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The Linux File System 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.
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