Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 4th Nov 2010 22:40 UTC, submitted by rhyder
"For a fairly scruffy looking guy, I have a surprisingly healthy approach to organising my files. However, I'm constantly pushing up against the limitations of a system that is based around directories. I'm convinced that Linux needs to make greater use of tagging, but I'm also beginning to wonder if desktop Linux could abandon the hierarchical directory structure entirely."
Thread beginning with comment 448618
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2010-11-05
Your experience was quite different from mine.
When ever a file was saved in a directory, it automatically added the function of inheritance to the file, keying the additional information set for that directory.
Any files added could be searched using those keys.
If you where searching and added a file during the search, the search recognized that file almost immediately.
I did not test the endurance of the system as you may have, but found it very easy to use.
And as a plus, I don't think I ever heard the hard drive make a noise. It was the quietest file system I've ever used.
My only regret was that the file system was not universalized and aggregated over a network of multiple machines during a search.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.More Features »
Sponsored Links
Member since:
2006-05-30
Until AA (or maybe DR 9, I forget) BeOS had a filesystem completely based around database concepts. It universally sucked and was fairly unpopular towards the end of its life(that might have been implementation or whatever, but it regularly required rebuilding indexes and stuff, even to the point where the BootROM had a "REBUILD INDEXES" option.)
The OFS (as BeOS calls it) was all about tagging and not having specific folders and what have you (though it obviously presented a hierarchical file system, I seem to recall that was more a convenience than anything else.)
The BFS we have today was a "compromise" between database like features (extended attributes, query based searches) and trad file systems.
The problem with querying the "database" is that at any one time you are unsure what state the "entries" are in. A trad file system gains speed because you only need to look in a specific location for the directory list (however that has been implemented, as it does vary across various FS.) With a database like approach (even with extended attributes like with BFS) you get a delay, whilst the tagged files are located. Trad file systems work well because there is a very atomic relationship to the physical data and actual structure. To graft something similar on to a FS and keep all of the metadata up to date (therefore, skip what BFS does, and keep the indexed data fresh so that the lookups are fast) causes dreadful synchronisation issues (as Microsoft found when they first decided to graft SQL Server on to a file system. Performance also becomes slower as the data structures containing the file data expand - plus, with attribute based indexing, an index can be added at any time which might cause a complete re-index.
I dunno, I'm not a FS expert, but I've read Domonic Giampaolo's BFS book (and in fact, just spelled his name correctly be reading it off the spine of the book) and I'd recommend anyone interested in this takes a look at it. http://www.nobius.org/~dbg/practical-file-system-design.pdf