Linux - The Linux File System
———————————————————– Permission is granted for the below article to forward, reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website, offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as long as no changes are made and the byline, copyright, and the resource box below is included. ———————————————————– The Linux File System
By Stephen Bucaro
Linux uses a whole different file system philosophy than Windows. Windows automatically assigns a drive letter to every partition and drive it finds. But Linux makes every partition and drive a subdirectory of the root (/) partition. If you are a Windows user, you may get confused when you try to use Linux.
No matter how many partitions, hard drives, or floppy drives your computer has, the Linux 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 needs 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 operating system needs more 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 never 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 also represents an ASCII escape character, resulting in all kinds of bugs in Windows programs.
In Windows you just insert a floppy disk into the drive 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 drive and then select Main Menu | Programs | System | Disk Manager. The “User Mount Tool” utility will appear. In the “User Mount Tool” click on the “Mount” button to the right of /dev/fd0.
Note: Linux abstracts every device attached your computer, including the hard drive and floppy drive as a file. Files in the /dev/ folder are equivalent to device driver files in Windows. Linux 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 frequently mounting and unmounting drives, you can right-click on “Disk Manager” in the menu and select “Add this launcher to panel”.
When you installed Linux, information about devices on computer was stored in the file /etc/fstab. If the device that you want to mount was not configured during installation, use the LinuxConf utility to configure the device before you mount it.
For example, if you wanted to configure a floppy drive 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 select 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 drive you have to use an existing subdirectory as the mount point. By convention, drives use the /mnt/ subdirectory 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 any other directory. ———————————————————– Resource Box:
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What To Do When Windows Won’t Boot-Upotis f cooper
When Windows fails to boot it is normally caused by the installation of a program or device which caused a conflict with one or more other programs. This will no doubt give you plenty of heartache if you’re not certain which program caused Windows to not boot up.
If you recently installed a program or application and know where it was installed,you may be in much better shape as for as correcting the error. Here are common ways to correct the problem of your computer not completely booting up or not booting up at all.
If your computer will not boot-up at all,hopefully you have made a good emergency boot disk. You can always make a windows startup disk by creating one from another computer running Windows 98 or Me.Perform the following if your computer……..
Won’t Boot-Up At All
FIRST……Put your boot floppy disk in the floppy drive and turn on the PC.On some computers, you may have to access the bios and select the Boot priority to your A: drive.Save any changes and select “Start Computer without CDROM support” and press Enter.Once you are at the A> prompt,type dir c: and press enter.
SECOND….If your programs and other files are present,your hard drive is good.Try to repair or restore your system Registry by following the steps below.This may repair Windows,the Config. Sys and autoexec.bat files to where the PC may boot up normally.
THIRD……If the above procedure did not correct the problem of your computer not booting up,type in “fdisk /mbr” and press Enter to restore your master boot record.Type “Scandisk C:” to check the hard drive for errors that may have occurred. You can also type “Sys C:” to hopefully restore files needed to boot up your computer.
FOURTH……If the above procedures fail to repair your computer,you can repeat the first part of step one above and select “Start Computer With CDROM Support” re-install Windows.
Making A Windows XP Bootable Floppy
Windows XP users should create a boot disk now by placing a formatted blank diskette in the A: drive, open Windows Explorer to the C:,select Tools,Folder Options ,show Hidden files and and folders,then View Tab.
Now you uncheck “Hide Protected Operating System Files (recommended).You will see a warning and click Yes and click OK.Copy the files ntldr,ntdetect.com and boot.ini onto the disk.Remove the disk and label it the Windows XP Boot Disk.
After making your boot disk,recheck “Hide protected operating system files and folders (recommended)” in the Folder Options dialog box.
To use the disk when Windows XP won’t boot,place the disk in the drive,and unto re-booting,the computer, Windows simply bypass the basic boot files on the hard drive and continue to boot up.
If The PC Won’t Boot Pass Windows
FIRST……If your Operating System is Windows Millennium,turn on the computer and immediately press and hold down the CTRL key.Once the startup options appear,release the CTRL key. Select Safe Mode and press Enter.You are now in Windows limited version.If you know what caused your computer not to boot,you can now either change or delete that program.
SECOND….Repair your Registry by selecting Start,Run and typing “scanregw /fix” and press enter.This will fix any damage done to the Registry. You can also restore your registry which replaces your current registry with an earlier copy that was backed up by your computer.Click on Start,Run and type “scanregw /restore” and press Enter.
To repair your Windows 98 Registry,hold down the CTRL key as you start the PC and select “Command Prompt Only”.Type “scanreg /fix” and press Enter and “scanreg/restore” to restore a previousely saved copy of the Registry.
If you have Windows XP,press F8 after rebooting the PC should Windows freeze while booting up. You can select “Last Known Good Configuration” after rebooting to allow the computer to boot the last backed up files.And you can choose “Safe Mode” to remove any files you know caused the operating system to hang up.
Otis F. Cooper is solely dedicated to boosting the knowledge and confidence of every computer user that is serious about knowing computers.Use his informative articles and videos to understand every aspect about the PC.Read more about his formula for pc training at http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com