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Date:      Mon, 22 May 2000 09:21:54 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Thomas Good <tomg@mailhost.nrnet.org>
To:        leegold <goldtech@worldpost.com>
Cc:        MrK1nt@aol.com, freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Users in NYC?
Message-ID:  <Pine.LNX.3.96.1000522090251.12633A-100000@mailhost.nrnet.org>
In-Reply-To: <000601bfc3a0$9b898d50$5edf7ad1@leegold1>

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On Sun, 21 May 2000, leegold wrote:

> I am game to start a group too. There's was someone in staten is. who was
> posting in the newbie list seemed to know alot and appeared to be willing to
> teach, if we had a meeting I would want the theme FreeBSD installation. I've
> read tons of stuff on the web. It's still not making sense to me what is
> going on w/the:
> partioning,
> disk labeling - say what? (no one''s explaining what this is ),

Hi.

I'm Tom.  I dunno about teaching unix to anyone...I tried teaching my wife
to drive a standard shift once.  Mixed results.  ;-)

Seriously, I'm willing to help where I can.  Where are you folks located?
We have some great restaurants here but I have in-laws in Queens too.
We have the ferry for trips to Manhattan and Brooklyn is just over the 
bridge.  About the only boro I couldn't really get to easily is the Bx.
Jersey is accessible too.

I think a Free Unix User Group is preferable to FBSD only.  I love linux
and the guys on the other lists typically bash us linuxers.  It's rather
petty.  Anyway, no boundaries, right?

> slices, (vs partitions, waht's the difference - i'd really like to know_
> mounting points - what's this?
> how files (eg. \ ) are mounted to the partitions ( or is it slices ), why?,
> how, when
> ect.......

In my experience with FBSD and AT&T Unix (which is where BSD got the slice
terminology) a partition is a section of the hard disk wherein an Operating
System resides.  That section is further subdivived into 'slices' wherein
major components of the filesystem (directory tree structure) reside.

That is:  On box1 I have a dos maintenance partition (where I keep a dos
command interpreter [command.com] and a boot loader).  Next up I have
a big partition where I keep FBSD.  These are two partitions.  Within the
FBSD partition I have some slices of differing sizes.  I follow std unix.
So I have a 'root' partition of 50 M.  This holds the kernel and sysinstall
(both in /stand) and some other goodies.  But it is small.  Then I have
a slice of 20 M that is my 'mount point' for the /var directory, so named
as its contents are 'variable'.  I dislike strongly FBSD's sizing scheme
that makes this slice so tiny because I move large database files around
using UUCP (unix to unix copy) and /var fills up too easily...

Anyway, my third slice on the FBSD partition is /usr.  This is a huge slice.
Why?

All of the code used by ordinary users goes here, as do the home directories.
/usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, and /usr/home can become gigantic.  So, this
slice is set to 1G on the machine I'm describing.

I did not choose this sizing scheme, I let FBSD do it.  If I were to do it
again I would shrink /usr a bit in favour of /var to give myself less
headaches (I'm a DBA and need the space for my code and data).

> All the tutorials assume unix sysadmin knowledge - that's a stone cold fact.
> Now, the speaker and menber at a linux meeting i went to, knows alot about
> freebsd, so i'm gonna try emailing him as well  posting to the questions
> group again - it's still not clear to me what is going on w/the
> partitioning.
> 
> Lee

I keep log notes (copious log notes) which I'd be willing to pass to you.
This is a *very* good idea (keeping notes) that I was taught by a senior
sysadmin when I first started.  It's like commenting your code.  Six months
from now, you will remember only that some chore was a hassle, not how
you overcame it!

> > Anyway i'm totally for the FBSD newbie
> > group, just let me know when!

yes, let's try to get this going...BTW, feel free to send me questions
and I will try to help.  I'd suggest you do it offline tho so we don't
get scolded for using a list designed for non-technical discussion to
do tech talk.

Cheers,
Tom

------- North Richmond Community Mental Health Center -------

Thomas Good                                   MIS Coordinator
Vital Signs:                  tomg@ { admin | q8 } .nrnet.org
                                          Phone: 718-354-5528  
                                          Fax:   718-354-5056  
                              
/* Member: Computer Professionals For Social Responsibility */ 



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