Simple question - complicated answers

[alex]

Bart Silverstrim wrote:
> Tony Arnold wrote:
>   
>> Liam,
>>
>> On Thu, 2007-09-27 at 12:27 +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
>>     
>>> On 26/09/2007, alex <aradsky at ne.rr.com> wrote:
>>>       
>>>> It's a little maddening to get answers  that dance all around a simple
>>>> question.
>>>>         
>>> It's not a simple question. It's a vaguely-worded and deeply imprecise
>>> question that appears to betray a profound ignorance of what an
>>> operating system kernel is, or indeed, what an operating system is.
>>> It's a silly question asked by a beginner who doesn't really know what
>>> he's talking about. You may as well march up to the gates of the
>>> Houses of Parliament and demand to see this "democracy" that everyone
>>> keeps talking about.
>>>
>>>       
>>>> I want to do is see what the kernel looks like.
>>>>         
>>> What does the smell of baking cookies look like? What does yellow sound like?
>>>
>>> Simple questions, but unanswerable.
>>>       
>> I think you are being a little harsh on the OP. The question is
>> answerable! Download the kernel source tar ball, unpack it and start
>> examining the directory structure and reading the source code.
>>
>> Unfortunately,and perhaps this is your point, the above is unlikely to
>> be helpful, especially for someone who perhaps does not have an
>> understanding of what a kernel is or maybe does not even understand
>> code! It's a bit like trying to understand how the brain works by
>> mapping out the synapses!
>>     
>
> Perhaps the conversation could help get to the point faster if someone 
> just asked the OP,
>
> "What exactly are you trying to do?"
>
> Then we'd know if the OP:
> 1) wants to see the source code
> 2) wants to know where the kernel is stored, and/or related kernel files
> 3) wants to know how the kernel works, a la block diagrams
> 4) wants a visual reference of kernel subsystems
>
> This would distinguish if he or she wants the kernel source 
> (kernel.org!), binary, upgrade procedure, diagrams compared to things 
> like NT, a book on programming the kernel,...without intent, it's hard 
> to recommend a course of action.
>
>   
I believe I've had a misconception of the kernel...  Somehow  I had the 
idea that the kernel existed in a single editable file.  What led me to 
this was reading that the kernel was compilable so it must be a file of 
some kind that was editable, something that looked like what's in 
/boot/config.*.    This is why I kept asking for a specific location for 
a file..

QUOTE:(from above)
Then we'd know if the OP:  2) wants to know where the kernel is stored, and/or related kernel files.     3) wants to know how the kernel works, a la block diagrams



As for what I wanted to do --------I believe I clearly said that all I 
wanted to do is see what the kernel looked like.  I had no
intention of doing anything but study it.to get some idea of what it 
did.   I still would like to examine the kernel.if this is possible.

What aroused my curiosity about the kernel was reading about it in the 
kernel websites..

Perhaps I'm a bit too old to to work Linux......I'm 89.

alex.

alex



 .

 I had the impression that there was a file that