>
> Message: 1
> Date: 28 Jul 2008 12:59:38 -0400
> From: "G. Matthew Rice" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Exam Development: part II [was Re: [lpi-examdev] More libata]
> To: "This is the lpi-examdev mailing list." <lpi-examdev@lpi.org>
> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > I disagree that this is the wrong list for such questions. This does,
> > after all, pertain to exam development, and the question is generalized
> > enough that it shouldn't violate any non-disclosure agreements. And yes, I
> > agree that exam candidates should know about libata. But, currently, no
> > LPI study materials cover it, and it's not part of the new exam objectives.
> > That's why I'm asking the question.
>
> I agree. The question is relevant. Perhaps Alan misread it to be asking
> about exam content.
>
> Regardless, my own personal feeling is that libata content would be a little
> too nitpicky for the LPIC-1/2 exams. Especially, since these new objectives
> have de-emphasized hardware issues to a large extent.
>
>
> However, if someone can make a case for why it isn't nitpicky and where we
> could fit it nicely into the new objectives, I'll add it.
>
> My plan for maintaining the objectives over the next 2.5 years until we do an
> official update is to maintain clarifications and corrections on the wiki and
> then, every quarter, I will add an addendum to the official objectives with
> the clarifications.
>
> This isn't mean to add new content to the exams. Just to provide more
> clarification on what is on the exams (and what isn't).
>
>
Hi Matt!
Thanks for the response.
I agree with the decision to de-emphasize hardware for the 101 exam. Linux is
so good about auto-configuring things that there's really not that much need
for it anymore. And, I'm not saying that we need to go into the nitty-gritty
details about libata. It's just that, all available LPI study materials teach
that PATA hard drives are designated with "/dev/hd*", and that all SCSI/SATA
drives are designated with "/dev/sd*", without any exceptions. There are still
a lot of old PentiumIII/IV and Athlon class machines out there that use the
old-style PATA hard drives, and even on new machines, PATA CD and DVD drives
are still the norm. Anyone who looks in either the fstab file, or in the
"/dev" directory of these machines is going to be confused about why they're
seeing "/dev/sd*" designations for their drives. Since knowing how to maintain
or troubleshoot an fstab file is an important part of being an administrator, I
would suggest perhaps just adding libata as an exam objective, and adding no
more than two or three libata questions to the exam bank. They don't need to
be anything heavy-duty; just something along the lines of "Why do you see
'/dev/sda' instead of '/dev/hda' on this machine with PATA drives". This would
be enough to clue in study material developers that they should at least
explain that concept.
It's not really a question of adding more exam content. Rather, I believe it's
just a question of correcting a slight inaccuracy. (The better the accuracy, I
believe, the better the credibility for the whole certification process. ;) )
As for where to fit it in. . .
I believe that there are two places where it would be appropriate. In Topic
101, where exam candidates are expected to know about the "/dev" filesystem,
and in Topic 104, where they'll need to understand the fstab file.
Ciao,
Donnie
_______________________________________________
lpi-examdev mailing list
lpi-examdev@lpi.org
http://list.lpi.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lpi-examdev
