On Thu, Jan 20, 2005 at 11:03:53PM -0800, Mark Miller wrote: > Can anyone suggest good sources of Linux documentation on the internet?
On Mon, 2005-01-24 at 02:02 +0000, Simon Williams wrote: > The documentation for the 'Linux From Scratch' project > (<URL:http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/>) looks to provide a good > insight into how everything fits together in a GNU/Linux system. The > main web site seems a bit slow at the moment, but there are various > mirrors (e.g. <URL:http://lfs.osuosl.org/lfs/view/6.0/> & > <URL:http://www.uk.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/6.0/). > I'd recommend that (at least the book, if not the distribution) to > anyone (users or admins) that's only ever used a pre-packaged > distribution. On Mon, 2005-01-24 at 00:36, Mark Miller wrote: > Good idea. The LFS stuff could help identify core concepts people should > know about WHY things are the way they are. The LFS docs are very good, but sometimes LFS introduces concepts that aren't really applicable to system integrators and administrators. It's like they go deep, but not deep enough. It's better to concentrate on "compiling" and "assembling" a "distribution" of UNIX/Linux, than to worry about all the mess that goes into the design of the kernel, GCC and GLibC -- which LFS doesn't go deep enough in anyway. I typically recommend people consider a "ports" distros like FreeBSD or Gentoo Linux. Starting from near-scratch as well, they can also offer some additional insight without such a steep learning curve. Sometimes I see people tackle something with LFS when just merely a "ports" distro might be better. Again, especially given the fact that LFS doesn't each you really much over a "ports" distro from scratch. I like this to the common statement that one should learn assembler (something that I strongly disagree with) because that's supposedly "how the computer really works." Although most programmers still believe this, it _only_ teaches programmer "computer organization," _not_ the way microprocessors work. But this common thought prevails today, and it's rather sad IMHO. As such, it would be much better to learn "computer organization" with C, because it allows the same applicable level of knowledge. Especially since optimizing C compilers are better for superscalar architectures**, and assembler is rather _useless_ unless you have a full understanding of the specific superscalar architecture. A good litmus test if someone can write well-optimized assembler for a superscalar microprocessor is if they can understand the logic behind VHDL/Verilog, and then follow the microprocessor's design in it -- all some possible 50-300 _simultaneously_ processing stages of instructions (let alone the endless combinations). [ ** Let alone the legacy programmer concept of the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and its operator+operand "instruction" is basically being killed off by physicists and engineers starting with new designs like the Sony "Cell." It's about time, traditional machine code has been the bane of microprocessor design for far too long, but because the first microprocessors were designed by programmers for programmers, the legacy construct of assembled operator+operand stuck around. ;-] In the same context, sometimes LFS is more self-defeating. Sometimes leaving the "messy, non-helpful" details in resolving LFS needs to a "ports" distro lets you learn more far applicable things in a shorter amount of time. After all, you're not getting into the level of the core kernel, GCC and GLibC design with building a distribution, just like your not diving into the branch predictor unit (BPU) of a microprocessor with writing good code. Just my $0.02 ... -- Bryan J. Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------- Linux Is Everywhere Insight #5: Branding Requirements in Licenses How do you tell if an embedded appliance runs Linux? You can't There is no requirement that a vendor disclose it runs Linux How do you tell if an embedded appliance runs Windows? The logo Because the Microsoft Windows logo will be bigger than the vendor's _______________________________________________ lpi-examdev mailing list lpi-examdev@lpi.org http://list.lpi.org/mailman/listinfo/lpi-examdev
