In article <2aLCd.8957$7n1.692697@news20.bellglobal.com>, myob@nomail.ru
says...
>
>Al. C wrote:
>
>> I've read a ton on Linux books this past year. But two things that are
>> never explained well are:
>>
>> What is a device? By that I mean what are the entries in /dev (like
>> /dev/cdrom or /dev/fd0 etc.) I don't mean what they stand for, but WHAT
>> are they?
>>
>> Then, what is a mountpoint? What is /mnt/cdrom mean?
>>
>
>A mountpoint is a place where you can attach something to your directory
>tree.
>For instance when I type mount /dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom
>I make it possible to read the contents of the cd/dvd reader in /mnt/cdrom.
>
>A device is something invented to drive me crazy. You too.
>For instance my cd/dvd reader/writer is known as lun0,0,0
>and /dev/cdrom /dev/dvd /dev/hdc /dev/scd0 /dev/sr0 and maybe another one.
>
>Those who write software live in another world.
Hello from the Eighth Doctor
Exactly right. According to the gang who's responsible for keeping IBM mainframes
running, they contend that Linux _is_Linux, that it matters not that they are S/390
machines rather then Intel, and get this, same programs, and commands.

Each device driver exists, within reason, even Slackware runs there. While you can't
run an Xserver on the big guy, (No head!), you can configure him to serve
Xsessions, and setup something appropriate on your local box. A Vnc session, and
the server running there, or the Cygwin Xserver talking to the big guy, using SSH.

So what it boils down to is that the mountpoints we use to attach CDs, and USB
devices, are the same regardless of which distribution we use.
----
Gregg drwho8 atsign att dot net