[plug] Newbys guide

[Cameron Patrick]

I'm not sure whether I'm really helping here or using my time wisely
writing replies like this; but hopefully it'll be of some help...

Kev wrote:

> >IIRC HPFS is in the kernel. I'll check later.
> 
> Don't you see you've gone and done the PLUG thing.  You're talking right 
> out of my league.  Under different circumstances I'd simply give up and 
> go away.  THIS IS THE PLUG THING!!!  What the hell is IIRC????

Stands for "If I recall correctly", which could be found with some
cursory googling.  A lot of these terms and acronyms can be looked up
in FOLDOC http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/

> What are source trees?????  I'm NOT a programmer!!!!

A source tree refers to the directory structure (or "tree") containing
the source code for a programme; in this case, the Linux kernel.

> What's a kernel module????

A piece of code that can be loaded into the kernel giving it new
functionality.  Like, say, accessing HPFS partitions.  Or a wireless
network card.  Or firewalling ability.  Or whatever.  You'll find that
in a modern Linux system, there are a lot of modules which are loaded
automatically depending on how you have it configured, what software
you run and what hardware is detected in your system when it boots.

This link has a very detailed explanation of what they are, what they
do, and why they exist, although some of it is quite heavy in
technical jargon (including some which I don't understand):
        http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Module-HOWTO/x58.html

(FWIW: I found that link by searching for "linux kernel module"; often
it's worth punching unfamiliar terms into Google and seeing what it
comes up with, though I do realise that often it's hard to find the
good, up-to-date descriptions amongst the chaff on web.)

Cameron.