In my last article I talked about working with shortcuts in Ubuntu Linux. In this article I want to chat about the Linux file system and where you can expect to find things. Once again, I am basing this on Ubuntu Linux.

If you use Microsoft Windows XP then you know that when you install an application it will, usually but not always, be installed to "C:\Program Files\". The user's data will be in "C:\Documents and Settings\". If you are a Microsoft Vista user, then user data goes to "C:\Users\\".

But how does Linux work? When you install an application or create a new document where does it go? Let's have a look at how Linux stores files in it's filesystem.

Well, firstly I am going to explain that the basic structure of the Linux filesystem originated in the Unix filesystem, which has been around for decades. It has a tree like structure which begins at the root of the filesystem, which is appropriately called "root". This is represented by the character "/", which is the opposite to the Windows folder character which is "\". From "root" we have a number of folders where the system actually resides.

Many of the folders off root will not be used by a normal user, so I won't bother talking much about them, but will mention their basic purpose.

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