[CLUE-Admin] KISS presentations?

[Lynn Danielson]

Chris K. Chew wrote:
> 
> I had originally imagined the talk to be more about boot loaders in
> general -- why we need them and how they work, followed by how this relates
> to a lilo.conf file.  I might be mistaken, but it seems like most computer
> users, even in the linux crowd, have skipped over primitive computer
> knowledge like POSTing and disk geometry.  I feel that understanding such
> concepts tremendously eases the installation of an unfamiliar OS.

OK.  The above material could make an excellent topic, but in my opinion,
would be difficult to cover the material in the 20-30 minute KISS format.
Do you disagree?  Please tell me more.  If you need more time, I'd be happy
to schedule you for a main session.

I've never paid much attention to disk geometries and POST is typically
something to get through during boot up. (testing my memory, one, more, time.)
To me this stuff is all related to BIOS configuration.  Which I must admit
I've not paid that much attention to.  Although I've never tried it, I've
been told that Linux doesn't need to have the drives configured in BIOS
that the kerenel detects the drives on its own.  But I'm not sure whether
or not the the kernel completely ignores the BIOS drive definitions or not.
Nor do I don't know what other aspects of the BIOS the kernel may ignore.
I do know that there are parameters in lilo.conf for defining disk geometry,
but other than redefining drive ordering, I've never need to play with them.
So, I'd be interested in hearing what you have to say on the topic.  I bet
that others in the group would too.

Lynn