linHDD
Hard Drive utility
(c)2005 by Paul Sherman


	##############################################################################
	# c2005 by Paul Sherman <psherma1@rochester.rr.com> http://www.pcbypaul.com  #
	#									     #
	# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or		     #
	# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License		     #
	# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2	     #
	# of the License, or (at your option) any later version.		     #
	#									     #
	# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,	     #
	# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of	     #
	# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the		     #
	# GNU General Public License for more details.				     #
	#									     #
	# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License	     #
	# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software		     #
	# Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.#
	##############################################################################



	linHDD is a Hard Drive utility written in
	Python, and making use of GTK and pyGTK.

	Dependencies include:
    	python >= 2.4
    	GTK >= 2.6
    	pyGTK >= 2.6
    	Pango
	and uses the system utilities
	(present on most all Linux machines):
	hdparm, df, mkfs and cfdisk
	
	See the "INSTALL file for help running the program.

	For those a bit weary of the commandline, perhaps a bit miffed by big problems 
	caused by little typos -- but mostly for the many newcomers that have yet to 
	memorize the multitude of wondrous console-based commands, I give you this tool 
	to ease your life just a little bit.

	The initial release only deals with ide hard drives, no scsi/sata -- 
	only because I don't have the board/drive(s) to test them with. Should be a simple 
	matter of adding cat /proc/scsi/scsi stuff. But if I can't test it then I cannot, 
	in good conscious, write it.

	linHDD acts as a fontend for some basic Linux tools, which should all be on 
	your machine already. hdparm gives the detailed drive information shown in 
	the large textbox. Also enables testing the HDD read speed in MB/s. df, 
	(which lists mounted devices), mkfs and its relatives for formatting 
	(supporting ext2, ext3, reiserfs, xfs, jfs -- if they are supported on your machine.) 
	And cfdisk pops up if you choose to partition a drive.

	For safety and sanity I designed linHDD so that it will not allow any 
	partitioning on a mounted Hard Drive. Nor will it allow formatting on a 
	mounted partition. And lastly, ANY partitioning or formatting must be done as root.

	The program allows any user to view drive space and detailed HDD 
	information, as well as run a read-speed test on any drive.


	Any questions/concerns regarding the program can be directed to me at:
	<psherma1@rochester.rr.com>

	My webite is located at <http://www.pcbypaul.com>
