Raspberry Pi A, User Manual, Page: 69 / 314

C H A P T E R 3
L I N U X S Y S T E M A D M I N I S T R A T I O N
53
Logical Layout
The way Linux deals with drives, files, folders and devices is somewhat different to other
operating systems. Instead of having multiple drives labelled with a letter, everything appears
as a branch beneath what is known as the
root file system .
If you log in to the Pi and type
ls /
you’ll see various directories displayed (see Figure 3-3).
Some of these are areas of the SD card for storing files, while others are virtual directories for
accessing different portions of the operating system or hardware.
Figure 3-3:
A directory
listing for the
Pi’s root file
system
The directories visible on the default Raspbian distribution are as follows:
❍
boot— This contains the Linux kernel and other packages needed to start the Pi.
❍
bin— Operating system-related binary files, like those required to run the GUI, are
stored here.
❍
dev —This is a virtual directory, which doesn’t actually exist on the SD card. All the
devices connected to the system—including storage devices, the sound card and the
HDMI port—can be accessed from here.