New to Linux

[Mario Andes]

On Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:37:28 +0100, Matthew Flaschen <matthew.flaschen at gatech.edu> wrote:

> Mario Andes wrote:
>> Hi Samir,
>>
>> as you have recognized, linux or unix systems in general let you be  
>> freetoi decide
>> what you need, get what you need.
>>
>> With a CPU like yours almost everything is possible ;-)
>> You could put more memory in your PC and (K)Ubuntu will run better than  
>> now.
>> But linux systems as they are like unix systems (files are handled  
>> differently)
>> don't need much memory to work.
>
> Exactly how do you think a UNIX-style filesystem allow you to use
> significantly less memory for applications?
>
> Matt Flaschen
>
I don't think unix systems need less memory in general for applications!
But as their structure is based on modules they are much more flexible.

The whole philosophy of unix is its simple structure. Everything is represented 
by files: memory, devices, interfaces. There are character devices and block devices. 
As system memory isn't infinite a swap mechanism always is used to make it possible 
to handle files of every size.

Hard disks are large files too. That's to say the only thing a unix system
can do excellently is to handle files. Many modules integrated in a unix system
can be combined to do virtually everything.

F.e. freebsd is a good example for these OS.

Linux systems work very similarly but accept different file types.

This philosophy makes it possible to build small systems and small applications.
strict time sharing is the base of multitasking multi user implementations.

Systems starting with "W" or "V" ;-) are extremely difficult! Everything has to 
be programmed differently. And Murphy's law is the only thing without a bug...

Mario



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