Those are very good instructions. You can try to install without the EFI partition... maybe it works, maybe not. If you have any failures, just start over again by booting on your live USB.
Those instructions fail to mention that you may have an option to put the bootloader in different locations. The default choice is usually correct, it is usually /dev/sda, but you should be aware of this setting. You can see in your link photos (
this one) where this selection is... not in the small "Create partition" window, but look in the window behind it, called "Installation type" where it says "Device for boot loader" near the bottom. This is a drop-down box where there may be other options, but again, /dev/sda is usually the correct choice if you only have one HDD/SSD in your computer.
´/´ means the main partition, where the OS is installed, and with, too: this partition to mount; necessary. ´ext4´.
Yes, you must have a / partition with almost all Linux distros. EXT4 is the most common file system and easiest for new users to begin with, but there are other more advanced file systems available.
EFI partition, (probably) depending on, whether in BIOS is setted UEFI or EFI (Legacy (?)) ? (The GPT partition is going, with UEFI switched off to EFI (with: Legacy). And completly new partitions and file-systems changing, correct ?)
Or: no matter at all, which BIOS setting ? When EFI-partition is not needed at all (?), sorry. (I will try.)
If you do not want /boot/efi partitions, then try to set BIOS for Legacy, and set your HDD/SSD to msdos instead of GPT. Maybe it works. Trying is the only way to find out. Also in BIOS, disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot, if you see those. If trying fails to work correctly without /boot/efi, then follow your link instructions for creating the /boot/efi partition too.
No further partitions needed, first once at all.
That's right. You only need the / partition, and maybe /boot/efi... that is all (plus swap). By the way, the / partition is also called the "root partition"... but that means the "root" of the file system, and is not related to the "root" user (Linux administrator). These are confusing, and maybe why you asked earlier about /root, which is related to the root user.
The free space minus (here 16 GB for Swap I do as first partition, (as last the Swap-partition. And the order will be as created ? The last the Swap-partition.
Just writing once, because of the sequence of creating the partitions I do not remind well, is the sequence the wished result ?
The partitions will be created and numbered in the order that you create them. In your link, they show creating the swap partition first (in Step 7), then the EFI system partition (ESP) in Step 8, and then in Step 9 they are using the rest of the HDD/SSD space to be used for /. This is easy because it doesn't need math.
So, following the examples in your link, your partitions would be identified like this:
Code:
/dev/sda1 SWAP (uses special swap file system)
/dev/sda2 /boot/efi (uses FAT32 file system)
/dev/sda3 / (usually uses EXT4 file system)
If you want to rearrange the order, you have to use a little math. And note when you configure the partitions that the partition sizes are specified in MB, not GB. So, let's pretend you have a 250 GB HDD as an example. Drive sizes shown by different programs often do not agree, but I'll use this system to estimate:
1 KB = 1024 bytes
1 MB = 1024 x 1000
1 GB = 1024 x 1000 x 1000
(Remember these are only estimates!)
We need values in MB to do the partition math, so your 250 GB HDD = 256,000 MB (250 x 1024).
So now, let's rearrange and set up your 250 GB drive like this:
Assuming /dev/sda is empty and has a Free Space of 256,000 MB...
Click on the Free Space, then +, then create a 512 MB partition for your EFI system partition
(256,000 - 512 will leave a new Free Space of 255,488 MB.)
Click on the Free Space, then +, then create a 239, 104 MB partition (EXT4) mounted as /.
(This is 255,488 from above minus 16,384 (your 16 GB SWAP size) = 239,104 MB.)
Now, click on the Free Space, then +, then create a 16,384 MB partition for SWAP.
(This is why the math was needed.)
Your drive would then be arranged as:
Code:
/dev/sda1 /boot/efi (uses FAT32 file system)
/dev/sda2 / (usually uses EXT4 file system)
/dev/sda3 SWAP (uses special SWAP file system)
As an alternative, before you begin the process of installing, you could use Gparted from your live Linux Mint USB to create all of your partitions. Then you would still use the "Something else" partitioning method to tell Mint which partitions that you want to use.
I hope this helps.