ok, this will be the first post of many explaing how stuff in Linux / Unix works
well if i had to pick just one file (ignoring all Kernel stuff) that is most important to a working *nix (all varieties of Linux & Unix) then i would choose the fstab file, because it handles were each filesystem (FS) is and its type and mount options (will become clear later)
the fstab is usually located in /etc/fstab it i separated by each FS using a different line
now as you can see each FS / Partition uses a separate line to define a FS
the first column contains the device location and the second contains the mount point (location were the FS will be when a system has booted
this post is not finished