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@bdthompson wrote:

I'm sorry you are an unbeliver, but in any unix system the file system can be much smaller than the physical drive.

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What filesystem is used for that 4GB partition?

I'm sorry you are an unbeliver, but in any unix system the file system can be much smaller than the physical drive.

 

Don't tell Ubuntu that the a file system cannot be created of less than 16 GB.  There are tons of new Mini 9 owners out there who clearly have/had only 4 GB of mounted file space available.  Until adjusted the balance of the physical space is unavailable.

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@ieee488 wrote:

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@bdthompson wrote:

I'm sorry you are an unbeliver, but in any unix system the file system can be much smaller than the physical drive.

 

Don't tell Ubuntu that the a file system cannot be created of less than 16 GB.  There are tons of new Mini 9 owners out there who clearly have/had only 4 GB of mounted file space available.  Until adjusted the balance of the physical space is unavailable.

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You are using the term  file system INCORRECTLY. What you are describing is that Dell created a partition only 4GB large on a hard drive that is capable of more. The  file system has NOTHING to do with it. If you want to rant and rave, at least try to understand and use terms that are accurate.

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Part of this disagreement seems to be coming from the distinction between "file system," meaning the sum of the disks and devices available to a *nix system, and "filesystem," meaning the format of a partition (ext3, ntfs, reiserfs, etc.).

 

When bdthompson writes that he has a 4GB "file system," he probably means that if he chooses File System from within Nautilus on his machine, he is shown only 4GB, because unformatted space is not available to the OS.  

 

To avoid this misunderstanding I would have put it differently; I would have said that the installation has only 4GB of partitions. 

 

To say you have a 4GB "file system" is misleading, because the size of the file system is not fixed, but varies according to what devices are available to the system at the time.  If you plug a 2GB thumb drive into the machine, the file system now has 6GB available; if you connect to a network share with 1TB of storage, the file system has 1004GB available.  But the term itself, "File System" as bdthompson is using it, is not incorrect, just a little confusing.