FreeLists / openbeos / [openbeos] Re: drive letter vs. mounten

["Bruno van Dooren" <bruno_van_dooren@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I think that drive letter have two advantages:
> 1. it's easier to understand for newbies
only if they refuse to spend some time to learn. easiest is not always best.


> 2. they are more user-friendly
until you change your partitioning. i have had serious troubles with that.
software was not found anymore, the registry was toasted, NT wouldn't boot.
and even if it boots, D has become E, or such things.
believe me i know what i am talking about here.


> For newbies who sit the first time on a computer, it is easier to 
> understand, that every drive have its own directory-tree, which is based on 
> the media-name.
not more so then that each System has its own device tree.

> So, instead A:, B:, C:, D:, E:, ... etc. I think it would be better to call 
> it Floppy001:, Floppy002:, ..., HardDisk001:, HardDisk002:, HardDisk003:, 
> ...., CDROM001:, etc.
> Or use the Linux-Device names as driver names: fd1:, fd2:, hda1:, hda2:, 
> etc.
but wich floppy is matched to which device file?

> Lets look at point 2.: *** they are more user-friendly ***
> Have a look at the Terminal:
the terminal works, but using the terminal is not the BeOS way (IMO)

> Imagine you have a lot of floppy-disks and want to search for a special 
> file on it.
this is probably the only example in which your point is valid. how many 
times do you have to go through a box of floppies these days?

> But is it not possible, to create a OBOS, which is a hybrid of both?
ah the UNIX design principle: "why have one way that works, if you can have 
a lot of ways that work half, and are incompatible..."

i don't mean to flame, but there is nothing wrong with having everything in 
a system behave consistently.
I believe a good OS should be able to be managed without the need to fall 
back on a terminal an having to create command scripts.
besides, when some things become obsolete, we should have to courage to 
admit it. do you still NEED VT100 terminal functionality in a year 2003 OS? 
or XT harddisk compatibility?
this is where the floppy argument fails.

kind regards,
   Bruno.

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