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Ezine InformationThe Unix system
File System
by:
Stephen Bucaro
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The Unix system
File System
By Writer
Bucaro
Linux uses a whole some file system philosophy than
Windows. Windows mechanically
assigns a driving letter to
every partition and driving it finds. But Unix system
does every
partition and driving a directory
of the root (/)
partition. If you are a Windows user, you may get confused
when you try to use Linux.
No matter how many an partitions, hard drives, or floppy
drives your computer has, the Unix system
File Manager displays
everything in a single directory tree under the root
directory indicated by a slash (/). Every partition or
drive is "mounted" onto the directory tree, and appears in
File Manager as a subdirectory.
Linux of necessity
at least three partitions to work, the root
partition, the /boot partition, and the swap partition.
The root partition is mounted at startup. The root
directory itself doesn't contain any files, just
subdirectories. The /boot partition contains files used to
boot the system. The swap partition is used as "virtual
memory".
When the operative
system of necessity
much memory than there is
available in the system's RAM, it can use disk space to
emulate memory. As the system operates, data is swapped
back and forth between RAM and the swap partition. The
swap partition doesn't have a mount point because it's a
system file and is ne'er
accessed directly by the user.
Note: Linux, the Internet, and the rest of the computing
world use forward slashes to form directory paths. Only
Windows uses back-slashes to form directory paths. The
back-slash likewise represents an Code escape character,
resulting in all kinds of bugs in Windows programs.
In Windows you simply insert a floppy disk into the driving and
it's accessible. With Linux, before you can access devices
such as a CD ROM or a floppy drive, you have to "mount"
the drive. For example, to mount the floppy drive, insert
the disk into the driving and then choice Main Menu |
Programs | System | Disk Manager. The "User Mount Tool"
utility wish appear. In the "User Mount Tool" click on the
"Mount" button to the right of /dev/fd0.
Note: Unix system
abstracts every device attached your computer,
including the hard driving and floppy driving as a file. Files
in the /dev/ folder are equivalent to device driver files
in Windows. Unix system
provides device files for most common
devices, but if you install an uncommon device, you may
need a special device file.
After mounting the drive, you can access the floppy disk.
Before removing the disk, you have to "unmount" the drive.
If you find yourself oft-times mounting and unmounting
drives, you can right-click on "Disk Manager" in the menu
and choice "Add this launcher to panel".
When you installed Linux, information simply about devices on
computer was keep in the file /etc/fstab. If the device
that you want to mount was not designed during
installation, use the LinuxConf utility to put together the
device before you mount it.
For example, if you wanted to put together a floppy driving to
access DOS floppy disks, insert a DOS floppy disk into the
drive, then log in as root and open LinuxConf - Main Menu
| Programs | System | LinuxConf. In the LinuxConf window
Config tab, click on "+" next to "File systems" to open
that branch. Under "File systems" click on "Access local
drive". The "Local volume" windows appears.
In the "Local volume" window, click on the Add button. The
"Volume specification" window appears. In the "Partition"
text box type /dev/fd0. Then click on the drop down button
for the "Type" text box and choice msdos. In the "Mount
point" text box type /mnt/floppy. Click on the "Accept"
button. Then click on the "Mount" button.
Note: To mount a partition or driving you have to use an
existing directory
as the mount point. By convention,
drives use the /mnt/ directory
as the mount point.
To copy files to and from the mounted floppy disk, drag
and drop them to and from the directory /mnt/dosfloppy
just as you would-be any else directory.
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