Date: Sat, 10 May 1997 14:55:45 -0500 (CDT) From: "Jay D. Nelson" <jdn@qiv.com> To: Steve Howe <un_x@anchorage.net> Cc: freebsd-questions <questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Installation Problems Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.3.95.970510142316.3099A-100000@acp.qiv.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.95q.970510103453.14457B-100000@aak.anchorage.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sat, 10 May 1997, Steve Howe wrote: -> ->> 1. Some programs, as mentioned before, still don't work ->> with the slice paradigm and need time to catch up. -> ->i don't know too much about slices. ->can anyone say something about them. ->they're probably cool, but i still consider them ->non-standard goo. i assume they exist to partition Ok, I'll bite. This may or may not be accurate, but it's the way I understand the world. In a sense, it is non-standard goo, because it is a term used to deal with the brain dead method Micros**t had to deal with large drives. DOS (cursed spawn of CPM) is nothing more than what used to be called a monitor -- a low level mechanism of dealing with hardware. Remember -- it comes from an eight bit world. So what DOS must think of as a partition is called a slice in FreeBSD to distinguish the peculiar way of hacking a disk DOS uses to overcome address limitations, from a more rational method of allocating a disk into filesystems. Unix has never had large address space problems because it started as a 32 bit system. It took over a disk and divided it into "partitions" used for file systems. Today, there are many people growing out of the notion that computer technology comes from Redmond, WA. The term "slice" is nothing more than a term used to ease the transition of folks moving to a more capable operating environment. ->more than 4 partitions on a hard drive, but i don't ->understand why FBSD can't partition as many "normal" ->partitions as it wants, or why it would want more It does have a limitation of 8 per disk. ->than 4 partitions per drive ... does anyone think ->they are not a good idea? ever ls /dev and see all ->the funky listings for slices? -> See man fsck and man dump. Yes they are a good idea, and as you think about the uses of a "filesystem" as opposed to gross "hunks", I think you'll appreciate the distinction. Remember, also, that FreeBSD can use as many disks as you have controllers and addresses.. 250+ Gb on your FreeBSD system is only a matter of money, power and enough slots. Curiosity: any reason that 4 PCI slots with Ultra Wide controllers couldn't deal with 570Gb? ( 15*4*9.5Gb ) -- Jay
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.NEB.3.95.970510142316.3099A-100000>