Initial revision

[fspm_howto] / big-howto-template-ld.sgml

<!doctype linuxdoc system>

<!--
The line above starts a comments section


A changelog is useful if you don't use cvs etc.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Changelog:
        010200: Created this Template for big HOWTOs
        070500: Continued writing, no release yet.
        280500: Released. Added examples for diagrams
        050600: Clarified intent, added acknowledgements and note on conventions, moved samples to the end, added table sample, added small section on style
        190600: Updated and corrected copyright section
        240700: Added Troubleshooting section, cleaned up Getting Help and Bits and Pieces, fixed typo

The line below ends the comments section.
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<article>


<title>HOWTO-template for big HOWTOs     <!-- insert your title here -->
<author>Stein Gjoen, <tt/sgjoen@nyx.net/ <!-- insert your name here -->
<date>v0.05, 24 July 2000           <!-- always have a version number and a date -->
<abstract>                          <!-- the abstract: a short and precise description -->
<nidx>template</nidx>    <!-- add indexing keywords as you go along -->
                         <!-- nidx means the indexed word is not in output of main text, only in the index -->
This is a fully working template for big HOWTOs. The source contains
fully described slots to make a convenient framework for you to fill in
for making your own HOWTO, suggesting some names, conventions and contents
for the chapters.
</abstract>



<!-- Table of contents -->
<toc>

<!-- Begin the document -->


<sect>Introduction

<p>
<nidx>template!introduction</nidx>   <!-- here introduction is a sub entry of template, exclamationamrk is separator -->
<em>My comments to the reader is in this style (emphasized)</em>.
Example lines are in plain roman style.
<em>Note that extra comments and advice is found in comments
within the SGML source.</em> <!-- such as this comment -->

For various reasons this brand new release is codenamed
the <bf/release/ release.

New code names will appear as per industry standard guidelines
to emphasize the state-of-the-art-ness of this document.

<p>
This document was written when I read a feedback asking for a
template to fill in to make new HOWTOs. This template is made
by extracting the skeletal structure of the Multi Disk HOWTO
which is a rather large HOWTO.

<em>This Template is a suggestion and a starting point, a check list
and examples for authors; it is not a requirement to be followed
slavishly. Over time HOWTOs might also outgrow any template since
in the end the goal is to inform readers efficiently.</em>

Stating the background is a simple way to getting started
writing the intro.

First of all we need a bit of legalese. Recent development shows it is
quite important.

<sect1>Copyright
<p>
<em>Copyright is a source of much and continuous debate on the
LDP mailing list. For more in depth information please consult
the Manifesto at the </em>
<url url="http://www.LinuxDoc.org/"
    name="LinuxDoc">
site.
<em>
The purpose of having a license is to allow appropriate distribution.
You can use any license that meets the Manifesto.
What follows is a boilerplate licence.
</em>

<!--
This HOWTO is copyrighted 2000 Stein Gjoen. <em>Replace with your name
when you use this skeleton for a new HOWTO</em>

Unless otherwise stated, Linux HOWTO documents are copyrighted by their
respective authors. Linux HOWTO documents may be reproduced and distributed
in whole or in part, in any medium physical or electronic, as long as
this copyright notice is retained on all copies. Commercial redistribution
is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would like to be notified of
any such distributions.

All translations, derivative works, or aggregate works incorporating
any Linux HOWTO documents must be covered under this copyright notice.
That is, you may not produce a derivative work from a HOWTO and impose
additional restrictions on its distribution. Exceptions to these rules
may be granted under certain conditions; please contact the Linux HOWTO
coordinator at the address given below.

In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as
many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright on the
HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute
the HOWTOs.

If you have questions, please contact
at linux-howto@metalab.unc.edu via email.

-->


Copyright (c) 2000 by John Doe (change to your name)
<P>
Please freely copy and distribute (sell or give away) this document in
any format.  It's requested that corrections and/or comments be fowarded
to the document maintainer. You may create a derivative work and distribute
it provided that you:

<itemize>
<item>
Send your derivative work (in the most suitable format such as
sgml) to the LDP (Linux Documentation Project) or the like for posting
on the Internet.  If not the LDP, then let the LDP know where it is
available.
<item>
License the derivative work with this same license or use GPL.
Include a copyright notice and at least a pointer to the license used.
<item>
Give due credit to previous authors and major contributors.
</itemize>

  <P>
If you're considering making a derived work other than a translation,
it's requested that you discuss your plans with the current maintainer.



<sect1>Disclaimer
<p>

Use the information in this document at your own risk. I disavow any
potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the
concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely
at your own risk.

All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted
otherwise.  Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as
affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.

You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before
major installation and backups at regular intervals.


<sect1>News
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!news on</nidx>
<em>This is where you make a summary of what it news. When a HOWTO exceeds
20 pages it takes more than a casual read to find the updates. This is
where you help your readers with that, alerting them to specific and
important news.</em>

This is the second release featuring more samples and an improved structure.
<!-- This is the first release. No news yet. -->
<!-- Note that you might wish to keep old news commented out for reference
and perhaps state news as latest and next to latest update. -->

<em>Tell people where the document home page is so the very newest
release could be found in case of problems with the main
<url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/"
    name="Linux Documentation Project">
homepage.
</em>

The latest version number of this document can be gleaned from my
plan entry if you <!-- do "finger sgjoen@nox.nyx.net" -->
<url url="http://www.cs.indiana.edu/finger/nox.nyx.net/sgjoen"
    name="finger"> my Nyx account.

<em>If you have the capacity it would be nice to make the HOWTO
available in a number of formats.</em>

Also, the latest version of the Template will be available on
my web space on Nyx in a number of formats:
<itemize>
<item>
<url url="http://www.nyx.net/&tilde;sgjoen/template.html"
    name="HTML">.

<item>
<url url="http://www.nyx.net/&tilde;sgjoen/template.txt"
    name="plain ASCII text">.

<!-- consider PostScript and perhaps also PDF formates
<item>
<url url="http://www.nyx.net/&tilde;sgjoen/disk-US.ps.gz"
    name="compressed postscript US letter format">.

<item>
<url url="http://www.nyx.net/&tilde;sgjoen/disk-A4.ps.gz"
    name="compressed postscript European A4 format">.
-->
<item>
<url url="http://www.nyx.net/&tilde;sgjoen/template.sgml"
    name="SGML source">.
</itemize>

<em>Note that paper sizes vary in the world, A4 and US letter differ
significantly.</em>

<sect1>Credits
<p>
<em>It is always nice to acknowledge people who help you with inputs, it
is also regarded by many as important in the Linux world new economy</em>

In this version I have the pleasure of acknowledging

<tscreen><verb>
corff (at) ZEDAT.FU-Berlin.DE
dwood (at) plugged.net.au
lcl (at) spiretech.com
kgh12351 (at) nifty.ne.jp
dave (at) lafn.org
name (at) site.org
</verb></tscreen>

<em>Scramble the addresses so email harvesters cannot get
addresses from your HOWTO and then spam people. That has
happened in the past.</em>


<sect1>Translations
<p>
Not everyone speaks English, pointers to translations are nice.
Also your translators tend to give very important inputs.
<itemize>
<item><url url="http://linuxdoc.org/"
    name="German Translation"> by <tt/someone (at) somewhere.de/

<item><url url="http://www.swe-doc.linux.nu"
    name="Swedish Translation "> by <tt/someone (at) somewhere.se/

<item><url url="http://linuxdoc.org/"
    name="French Translation"> by <tt/someone (at) somewhere.fr/

<item><url url="http://linuxdoc.org/"
    name="Chinese Translation"> by <tt/someone (at) somewhere.cn/

<item><url url="http://linuxdoc.org/"
    name="Italian Translation"> by <tt/someone (at) somewhere.it/
</itemize>

 


Also Somecompany is acknowledged for sending me documentation
on their gizmos as well as permission to quote from the material.
These quotes have been approved before appearing here and will
be clearly labelled.

Any comments or suggestions can be mailed to my mail address on Nyx:
<htmlurl url="mailto:sgjoen@nyx.net/"
    name="sgjoen@nyx.net">.


<p>


<!--
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
 -->


<sect>Structure
<p>
<em>A quick overview on how all parts fit together in the structure.
Here I use an example from my Multi Disk HOWTO.</em>

As this type of document is supposed to be as much for learning
as a technical reference document I have rearranged the structure
to this end. For the designer of a system it is more useful to
have the information presented in terms of the goals of this exercise
than from the point of view of the logical layer structure of the
devices themselves. Nevertheless this document would not be complete
without such a layer structure the computer field is so full of, so
I will include it here as an introduction to how it works.

<sect1>Logical structure
<p>
<nidx>disk!structure, I/O subsystem</nidx>
This is based on how each layer access each other, traditionally
with the application on top and the physical layer on the bottom.
It is quite useful to show the interrelationship between each of
the layers used in controlling drives.
<tscreen><verb>
        ___________________________________________________________
        |__     File structure          ( /usr /tmp etc)        __|
        |__     File system             (ext2fs, vfat etc)      __|
        |__     Volume management       (AFS)                   __|
        |__     RAID, concatenation     (md)                    __|
        |__     Device driver           (SCSI, IDE etc)         __|
        |__     Controller              (chip, card)            __|
        |__     Connection              (cable, network)        __|
        |__     Drive                   (magnetic, optical etc) __|
        -----------------------------------------------------------

</verb></tscreen>

In the above diagram both volume management and RAID and concatenation
are optional layers. The 3 lower layers are in hardware.
All parts are discussed at length later on in this document.

<sect1>Document structure
<p>
Most users start out with a given set of hardware and some plans on
what they wish to achieve and how big the system should be. This is
the point of view I will adopt in this document in presenting the
material, starting out with hardware, continuing with design constraints
before detailing the design strategy that I have found to work well.
I have used this both for my own personal computer at home, a multi
purpose server at work and found it worked quite well. In addition my
Japanese co-worker in this project have applied the same strategy on
a server in an academic setting with similar success.

Finally at the end I have detailed some configuration tables for use
in your own design. If you have any comments regarding this or notes
from your own design work I would like to hear from you so this
document can be upgraded.
        
<sect1>Reading plan
<p>
<em>As you go beyond 50 pages or so there will be a lot of text that
experts and even the experienced do not need to read. Keeping in mind
that we wish to care for all kinds of people in the Linux world we
might have to make a reading plan. Again example follows from my
HOWTO.</em>

Although not the biggest HOWTO it is nevertheless rather big already
and I have been requested to make a reading plan to make it possible
to cut down on the volume

<descrip>
<tag/Expert/ (aka the elite). If you are familiar with Linux as well
as disk drive technologies you will find most of what you need in the
appendices. Additionally you are recommended to read the FAQ and the
<ref id="bits-n-pieces" name="Bits'n'pieces">
chapter.

<tag/Experienced/ (aka Competent). If you are familiar with computers
in general you can go straight to the chapters on
<ref id="technologies" name="technologies">
and continue from there on.

<tag/Newbie/ (mostly harmless). You just have to read the whole thing.
Sorry. In addition you are also recommended to read all the other disk
related HOWTOs.
</descrip>


<sect>Technologies <label id="technologies">
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!technologies</nidx>
<em>Introduction of technology for the newbie with a few
references to detailled works. Remember that not everyone
has Internet access so you have to explain in sufficient
details so even the newbie can get by.</em>


<sect>Implementation
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!implementation</nidx>
<em>Now your readers should have a sufficient knowledge of what
this is about and now we come to the hands on of implementing
your clever scheme.</em>


<sect>Maintenance
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!maintenance</nidx>
<em>Few systems and designs are maintenance free, here you explain
how to keep the system running.</em>


<sect>Advanced Issues
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!advanced topics</nidx>
<em>You can get most things up and running in a quick and dirty
fashion, useful for testing and getting used to how things work.
For more serious use you would need to be a little more advanced.
This is the place to explain it all, if applicable.</em>


<sect>Troubleshooting <label id="troubleshooting">
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!troubleshooting</nidx>
<em>Many problems can be solved by a simple structured approach,
analysing the symptoms, finding the cause and determining the
solution. The following is an exerpts from the Multi Disk HOWTO.</em>

<sect1>During Installation

<sect2>Locating Disks
<p>
<descrip>
<tag/Symptoms/Cannot find disk
<tag/Problem/How to find what drive letter corresponds to what disk/partition
<tag/Solution/Remember Linux does not use drive letters but device names. More
information can be found in section "Drive names".
</descrip>
<p>
<descrip>
<tag/Symptoms/Cannot partition disk
<tag/Problem/Most likely wrong input to the command line for <tt/fdisk/ or similar tool.
<tag/Solution/Remember to use <tt>/dev/hda</tt> rather than just <tt>hda</tt>. Also
do not use numbers behind <tt>hda</tt>, those indicate partitions.
</descrip>


<sect2>Formatting
<p>
<descrip>
<tag/Symptoms/Cannot format disk.
<tag/Problem/Strictly speaking you format partitions not disks.
<tag/Solution/Make sure you add the partition number after the device name
of the disk, for instance <tt>/dev/hda1</tt> to the command line.
</descrip>


<sect>Further Information
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!information resources</nidx>
<em>A HOWTO cannot describe everything, some times the user
has to venture out on th enet to get more information or just
updates. Here is the place to tell where and how. Again examples
from my HOWTO, replace as needed.</em>
There is wealth of information one should go through when setting up a
major system, for instance for a news or general Internet service provider. 
The FAQs in the following groups are useful:

<sect1>News groups
<p>
<nidx>disk!information resources!news groups</nidx>
Some of the most interesting news groups are:
<itemize>
<item><url url="news:comp.arch.storage"                   name="Storage">.
<item><url url="news:comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage"    name="PC storage">.
<item><url url="news:alt.filesystems.afs"                 name="AFS">.
<item><url url="news:comp.periphs.scsi"                   name="SCSI">.
<item><url url="news:comp.os.linux.setup"                 name="Linux setup">.
</itemize>

Most newsgroups have their own FAQ that are designed to answer most of your
questions, as the name Frequently Asked Questions indicate. Fresh versions
should be posted regularly to the relevant newsgroups. If you cannot find it
in your news spool you could go directly to the
<url url="ftp://rtfm.mit.edu"
    name="FAQ main archive FTP site">. The WWW versions can be browsed at
<url url="http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/FAQ-List.html"
    name="FAQ main archive WWW site">.

Some FAQs have their own home site, of particular interest here are
<itemize>
<item><url url="http://www.paranoia.com/&tilde;filipg/HTML/LINK/F&lowbar;SCSI.html"
          name="SCSI FAQ"> and
<item><url url="http://alumni.caltech.edu/&tilde;rdv/comp&lowbar;arch&lowbar;storage/FAQ-1.html"
          name="comp.arch.storage FAQ">.
</itemize>


<sect1>Mailing Lists
<p>
<nidx>disk!information resources!mailing lists</nidx>
These are low noise channels mainly for developers. Think
twice before asking questions there as noise delays the development.
Some relevant lists are <tt/linux-raid/, <tt/linux-scsi/ and <tt/linux-ext2fs/.
Many of the most useful mailing lists run on the <tt>vger.rutgers.edu</tt> server
but this is notoriously overloaded, so try to find a mirror. There are some lists mirrored at
<url url="http://www.redhat.com"
    name="The Redhat Home Page">.
Many lists are also accessible at
<url url="http://www.linuxhq.com/lnxlists"
    name="linuxhq">,
and the rest of the web site is a gold mine of useful information.

If you want to find out more about the lists available you can send a message
with the line <tt/lists/ to the list server at vger.rutgers.edu (
<htmlurl url="mailto:majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu"
        name="majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu">).
If you need help on how to use the mail server just send the line <tt/help/
to the same address.
Due to the popularity of this server it is likely it takes a bit to time before
you get a reply or even get messages after you send a <tt/subscribe/ command.

There is also a number of other majordomo list servers that can be of interest
such as the EATA driver list (
<htmlurl url="mailto:linux-eata@mail.uni-mainz.de"
        name="linux-eata@mail.uni-mainz.de">)
and the Intelligent IO list
<htmlurl url="mailto:linux-i2o@dpt.com"
        name="linux-i2o@dpt.com">.

Mailing lists are in a state of flux but you can find links to a number of
interesting lists from the
<url url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/"
    name="Linux Documentation Homepage">.


<sect1>HOWTO
<p>
<nidx>disk!information resources!HOWTOs</nidx>
These are intended as the primary starting points to
get the background information as well as show you how to solve
a specific problem.
Some relevant HOWTOs are <tt/Bootdisk/, <tt/Installation/,  <tt/SCSI/ and <tt/UMSDOS/.
The main site for these is the
<url url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/"
    name="LDP archive">
at Metalab (formerly known as Sunsite).

There is a a new HOWTO out that deals with setting up a
DPT RAID system, check out the
<url url="http://www.ram.org/computing/linux/dpt&lowbar;raid.html"
    name="DPT RAID HOWTO homepage">.



<sect1>Mini-HOWTO
<p>
<nidx>disk!information resources!mini-HOWTOs</nidx>
These are the smaller free text relatives to the HOWTOs.
Some relevant mini-HOWTOs are
<tt/Backup-With-MSDOS/, <tt/Diskless/, <tt/LILO/, <tt/Large Disk/,
<tt/Linux+DOS+Win95+OS2/, <tt/Linux+OS2+DOS/, <tt/Linux+Win95/,
<tt/NFS-Root/, <tt/Win95+Win+Linux/, <tt/ZIP Drive/ .
You can find these at the same place as the HOWTOs, usually in a sub directory
called <tt/mini/. Note that these are scheduled to be converted into SGML and
become proper HOWTOs in the near future.

The old <tt/Linux Large IDE mini-HOWTO/ is no longer valid, instead read
<tt>/usr/src/linux/drivers/block/README.ide</tt> or
<tt>/usr/src/linux/Documentation/ide.txt</tt>.

<sect1>Local Resources
<p>
<nidx>disk!information resources!local</nidx>
In most distributions of Linux there is a document directory installed,
have a look in the
<htmlurl url="file:///usr/doc"
    name="/usr/doc"> directory.
where most packages store their main documentation and README files etc.
Also you will here find the HOWTO archive (
<htmlurl url="file:///usr/doc/HOWTO"
    name="/usr/doc/HOWTO">)
of ready formatted HOWTOs
and also the mini-HOWTO archive (
<url url="file:///usr/doc/HOWTO/mini"
    name="/usr/doc/HOWTO/mini">)
of plain text documents.

Many of the configuration files mentioned earlier can be found in the
<htmlurl url="file:///etc"
    name="/etc">
directory. In particular you will want to work with the
<htmlurl url="file:///etc/fstab"
    name="/etc/fstab">
file that sets up the mounting of partitions
and possibly also
<htmlurl url="file:///etc/mdtab"
    name="/etc/mdtab">
file that is used for the <tt/md/ system to set up RAID.

The kernel source in
<url url="file:///usr/src/linux"
    name="/usr/src/linux">
is, of course, the ultimate documentation. In other
words, <em>use the source, Luke</em>.
It should also be pointed out that the kernel comes not only with
source code which is even commented (well, partially at least)
but also an informative
<url url="file:///usr/src/linux/Documentation"
    name="documentation directory">.
If you are about to ask any questions about the kernel you should
read this first, it will save you and many others a lot of time
and possibly embarrassment.

Also have a look in your system log file (
<htmlurl url="file:///var/log/messages"
    name="/var/log/messages">)
to see what is going on and in particular how the booting went if
too much scrolled off your screen. Using <tt>tail -f /var/log/messages</tt>
in a separate window or screen will give you a continuous update of what is
going on in your system.

You can also take advantage of the 
<htmlurl url="file:///proc"
    name="/proc">
file system that is a window into the inner workings of your system.
Use <tt/cat/ rather than <tt/more/ to view the files as they are 
reported as being zero length. Reports are that <tt/less/ works well here.


<sect1>Web Pages
<p>
<nidx>disk!information resources!WWW</nidx>
<nidx>disk!information resources!web pages</nidx>
There is a huge number of informative web pages out there and by their very
nature they change quickly so don't be too surprised if these links become
quickly outdated.

A good starting point is of course the
<url url="http://www.linuxdoc.org/"
    name="Linux Documentation Project"> home page,
an information central for documentation, project pages and much, much more.

Please let me know if you have any other leads that can be of interest.


<sect>Getting Help
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!assistance, obtaining</nidx>
<em>Your reader might still end up in a situation where extra help is
needed from someone else, perhaps on the net. In order to get fast and
efficient help it is best first to get some details on your system.
What details matter depends on type of problem. For disk problems you 
need to know the disk controllers etc, for networking problems you
have to know what ethernet card is used and version of drivers etc.
Here is the place to suggest what details to have ready when asking
for help.</em>

In the end you might find yourself unable to solve your problems and need
help from someone else. The most efficient way is either to ask someone
local or in your nearest Linux user group, search the web for the nearest
one.

Another possibility is to ask on Usenet News in one of the many, many
newsgroups available. The problem is that these have such a high
volume and noise (called low signal-to-noise ratio) that your question
can easily fall through unanswered.

No matter where you ask it is important to ask well or you will not be
taken seriously. Saying just <it/my disk does not work/ is not going
to help you and instead the noise level is increased even further and if
you are lucky someone will ask you to clarify.

Instead describe your problems in some detail that
will enable people to help you. The problem could lie somewhere you did
not expect. Therefore you are advised to list up the following information
on your system:

<descrip>
<tag/Hardware/
<itemize>
<item>Processor
<item>DMA
<item>IRQ
<item>Chip set (LX, BX etc)
<item>Bus (ISA, VESA, PCI etc)
<item>Expansion cards used (Disk controllers, video, IO etc)
</itemize>

<tag/Software/
<itemize>
<item>BIOS (On motherboard and possibly SCSI host adapters)
<item>LILO, if used
<item>Linux kernel version as well as possible modifications and patches
<item>Kernel parameters, if any
<item>Software that shows the error (with version number or date)
</itemize>

<tag/Peripherals/
<itemize>
<item>Type of disk drives with manufacturer name, version and type
<item>Other relevant peripherals connected to the same busses
</itemize>

</descrip>

Remember that booting text is logged to <tt>/var/log/messages</tt> which can
answer most of the questions above. Obviously if the drives fail you might not
be able to get  the log saved to disk but you can at least scroll back up the
screen using the <tt/SHIFT/ and <tt/PAGE UP/ keys. It may also be useful to
include part of this in your request for help but do not go overboard, keep
it <em/brief/ as a complete log file dumped to Usenet News is more than a
little annoying.


<sect>Concluding Remarks
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!conclusion</nidx>
<em>Just summing up... Also a place for general recommendations.</em>


<sect>Questions and Answers
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!FAQ</nidx>
<nidx>(your index root)!frequently asked questions</nidx>
<em>Check the newsgroups and try to determine some frequent
problems and cover them here. Again an example from my HOWTO.</em>

This is just a collection of what I believe are the most common
questions people might have. Give me more feedback and I will
turn this section into a proper FAQ.

<itemize>

<item>Q:How many physical disk drives (spindles) does a Linux system need?
<p>
A: Linux can run just fine on one drive (spindle).  Having enough 
RAM (around 32 MB, and up to 64 MB) to support swapping is a 
better price/performance choice than getting a second disk.
(E)IDE disk is usually cheaper (but a little slower) than SCSI.

<item>Q: Are there any disadvantages in this scheme?
<p>
A: There is only a minor snag: if even a single partition overflows
the system might stop working properly. The severity depends of course
on what partition is affected. Still this is not hard to monitor, the
command <tt/df/ gives you a good overview of the situation. Also check
the swap partition(s) using <tt/free/ to make sure you are not about
to run out of virtual memory.

<item>Q: OK, so should I split the system into as many partitions
as possible for a single drive?
<p>
A: No, there are several disadvantages to that. First of all maintenance
becomes needlessly complex and you gain very little in this. In fact if your
partitions are too big you will seek across larger areas than needed.
This is a balance and dependent on the number of physical drives you have.

</itemize>
<em>(rest deleted.)</em>

<sect>Bits and Pieces <label id="bits-n-pieces">
<p>
<nidx>disk!miscellaneous</nidx>
<em>This is basically a section where I stuff all the bits I have not yet
decided where should go, yet that I feel is worth knowing about. It is
a kind of transient area.</em>

<sect>Examples
<p>
<nidx>(your index root)!examples</nidx>
<em>Example designs and sample configuration files and other
relevant details is always handy. Keep large samples at the
end to avoid breaking the flow of the HOWTO reading. Small
samples are useful within the main body of the HOWTO.</em>


<sect>Samples <label id="samples">
<p>
<em>This section gives some simple SGML examples you could copy.
Read the source to see how it was done.</em>

<!-- you can also have comments in the SGML source -->

<sect1>Lists
<p>
<em>Lists appears many times, in a number of formats:</em>
<p>
Unlisted bullets:
<p>
<itemize>
<item>Apples
<item>Oranges
<item>Bananas
</itemize>
<p>
Tagged lists
<p>
<descrip>
<tag/Fruits/ such as apples, oranges, and more.
<tag/Nuts/ Don't eat too many; you are what you eat.
<tag/Vegetables/ Potatos are spelled with care.
</descrip>


<sect1>Links
<p>
<em>Links can be used within your documents
to refer to different sections and chapters or
to refer to documents external to yours.</em>
<p>
Internal links
<p>
Click on
<ref id="samples" name="this">
link to jump to the top of this chapter. Note the
anchor at the section tag.

<p>
External links
<p>
Click on
<url url="http://www.LinuxDoc.org/"
    name="this">
link to jump to the LDP site.
Note you can use http, ftp, news and other protocols
in the locator if required.
Note that the character &tilde; has to be escaped, see the source
for details.
<!-- &tilde; is the way of writing the tilde character -->

<sect1>Images
<p>
<em>Avoid diagrams if possible as this cannot be rendered in the
ascii outputs which are still needed by many around the world.</em>

<figure loc="tbp">
<eps file="somegraphics.eps">
<img src="somegraphics.jpg">
<caption>Graphics Test Image</caption>
</figure>

<!-- <img file="/usr/src/linux/logo.gif"> -->


<sect>Table Samples <label id="tblsamples">
<p>
<em>This section gives an example of writing a table.</em>

<table loc=p>
<tabular ca="rll">
Line No.<colsep>Country   <colsep>Capital     <rowsep><hline>
1 <colsep>Norway   <colsep>Oslo       <rowsep>
2 <colsep>Japan    <colsep>Tokyo      <rowsep>
3 <colsep>Finland  <colsep>Helsinki   <rowsep>
</tabular>
<caption>Some capitals</caption>
</table>


<sect>Notes on Style <label id="style">
<p>
<em>
Not much here yet but I would like to suggest a few points.
</em>


<descrip>
<tag/Tags/ Try to use tags extensively
<tag/Types/ Try using functional tags such as em rather than it.
<tag/Files/ Try using functional links to files such as
<tt><htmlurl url="file:///usr/doc"   name="/usr/doc"></tt>
rather than just /usr/doc.
<tag/Commands/ Try to refer to man pages including section number
<tt>df (1)</tt> rather than just df.
</descrip>


</article>