On 27.10.2021 at 06:36, philo scribbled:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have
the need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to
why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't
mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
<https://techreport.com/news/3464145/linux-dropping-floppy-drive-support/>
Aragorn wrote:
On 27.10.2021 at 06:36, philo scribbled:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have
the need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to
why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't
mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
<https://techreport.com/news/3464145/linux-dropping-floppy-drive-support/> >>
Just go legacy, if you need a setup to extract old floppies...
<https://soft.lafibre.info/>
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have the
need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to why
, when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't mount
it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
On 10/27/21 9:29 AM, Jonathan N. Little wrote:
Aragorn wrote:
On 27.10.2021 at 06:36, philo scribbled:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have
the need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to
why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't
mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
<https://techreport.com/news/3464145/linux-dropping-floppy-drive-support/> >>>
Just go legacy, if you need a setup to extract old floppies...
<https://soft.lafibre.info/>
The good old days.
Still recall getting that Linux For Dummies book along with the Red Hat
5.2 CD.
From the time I got it until I actually had a system fully up and
running was six months.
Years later I re-visited the process of installing RH 5.2 and found
there was what I think was a bug in the X-Windows installer.
I had to do it trial and error but no matter what configuration I tried, nothing worked.
Turned out that if one guessed wrong the first time, a 2nd try did not over-write the original configuration and one had to manually delete it.
As a newbie, way too big of a problem.
Sure learned a lot though
philo wrote:
On 10/27/21 9:29 AM, Jonathan N. Little wrote:
Aragorn wrote:
On 27.10.2021 at 06:36, philo scribbled:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have
the need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to
why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't >>>>> mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
<https://techreport.com/news/3464145/linux-dropping-floppy-drive-support/> >>>>
Just go legacy, if you need a setup to extract old floppies...
<https://soft.lafibre.info/>
The good old days.
Still recall getting that Linux For Dummies book along with the Red Hat
5.2 CD.
From the time I got it until I actually had a system fully up and
running was six months.
Years later I re-visited the process of installing RH 5.2 and found
there was what I think was a bug in the X-Windows installer.
I had to do it trial and error but no matter what configuration I tried,
nothing worked.
Turned out that if one guessed wrong the first time, a 2nd try did not
over-write the original configuration and one had to manually delete it.
As a newbie, way too big of a problem.
Sure learned a lot though
Got the book and got the CDs The Guinness version if I recall.
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have
the need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to
why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't
mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
On 27/10/2021 07:36, philo wrote:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have the
need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to
why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't
mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
What have you tried?
Does dmesg report anything when the disk is inserted? Is there an
appropriate /dev/fd0 device? What's the output from mount?
Jonathan N. Little wrote:
philo wrote:
On 10/27/21 9:29 AM, Jonathan N. Little wrote:
Aragorn wrote:
On 27.10.2021 at 06:36, philo scribbled:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have >>>>>> the need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to >>>>>> why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't >>>>>> mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
<https://techreport.com/news/3464145/linux-dropping-floppy-drive-support/>
Just go legacy, if you need a setup to extract old floppies...
<https://soft.lafibre.info/>
The good old days.
Still recall getting that Linux For Dummies book along with the Red Hat
5.2 CD.
From the time I got it until I actually had a system fully up and
running was six months.
Years later I re-visited the process of installing RH 5.2 and found
there was what I think was a bug in the X-Windows installer.
I had to do it trial and error but no matter what configuration I tried, >>> nothing worked.
Turned out that if one guessed wrong the first time, a 2nd try did not
over-write the original configuration and one had to manually delete it. >>>
As a newbie, way too big of a problem.
Sure learned a lot though
Got the book and got the CDs The Guinness version if I recall.
Also learned to read man pages to really learn how to edit conf files
and properly setup servers over getting really f'up with linuxconf...
Just checked my disks, must have gotten a later print because the disks
are RH7.0
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have the need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
On 10/27/2021 2:36 AM, philo wrote:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have the
need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to
why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't
mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=174605
The thing is, the various hardware interfaces behave in
different ways. A SCSI floppy, a USB floppy, as the above
link mentions, they "abstract away" a lot of the floppy detail,
and then the device looks like a mass storage device
(with perhaps, a removable media status).
This can change the behavior of a formatting command. For example,
when run on top of the "real" SuperIO floppy interface, the
command is supposed to probe and figure out sizing on its own.
That's why it doesn't need parameters, when on top of real hardware.
sudo mkfs.msdos -n FLOPNAME /dev/fd0
If you ran Windows in a virtual machine, had a fake floppy interface
set up, you'd attach a 1440K.img to that interface, select "format",
and then the details of that .img file should be the same as when
the above sudo command is issued. Then, on the Linux side, to your
blank floppy, you should be able to do
sudo dd if=1440K.img of=/dev/fd0 # 1,474,560 bytes
That sort of thing. And then, it would not matter about hardware
abstraction. If the drive was a USB floppy, "dd"ing your reference
formatted floppy image over to the device, should prepare it with
the desired FAT file system.
*******
In the old days, we would use this on boxen at work.
https://linux.die.net/man/1/mtools
There was a time, when there wasn't a "mounting" going on.
Today, I think it's different/better. It does some sort of
mount now, and isn't as fussy as it used to be.
I cannot refresh my memory, now that the Typing Machine has
died. I've lost my last native floppy machine, so I can't even
test. I have a USB floppy, but there's no point plugging it in
for these sorts of tests -- I need a real SuperIO interface
to verify this stuff works as claimed.
I can simulate it in VirtualBox, which might come close to
doing the right things.
disktype floppy.img
--- floppy.img
Regular file, size 1.406 MiB (1474560 bytes)
FAT12 file system (hints score 5 of 5)
Volume size 1.390 MiB (1457664 bytes, 2847 clusters of 512 bytes)
Volume name "FLOP"
I got it working in VirtualBox, and the format command works as expected.
sudo mkfs.msdos -n FLOP /dev/fd0
The disktype command then returns the right stuff.
VirtualBox has a bug in it (5.2.12 win), where if you create
a floppy interface, then add a floppy drive, Virtualbox crashes.
It does this, because it tries to sniff for a physical floppy and
there is none (as mentioned above). You have to plug in a USB floppy
*with a diskette in it*, so that VirtualBox will have something
to sniff and won't crash. Then, and only then, can you point it at
a 1440K floppy.img file.
[Picture] "Not as innocent as it looks..."
https://i.postimg.cc/CK1CqtWC/virtualbox-floppy-emulation.gif
Paul
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can'tWhat command did you use, what are the error messages?
mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Did not use a command, just clicked on the drive from the GUIThen please try mounting it via the mount command.
Am Wed, 27 Oct 2021 06:36:39 +0000
schrieb philo@news.novabbs.com (philo):
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can'tWhat command did you use, what are the error messages?
mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Does the drive itself work?
On 10/27/21 1:04 PM, Marco Moock wrote:
Am Wed, 27 Oct 2021 12:53:16 -0500
schrieb philo <philo@privacy.net>:
Did not use a command, just clicked on the drive from the GUIThen please try mounting it via the mount command.
mount /dev/fdX /mnt
Will give it a try next time I have that machine on the bench.
Now I have another project: A guy wants me to get 16 old Mac's out of
his attic!
Am Wed, 27 Oct 2021 12:53:16 -0500
schrieb philo <philo@privacy.net>:
Did not use a command, just clicked on the drive from the GUIThen please try mounting it via the mount command.
mount /dev/fdX /mnt
On 10/27/21 9:50 AM, Chris wrote:
On 27/10/2021 07:36, philo wrote:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have
the need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to
why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't
mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
What have you tried?
Does dmesg report anything when the disk is inserted? Is there an
appropriate /dev/fd0 device? What's the output from mount?
I am not on that machine but by default I could mount the drive but not
ready anything on it.
I tired several known-good floppies with data on them.
By the time I tweaked the settings I could no longer even mount it.
On 27/10/2021 16:23, philo wrote:
On 10/27/21 9:50 AM, Chris wrote:
On 27/10/2021 07:36, philo wrote:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have the need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
What have you tried?
Does dmesg report anything when the disk is inserted? Is there an appropriate /dev/fd0 device? What's the output from mount?
I am not on that machine but by default I could mount the drive but not ready anything on it.
Not even as root? Which fs did you specify? You may need to set specific uid and gid options to mount.
On 10/28/2021 8:55 AM, Chris wrote:
On 27/10/2021 16:23, philo wrote:
On 10/27/21 9:50 AM, Chris wrote:
On 27/10/2021 07:36, philo wrote:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have
the need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to
why , when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't
mount it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
What have you tried?
Does dmesg report anything when the disk is inserted? Is there an
appropriate /dev/fd0 device? What's the output from mount?
I am not on that machine but by default I could mount the drive but
not ready anything on it.
Not even as root? Which fs did you specify? You may need to set
specific uid and gid options to mount.
ls /dev # Check for a floppy device
sudo disktype /dev/fd0 # Verify it is FAT12
sudo mkdir /mnt/myfloppy # Make a mount point
sudo mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /mnt/myfloppy # Try out your simplified command
ls -al /mnt/myfloppy # check results.
# If empty, it might not
have mounted.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/GmXD60L9/floppy-mount.gif
Seems to be owned as root, so further modification
of the mount command might be required, for easy usage.
I checked /etc/passwd for numeric IDs. Userids generally
can start around 1000, but on some distros you might not
be exactly 1000, so "don't guess".
sudo mount -t vfat -o uid=1000,gid=1000 /dev/fd0 /mnt/myfloppy
ls -al /mnt/myfloppy
sudo umount /mnt/myfloppy
If the "disktype" command does not agree it is FAT12
(not rated 5 of 5), then that could be a problem too.
Paul
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have the
need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to why
, when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't mount
it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
Am Wed, 27 Oct 2021 06:36:39 +0000 schrieb philo:
I work on quite a few antique computers and occasionally will have the
need to read or format a floppy.
Though of course I can do so from DOS or Windows, I'm curious as to why
, when I cannot do so from Linux.
I've played with all the settings I can think of and either can't mount
it at all, or if I can...cannot access the data.
Not a major big deal but still curious .
I just found mtools to work with DOS Disks. It ist still present in
actual Ubuntu.
| Sysop: | Keyop |
|---|---|
| Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
| Users: | 293 |
| Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
| Uptime: | 232:12:56 |
| Calls: | 6,624 |
| Files: | 12,171 |
| Messages: | 5,319,537 |
