discuss: Partition HOWTO, first part: Definition-and-naming
Subject:
Re: [discuss] Re: Partition HOWTO, first part: Definition-and-naming
From:
Borden Rhodes ####@####.####
Date:
10 Mar 2009 23:58:09 +0000
Message-Id: <432cd8760903101654h36063b06x8913ff2435da20ea@mail.gmail.com>
Here are my initial comments on the Definitions-and-naming HOWTO:
Overall, I think you have pretty much all of the material someone new
to partitioning will need to understand what you're talking about.
May I suggest resorting some of the categories:
'Mass storage devices involved here' should be the first topic
discussed, I would go so far as to argue that it should have its own
heading before before Definitions. The reason why is that you want to
tell readers as soon as possible what to expect so they don't start
reading only to discover a dozen paragraphs in that the HOWTO doesn't
apply to them.
The section on disk geometry should start with bytes (and I'm glad to
see you make the 1024 not 1000 in a Kilobyte distinction), followed by
heads, cylinders, and then sectors. Arguably, bytes could be
introduced last since the order would be from largest to smallest.
Heads should be there to reinforce that a cylinder is a
three-dimensional object in hard drive geometry (just like in real
life geometry!). Of course, there are some people who would argue
that you should also include a bit on "why '16 heads' does not mean
you have 8 platters spinning in your disk but this is a relic from the
early ATA specifications" section but I think that would unnecessary
complexity and, therefore, you are right in leaving it out.
Moving along, I would put File Systems under its own heading. People
coming from a Microsoft (Registered trademark, all rights reserved,
blessed be Bill forever) background think that 'format,' 'partition,'
and 'set up file system' all mean the same thing because that's what
the Windows formatter utility tells them. Also, discussing File
Systems in its own section will make inodes easier to introduce later.
Also after a few readings of the brief discussion of File Systems, I
could be led to believe that a file system could be created without a
partition to live in! I'm pretty sure this is wrong and so it needs
to be defined differently.
I think Low Level Device Names need to be elaborated upon because,
after reading, I still don't understand what they mean, do, or how
they relate to the /dev/ files. If it cannot be elaborated upon
without destroying the focus of the document, I'd best remove it
altogether and throw it into a HOWTO about low-level hardware
programming.
Since 'Volume ID' is mentioned in the page, I think it needs to be
defined. For someone who doesn't know that it's merely a useless
label, it could cause confusion.
I know this is a first draft and English is not your first language
and considering that I can barely write a sentence in French I have
little moral authority to comment on the grammar and style. Many
sentences, though, are barely readable. However, I'll save picking
that apart until you're happy with your drafts.
Borden
