crasha wrote:
I have (linux). It uses things like / and /usr/local/bin and things like that, but I always (for some reason) thought that was something to do with the linux filesystems. Also, most BIOS's use strings like "A: then D: then C:" and things like that. I just wasn't sure.
Linux and unix in general use the /-system because they chose to. Nobody forces you to do anything. OS development is like being in the middle of a desert. You can do anything you want and until you get close to society, nobody will care. Plus, it's a hell of a lot of work to get anything noticeable done.
Also, nobody cares whether you conform to the European railway system width or the Spanish one for instance. You can conform to something completely different if you like, but don't expect trains from the other countries to run on them.
Translated back from the metaphor, Windows uses A:, B: and D: etc. because they understand what that means. Even if the system is ambiguous, flawed and nonscalable, it's still clear that A: is not a cdrom drive and that C: is not a floppy drive. For people who use Windows this is obvious and the only way to do something.
The BIOS manufacturers only cared about the Windows users (being their intended audience, you can't really blame them) and chose the name those people use for it rather than how it's actually called. You know the first name and like it. You don't know the second. Why should you be forced to learn it?
As for the unix people, they were there before the Windows people (by about a decade, give or take a few years). Microsoft themselves sold a unix clone for a while until they gave up and started the windows project.
Your own choice? You have all the freedom in the world. You can call them devices, harddisks, apparati, schijven, whatever you prefer. Divide them up in any way you like. There's a big space out there (usually about 2^38 bits) on your disk that are not known to you yet. Figure out what others intend to say and make your own mark (but make sure not to obliterate theirs, as it will make them unstable). You are entirely fully free in your choices. You can do WHATEVER YOU WANT, in whatever way you want to, by doing whatever you like. You have total freedom.
If you've come here to ask us to tell you what to do, that's one thing we can't do. We cannot decide for you what to do. We can help you decide for yourself what you want though. Do you want to appeal to windows-users? If so, try something that looks like A:. Do you want to appeal to linux users? If so, make something similar to the /-system. Do you not care about them but just want the "best" system? Then consider how you want to access your data, not how you at this moment access it.
Good luck and know that we will be here to help you.
)