Re: BDI

Gene

First I want to say that you must be finding your way into the system.
During the first year I worked with Linux, I didn't even know that there was
a /dev file structure much less what it did or might do. It does not do what
you, as a dos user might think.

Sounds like it's time for the little study about some of the frustrations of
a person new to Linux. There are many around who have experienced this and
have shared their similar frustrations on web pages. Unlike some other OS's,
Linux is configurable to the point of destroying it. If you doubt me try
logging in as root, cd to the (/) directory, and issue the command rm -Rf *
and you will find the whole thing has been deleted, not sent to the recycle
bin, DELETED.

/dev is a partially autogenerated file system and it's best left alone to do
it's thing because there is very little you can do to directly change it.
Most of those fixes are done during LILO, GRUB, bootup, or the installation
of modules. If it is any consolation to you, many others have proposed
alternatives to the /dev system because they don't like it either.

Now for the list of commands. I am a bit surprised but this also runs with
other migration symptoms. The arcane nature of these commands is what led
the young Bill Gates and company to attempt to simplify things. Commands
like (ls) became (dir). In the process, though, much of the flexibility and
power of those commands was lost. To help you over that hump, Red Hat, Paul,
and many others have provided a number of helps. As Paul might say, "bung
the BDI-CD into the CDROM drive and click on the cdrom icon." There you will
find the complete, Red Hat install and operation guides, a whole snapshot of
the HOWTO's, and a couple of links to online resources.

There are literally hundreds of web pages that set out commands and specific
procedures. Your install should have whole bunches of man pages and info
pages. You can approach either of these by simply typing man or info
followed by what you would like to read up on in a terminal. Personally,
early on I sprung for a book called, "Linux In A Nutshell" by Jessica Perry
Hekman. It is published by O'Reilly. Although somewhat commercial, you
might also try approaching www.linuxnewbie.org. They have a number of links
to literature that might help. As you reach out for help to these online
sources, I'd do it "Hat-in-hand" if you catch this old-timers drift.
Aggression born of frustration will get you little.

Now to the last point -- thinking that you should not have to reload the BDI.
What would make you think that? I don't believe that I've ever had an OS
that I didn't reload now and again. The BDI is the quickest reload I've ever
seen.

Linux reliability and fixability on the fly is quickly becoming a benchmark
in the OS business but with the BDI you are not dealing strictly with Linux.
The real-time extensions have a lot to do with making the motors run as well
as they do. These extensions can also play havoc with a few other things
like games and such and can quickly make a mess out of the best OS.

Now to my last point. There is a lot of truth to the notion that hackers
keep handwritten notebooks. They started out doing this because an
electronic record was vulnerable to loss if the PC died. Whenever you begin
to go after a problem with some software, you should keep a record of your
tracks. When you look around the file system, make notes of where you are
and what you see that might help. WHENEVER you make a change, make a note of
it and whether it was effective or not. If not, put it back the way it was
before you move on. If you are a mouse user make a tablet your mouse pad and
keep a pencil beside it.

Please don't take this as a personal attack or as an attempt to keep my
commercial market for BDI's. Many of us have faced frustrations like yours.

Hope this helps.

Ray

>    Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 12:43:49 -1000
>    From: Gene <capper@...>
> Subject: BDI
>
> I'm so frustrated, Although the EMC part works all right the rest is a
> total nightmare. I have not been able to find a list of the commands so
> I have to try 30 times and still get bad commands. Now I get FAILED
> signs on bootup, it says MOUNT   WRONG FS SYSTEM, BAD OPTION OR BAD
> SUPERBLOCK DEV/HDA1. I have found a new file in DEV That I think is bad,
> It says it shows a folder with weird characters and says
> FILE/%08%f3%06%08%90%C53%40h. I can not find anyway to delete these
> things, and not knowing the commands, the only way I can fix it is to
> reload the CD. Which is a real pain and unnecessary to my way of
> thinking. Sorry for the rant.