NTFS, fat32, exfat, could I theoretically create my own filesystem? If so would my computer even be able to work with most files or connect to other devices?
Yeah take a look at TempleOS and it’s filesystem RedSea.
TempleOS is a rabbit hole in of itself, RIP Terry.
Yes you can but be careful to not turn into a murderer on the way.
Best i can do is cereal killer. Nom nom nom
Yes, you can design your own filesystem format and make a driver for that and use it on your computer
It would be insanity, but you could.
Basically: Filesystems are hard to make. Really really hard.
Everyone answered the first part, so as for connecting to other devices, that’s a part of communication protocols which doesn’t concern about what file system you use.
Bluetooth will work with others as long as you have Bluetooth connection protocols, Internet uses TCP/IP, LANs use Ethernet, etc…
Anything can be a hard drive if you are creative enough.
I prefer to save a .jxl to a bird
You can! All of those filesystems you mentioned were created by people, and you can do it just the same way. It is, however, quite a lot of work to get something as good as any of those, let alone better. You’ve also hit on one of the problems - nothing else is going to support your filesystem.
If you’re interested in trying anyway, just out of curiosity, do a little research into FUSE, Filesystem in Userspace. FUSE is a tool that lets you write a filesystem without needing to integrate with the very low-level parts of the operating system, which takes some burden off of your implementation.
Google fails me but my favorite application for FUSE was storing files in headers of ICMP packets using network latency for persistence.
I wonder if anyone has ever passed messages between spacecraft as a peculiar form of delay line memory – or pinged a satellite at a predictable distance as part of a timing system…
No but I look forward to this in the next Andy Weir novel
or pinged a satellite at a predictable distance as part of a timing system…
Isn’t that just GPS in reverse? I mean, same equation, different dependent variable 😁
I vaguely recall what was effectively a delay-line implemented using terrahertz-modulated lasers aimed at the retro reflector on the moon from Earth’s surface. The data storage capacity was something in either the hundreds of GBs or low TBs. But I can’t find the reference.
I think I’ve read about a similar project where someone would send packages across the internet, and use the delay as a form of memory. The capacity wasn’t great, but the idea was really cool regardless.
The harder drive! https://youtube.com/watch?v=JcJSW7Rprio
I love modern art
So a network version of an acoustic delay line?
While you are at it, might concentrate on defects of certain fs you don’t like. Personally I hate the NTFS path length limit. XFS handles it much better overall but individual file names are much more limited because nobody thought about Unicode.
Also you could probably fork some fs like XFS.
This is why I love Lemmy, I can ask this obscure, unrealistic question, and people will still answer it with the “yeah you probably shouldn’t but here’s how you could”
Yea, I made a shitty one in my undergrad Operating Systems class.
Is it foss and can I use it on a floppy disk?
Building a filesystem essentially means linking a directory of filenames to physical blocks and handling CRUD operations. It’s not that hard. The hard part comes when you go beyond the basics to build something efficient with useful features. For example, fast access, journaling and fragmentation are all challenging topics. You can try without messing with the kernel by creating an in-memory filesystem (essentially a block of RAM) and playing with the I/O.
People have and do, but the effort is ridiculous and requires some very high-level computer science or computer engineering skills.
Yes you can, for example here is how to use internet pings as a file system:
yarrick/pingfs: Stores your data in ICMP ping packets https://github.com/yarrick/pingfs
I would really appreciate it if you could provide a different link.
Whoops here you go https://github.com/yarrick/pingfs
That’s how those filesystems came into existence: someone designed them.
Yes, you can write your own filesystem, and use it on your own drives.
Yes, you will continue to be able to use other filesystems, unless you intentionally remove them from the system.
Look up reiserfs.
You can do anything if you put your mind to it.
Like murder your estranged wife and watch support for your FS collapse, right?
Did I stutter?
NTFS, fat32, exfat, could I theoretically create my own filesystem?
Yes. There are many different file systems and you can absolutely create your own. Making one that is reliable and performs well, and/or is something you can actually use for the disk that you boot from, generally involves low-level kernel programming and years of work - and is not exactly a beginner’s programming project.
However, you can also more easily play with implementing filesystems in a high-level language using FUSE.
If so would my computer even be able to work with most files or connect to other devices?
Your computer can use many different filesystems at the same time. You can also store a filesystem in a file on another filesystem, rather than dedicating a partition of a physical disk to it. So, yes, you can use a filesystem of your own design at the same time you are using other storage devices formatted with more common filesystems.
