Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
Denniston, Todd A CIV NAVSURFWARCENDIV Crane wrote: >> From: m.r...@5-cent.us [mailto:m.r...@5-cent.us] >> Frank Cox wrote: >> > On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:19:33 -0400 >> > m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: >> > >> >> Hmmm... didn't see it mounted, but I'll try more tonight. Last night >> >> included a) playing with system, and b) finishing up our federal >> >> taxes >> I also can't seem to find the USB 3.5" drive I borrowed - lsusb sees it >> (at least since the last reboot), but trying to find it to mount it is >> something I'm still digging at, and I doubt mtools can find it. > > Note: the USB floppy may be showing up as /dev/sd[bcd...n] > At least that is what happened when I used one on RHEL/CentOS5 a while > back. I would think, but don't remember seeing it. > > I suggest unplugging the USB floppy, execute `ls /dev/sd* /dev/fd*`, > plug it in and execute `ls /dev/sd* /dev/fd*`, and then note the > differences. Think I tried that, as well as leaving the USB drive in when I bounced the system to reset the BIOS. USB storage annoys me, half the time it's try to find it, the camera card being a prime example. I'll try it this evening, since we *finally* finished all the taxes last night (MD is nasty: their downloadable pdf forms are encrypted, so not only is it not saveable after you enter data, like the fed forms are, but you cannot use either print to CUPS-pdf, nor can you print to a file, then use ps2pdf) > > {there are probably hal/udev/inotify games you could do, but I like old > fashioned things.} Hmmm, don't know them. rescan-scsi-bus... no, I don't *think* that will register the USB, and I think I mentioned that lsusb shows me the drive, but I can't identify the driver. Now that I have some time, I'll dig deeper. > > Even when this disclaimer is not here: > I am not a contracting officer. I do not have authority to make or modify > the terms of any contract. I have a very long disclaimer from my late wife at home, along the lines of "this does not reflect the views of my employer, the US government, or even the view out my window (which I don't have)" mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
> -Original Message- > From: m.r...@5-cent.us [mailto:m.r...@5-cent.us] > Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2013 12:21 > To: CentOS mailing list > Subject: Re: [CentOS] floppy drives > > Frank Cox wrote: > > On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:19:33 -0400 > > m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > > > >> Hmmm... didn't see it mounted, but I'll try more tonight. Last night > >> included a) playing with system, and b) finishing up our federal > >> taxes > > > > If you're going to use mtools to do your copying, you don't need to > mount > > the disks. > > mtools is a desperation move, since I haven't actually read anything > from > anything yet. As I mentioned, I *may* have an old drive head cleaner > somewhere - since it's not been used in about a decade, I'm thinking of > corrosion or crud. > > I also can't seem to find the USB 3.5" drive I borrowed - lsusb sees it > (at least since the last reboot), but trying to find it to mount it is > something I'm still digging at, and I doubt mtools can find it. > > mark > Note: the USB floppy may be showing up as /dev/sd[bcd...n] At least that is what happened when I used one on RHEL/CentOS5 a while back. I suggest unplugging the USB floppy, execute `ls /dev/sd* /dev/fd*`, plug it in and execute `ls /dev/sd* /dev/fd*`, and then note the differences. {there are probably hal/udev/inotify games you could do, but I like old fashioned things.} Even when this disclaimer is not here: I am not a contracting officer. I do not have authority to make or modify the terms of any contract. ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives [gone OT, M$ Word 2010 rant]
James B. Byrne wrote: > > On Tue, April 9, 2013 13:46, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: >> Fred Smith wrote: >>> On Tue, Apr 09, 2013 at 12:21:10PM -0400, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: Frank Cox wrote: > On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:19:33 -0400 > m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > >> Hmmm... didn't see it mounted, but I'll try more tonight. Last >> night included a) playing with system, and b) finishing up our federal >> taxes >> I also can't seem to find the USB 3.5" drive I borrowed - lsusb sees it (at least since the last reboot), but trying to find it to mount it is something I'm still digging at, and I doubt mtools can find it. >> Even if there's nothing about floppies in /etc/fstab? Or is that >> something I need to configure for autofs? >>> > Just to obtain some empirical data I have connected a usb 3.5 FDD unit > to my CentOS-6.4 workstation and inserted a previously unused 3.5 > HDFD. The Nautilus system automatically opened a window on my desktop > and I was able to copy and removed files from the diskette without any > difficulty. > I need to look at this more closely, which I'll do this evening. Last night, I didn't get to touch it - got one state and one commonwealth worth of taxes to finish, and then there was the document that I had to get to my (contracting co) manager, whose formatting was screwed up in libreoffice, and I *had* to use my work laptop and M$ Office, and Word I thought 07, was it? was Not Good; this is absolute and UTTER CRAP. For example, I want some bullet points, and if a sentence is longer than one line, I want the second and any other lines indented from the start of the bullet. Couldn't do it. Wouldn't let me. And trying to copy from an editable field, and it only giving me the whole section, not just what I was highlighting And on, and on In conclusion, Office 2010, esp. on a laptop, makes me want to beat the laptop on fireplug until it's rubble, and then head on across the country to Redmond, picking up a machine gun and grenades on the way. Sorry, way off topic mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Tue, April 9, 2013 13:46, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > Fred Smith wrote: >> On Tue, Apr 09, 2013 at 12:21:10PM -0400, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: >>> Frank Cox wrote: >>> > On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:19:33 -0400 >>> > m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: >>> > >>> >> Hmmm... didn't see it mounted, but I'll try more tonight. Last >>> night >>> >> included a) playing with system, and b) finishing up our federal >>> >> taxes > >>> I also can't seem to find the USB 3.5" drive I borrowed - lsusb >>> sees it >>> (at least since the last reboot), but trying to find it to mount it >>> is >>> something I'm still digging at, and I doubt mtools can find it. >> >> As far as I remember (I'm not as young as I used to be, and it's >> been a >> while), the 3.5" USB floppy drive here would recognize a (formatted) >> floppy when inserted and mount it automatically, on Centos 5.x. >> (assuming it contained a recognizable filesystem...) > > Even if there's nothing about floppies in /etc/fstab? Or is that > something I need to configure for autofs? >> Just to obtain some empirical data I have connected a usb 3.5 FDD unit to my CentOS-6.4 workstation and inserted a previously unused 3.5 HDFD. The Nautilus system automatically opened a window on my desktop and I was able to copy and removed files from the diskette without any difficulty. A peek into /media shows this: # tree /media /media └── disk 1 directory, 0 files While /etc/fstab shows me nothing that obviously relates to the fdd: # cat /etc/fstab # # /etc/fstab # Created by anaconda on Mon Sep 24 12:57:28 2012 # # Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk' # See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or blkid(8) for more info # /dev/mapper/vg_vhost04-lv_root / ext4 defaults1 1 UUID=a9a7cc59-bd0c-4362-9ab6-f721e25df2f8 /boot ext4 defaults1 2 /dev/mapper/vg_vhost04-lv_home /home ext4 defaults1 2 /dev/mapper/vg_vhost04-lv_tmp /tmpext4defaults 1 2 /dev/mapper/vg_vhost04-lv_log /var/logext4defaults 1 2 /dev/mapper/vg_vhost04-lv_spool /var/spool ext4 defaults1 2 /dev/mapper/vg_vhost04-lv_swap swapswap defaults0 0 tmpfs /dev/shmtmpfs defaults 0 0 devpts /dev/ptsdevpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 sysfs /syssysfs defaults 0 0 proc/proc procdefaults 0 0 /dev/vg_vhost04/lv_centos_repos /var/data/centosext4defaults 00 /dev/vg_vhost04/lv_home_byrnejb /home/byrnejb ext4defaults0 0 Mount on the other hand shows this: /dev/sdb on /media/disk type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=500,gid=500,shortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,flush) And udisks show this: howing information for /org/freedesktop/UDisks/devices/sdb native-path: /sys/devices/pci:00/:00:1a.0/usb3/3-1/3-1:1.0/host10/target10:0:0/10:0:0:0/block/sdb device: 8:16 device-file: /dev/sdb presentation: /dev/sdb by-id: /dev/disk/by-id/usb-Y-E_DATA_USB_Floppy_Drive by-path: /dev/disk/by-path/pci-:00:1a.0-usb-0:1:1.0-scsi-0:0:0:0 detected at: Wed 10 Apr 2013 09:08:55 EDT system internal: 0 removable: 1 has media: 1 (detected at Wed 10 Apr 2013 09:09:07 EDT) detects change:1 detection by polling: 1 detection inhibitable: 1 detection inhibited: 0 is read only:0 is mounted: 1 mount paths: /media/disk mounted by uid: 500 presentation hide: 0 presentation nopolicy: 0 presentation name: presentation icon: size:1474560 block size: 512 job underway:no usage: filesystem type:vfat version: FAT12 uuid: label: drive: vendor:Y-E DATA model: USB Floppy Drive revision: 0601 serial: WWN: detachable:1 can spindown: 0 rotational media: Yes, unknown rate write-cache: unknown ejectable: 0 adapter: Unknown ports: similar devices: media: floppy compat: floppy interface: usb if speed: 1200 bits/s ATA SMART: not available -- *** E-Mail is NOT a SECURE channel *** James B. Byrnemailto:byrn...@harte-lyne.ca Harte &
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Tue, Apr 09, 2013 at 01:46:09PM -0400, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > Fred Smith wrote: > > On Tue, Apr 09, 2013 at 12:21:10PM -0400, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > >> Frank Cox wrote: > >> > On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:19:33 -0400 > >> > m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > >> > > >> >> Hmmm... didn't see it mounted, but I'll try more tonight. Last night > >> >> included a) playing with system, and b) finishing up our federal > >> >> taxes > > >> I also can't seem to find the USB 3.5" drive I borrowed - lsusb sees it > >> (at least since the last reboot), but trying to find it to mount it is > >> something I'm still digging at, and I doubt mtools can find it. > > > > As far as I remember (I'm not as young as I used to be, and it's been a > > while), the 3.5" USB floppy drive here would recognize a (formatted) > > floppy when inserted and mount it automatically, on Centos 5.x. > > (assuming it contained a recognizable filesystem...) > > Even if there's nothing about floppies in /etc/fstab? Or is that something > I need to configure for autofs? As far as I can remember, yes. > > > > now that I"m running 6.4, I haven't tried the floppy drive yet. I'll try it on the 6.4 system that's now running on that box and see what happens. > > > > (I have piles and stacks and drawers of 5.25 and 3.5 inch floppies with > > various stuff stored on 'em. I used that usb drive (and an internal 5.25 > > inch drive) to grab images of all of them (with dd) which I'll eventually > > organize and burn onto CD or DVD, so I can get rid of all the floppies.) > > Exactly my goal right now. > > mark -- Fred Smith -- fre...@fcshome.stoneham.ma.us Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. - Isaiah 40:28 (niv) - ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
Les Mikesell wrote: > On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 12:46 PM, wrote: >> >>> (I have piles and stacks and drawers of 5.25 and 3.5 inch floppies with >>> various stuff stored on 'em. I used that usb drive (and an internal >>> 5.25 inch drive) to grab images of all of them (with dd) which I'll >>> eventually organize and burn onto CD or DVD, so I can get rid of all the >>> floppies.) >> >> Exactly my goal right now. > > Do you get anything (besides an error) if you try to dd the device to a > file? I sorta-kinda tried that, and got zero bytes. I can try it again, more seriously, tonight. mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 12:46 PM, wrote: > >> (I have piles and stacks and drawers of 5.25 and 3.5 inch floppies with >> various stuff stored on 'em. I used that usb drive (and an internal 5.25 >> inch drive) to grab images of all of them (with dd) which I'll eventually >> organize and burn onto CD or DVD, so I can get rid of all the floppies.) > > Exactly my goal right now. Do you get anything (besides an error) if you try to dd the device to a file? -- Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
Fred Smith wrote: > On Tue, Apr 09, 2013 at 12:21:10PM -0400, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: >> Frank Cox wrote: >> > On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:19:33 -0400 >> > m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: >> > >> >> Hmmm... didn't see it mounted, but I'll try more tonight. Last night >> >> included a) playing with system, and b) finishing up our federal >> >> taxes >> I also can't seem to find the USB 3.5" drive I borrowed - lsusb sees it >> (at least since the last reboot), but trying to find it to mount it is >> something I'm still digging at, and I doubt mtools can find it. > > As far as I remember (I'm not as young as I used to be, and it's been a > while), the 3.5" USB floppy drive here would recognize a (formatted) > floppy when inserted and mount it automatically, on Centos 5.x. > (assuming it contained a recognizable filesystem...) Even if there's nothing about floppies in /etc/fstab? Or is that something I need to configure for autofs? > > now that I"m running 6.4, I haven't tried the floppy drive yet. > > (I have piles and stacks and drawers of 5.25 and 3.5 inch floppies with > various stuff stored on 'em. I used that usb drive (and an internal 5.25 > inch drive) to grab images of all of them (with dd) which I'll eventually > organize and burn onto CD or DVD, so I can get rid of all the floppies.) Exactly my goal right now. mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Tue, Apr 09, 2013 at 12:21:10PM -0400, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > Frank Cox wrote: > > On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:19:33 -0400 > > m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > > > >> Hmmm... didn't see it mounted, but I'll try more tonight. Last night > >> included a) playing with system, and b) finishing up our federal > >> taxes > > > > If you're going to use mtools to do your copying, you don't need to mount > > the disks. > > mtools is a desperation move, since I haven't actually read anything from > anything yet. As I mentioned, I *may* have an old drive head cleaner > somewhere - since it's not been used in about a decade, I'm thinking of > corrosion or crud. > > I also can't seem to find the USB 3.5" drive I borrowed - lsusb sees it > (at least since the last reboot), but trying to find it to mount it is > something I'm still digging at, and I doubt mtools can find it. > > mark As far as I remember (I'm not as young as I used to be, and it's been a while), the 3.5" USB floppy drive here would recognize a (formatted) floppy when inserted and mount it automatically, on Centos 5.x. (assuming it contained a recognizable filesystem...) now that I"m running 6.4, I haven't tried the floppy drive yet. (I have piles and stacks and drawers of 5.25 and 3.5 inch floppies with various stuff stored on 'em. I used that usb drive (and an internal 5.25 inch drive) to grab images of all of them (with dd) which I'll eventually organize and burn onto CD or DVD, so I can get rid of all the floppies.) Fred -- Fred Smith -- fre...@fcshome.stoneham.ma.us - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. -- Philippians 4:13 --- ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
Frank Cox wrote: > On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:19:33 -0400 > m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > >> Hmmm... didn't see it mounted, but I'll try more tonight. Last night >> included a) playing with system, and b) finishing up our federal >> taxes > > If you're going to use mtools to do your copying, you don't need to mount > the disks. mtools is a desperation move, since I haven't actually read anything from anything yet. As I mentioned, I *may* have an old drive head cleaner somewhere - since it's not been used in about a decade, I'm thinking of corrosion or crud. I also can't seem to find the USB 3.5" drive I borrowed - lsusb sees it (at least since the last reboot), but trying to find it to mount it is something I'm still digging at, and I doubt mtools can find it. mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Tue, 9 Apr 2013 10:19:33 -0400 m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > Hmmm... didn't see it mounted, but I'll try more tonight. Last night > included a) playing with system, and b) finishing up our federal taxes If you're going to use mtools to do your copying, you don't need to mount the disks. -- MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Real D 3D Digital Cinema ~ www.melvilletheatre.com www.creekfm.com - FIFTY THOUSAND WATTS of POW WOW POWER! ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
David G. Miller wrote: > mark writes: > > >> But I'm over the first hump. Now I'm playing with /dev/fd1 and >> /dev/floppy-fd1 (and why is it trying to read a superblock when I try to >> mount it, when I've said -t msdos? Oh, well, onward in the fight.) >> > I think mount uses the same error string (possibly from ERRNO) whenever it > can't find the appropriate file system structure on a device. Thus, you > get "Unable to read superblock" even when mount -t msdos is looking for a FAT > and FAT root directory. Hmmm... didn't see it mounted, but I'll try more tonight. Last night included a) playing with system, and b) finishing up our federal taxes mark "and getting a headache" ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
mark writes: > But I'm over the first hump. Now I'm playing with /dev/fd1 and > /dev/floppy-fd1 (and why is it trying to read a superblock when I try to > mount it, when I've said -t msdos? Oh, well, onward in the fight.) > > mark > I think mount uses the same error string (possibly from ERRNO) whenever it can't find the appropriate file system structure on a device. Thus, you get "Unable to read superblock" even when mount -t msdos is looking for a FAT and FAT root directory. Cheers, Dave ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 04/08/13 12:55, Louis Lagendijk wrote: > On Mon, 2013-04-08 at 12:21 -0400, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > >> That I don't know, and was trying to think of a way to test it. As I noted >> in another post, the 5.25" light seems to stay on, and I *think* that was >> the one I had disconnected before. I also think I mentioned that after >> bringing it down, connecting, and rebooting, I looked at the BIOS, and it >> told me it *only* saw the 3.5" drive. >> > That is why I thought of the cable/drive issue. Please keep in mind that > the bios versions I recall did not detect a drive unless it was told > that there was one (you had to even specify the type/ format of the > drive) >>> Any chance that You gents nailed it. I brought my machine down again, and set the BIOS to see the 1.2M as a, and the 1.44 as b: while it was down, before I did that, I looked... I'm sure the cable was on, but it's really hard to see the open side of the case still covers about a third of the board, and with all the cables Pulling out my trusty minimag, and moving cables... and it was upside down. I don't know how it got on that way, certainly I wouldn't have forced it, but flipped it over, and played with the BIOS... the 3.5" drive still doesn't work... but the 1.2M floppy, as b: *does* work - light goes on only when I try to read it, and not otherwise. Now I don't know if I have a drive cleaner, since I can't believe none of the first 10 or so disks I tried to look at was readable. But I'm over the first hump. Now I'm playing with /dev/fd1 and /dev/floppy-fd1 (and why is it trying to read a superblock when I try to mount it, when I've said -t msdos? Oh, well, onward in the fight.) mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Mon, 8 Apr 2013, Louis Lagendijk wrote: > On Sun, 2013-04-07 at 15:45 -0400, mark wrote: >> Yes, really. I've got hundreds of the damn things here at home, and I >> want to go through them and get rid of them all. >> >> But... to do that I want to read them. I have both a 5.25" and a 3.5" >> drive, both are plugged in, but in the BIOS, all I see is the 3.5". >> Fine, I figure I'll take care of those. >> >> Nope. I see /dev/fd0 once I've booted up, but neither konqueror nor >> mount nor fdisk works - the latter telling me that /dev/fd0 is not a >> valid block device. After some googling, I tried modprobe floppy, which >> installed it, but still no joy. >> >> Anyone have a clue? >> >> mark > Mark, you said that both floppy drives are connected. Could it be that > both are wired to fd0? One drive could be malfunctioning Try with > only one drive connected at a time at the end of the cable and see if > that helps... > Louis Separately, on some Ubuntu boards there has been discussion about a program called udisks for disk-related issues. It is available for CentOS 6, not for CentOS 5. Where "mount" commands have failed, udisks for these Ubuntu users has come through. Ironically, this discussion got me interested in whether or not the floppy drive on a home server running CentOS 5 is accessible via CentOS5. It isn't; no heartbreak, just a mild annoyance. Max Pyziur p...@brama.com ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
Dale Dellutri wrote: > On Sun, Apr 7, 2013 at 2:45 PM, mark wrote: > >> Yes, really. I've got hundreds of the damn things here at home, and I >> want to go through them and get rid of them all. >> >> But... to do that I want to read them. I have both a 5.25" and a 3.5" >> drive, both are plugged in, but in the BIOS, all I see is the 3.5". >> Fine, I figure I'll take care of those. >> >> Nope. I see /dev/fd0 once I've booted up, but neither konqueror nor >> mount nor fdisk works - the latter telling me that /dev/fd0 is not a >> valid block device. After some googling, I tried modprobe floppy, which >> installed it, but still no joy. >> >> Anyone have a clue? > > > To debug this, I'd do the following: > > 1. Remove both USB plugs (I assume that these floppies are USB connected) Wrong assumption. They're on the FD cable to the m/b. I've got some *old* hardware > Of course, it will probably show up at /dev/fd. > > Just my pre-tax 2 cents. I'll tell my wife, who's working on the taxes, to include that as income mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
John R Pierce wrote: > On 4/8/2013 9:57 AM, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: >> OH! I thought, since the m/b is from '05 or '06, that it would detect >> the floppy drives, but*that* I need to look at. Thanks! > > the floppy interface was really low level.all parallel signals, like > select drive, step, direction, head select, serial data, clock, write > enable, and a status line for home, and index (the hole in the disk that > said its at sector 0). > drive. so the BIOS's pretty much stopped doing the > auto-home-and-detect thing early on when floppies became optional > because it was /so/ slow and added significant time to POST. and even But post, if memory check is enabled, *does* take a long time... oh, that's right, that was on the server with ->256G<- mark "and my mind SEGV's whenever I say that" ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 4/8/2013 9:57 AM, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > OH! I thought, since the m/b is from '05 or '06, that it would detect the > floppy drives, but*that* I need to look at. Thanks! the floppy interface was really low level.all parallel signals, like select drive, step, direction, head select, serial data, clock, write enable, and a status line for home, and index (the hole in the disk that said its at sector 0). the ONLY way to detect a drive is connected was to STEP outwards 100 times, checking for the 'home' status each time, this takes several seconds per drive. AFAIK, there was no way electrically to tell the difference between drive types, unless there's a reliable disk in the drive. so the BIOS's pretty much stopped doing the auto-home-and-detect thing early on when floppies became optional because it was /so/ slow and added significant time to POST. and even from the very beginning, you have to configure the BIOS for the drive types (heck, early hard disks had to be configured in the BIOS too) -- john r pierce 37N 122W somewhere on the middle of the left coast ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
Louis Lagendijk wrote: > On Mon, 2013-04-08 at 12:21 -0400, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > >> That I don't know, and was trying to think of a way to test it. As I >> noted in another post, the 5.25" light seems to stay on, and I *think* that >> was the one I had disconnected before. I also think I mentioned that after >> bringing it down, connecting, and rebooting, I looked at the BIOS, and >> it told me it *only* saw the 3.5" drive. >> > That is why I thought of the cable/drive issue. Please keep in mind that > the bios versions I recall did not detect a drive unless it was told > that there was one (you had to even specify the type/ format of the > drive) >> > Any chance that >> It *looks* like udev knows about it, since it created /dev/fd0 and the >> related devices. >> >>From what I recall, the OS gets the information on what is there from > the bios. Look around in the bios and check if you can specify the > format of the floppy drives somewhere... > And the comment about checking if the cable has been put on upside down > (on either side). Please note tat the twist in the cable sits between > drive a and b. Still 4 possibilities to try. OH! I thought, since the m/b is from '05 or '06, that it would detect the floppy drives, but *that* I need to look at. Thanks! mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
John R Pierce wrote: > On 4/8/2013 7:58 AM, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: >> Good thought... but I think I had one of them disconnected before I took >> my system down yesterday and connected both. I will note that the 5.25" >> one's light does seem to stay on, regardless. > > OH. another rusty old memory. if you plugged a floppy cable in upside > down (only possible if the cable wasn't keyed, but I remember quite a > few that werent), it grounded both drive select and write select, and > the drive would write nulls (or something) all over any track that was > seeked to, without even sector formatting. this would, of course, > erase any disk you inserted. also, the LED would stay on. I *think* these cables are keyed - they're "relatively" new, but I'll check. I still think I had the 5.25 power on, but not the cable Something to check this evening. ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Mon, 2013-04-08 at 12:21 -0400, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > That I don't know, and was trying to think of a way to test it. As I noted > in another post, the 5.25" light seems to stay on, and I *think* that was > the one I had disconnected before. I also think I mentioned that after > bringing it down, connecting, and rebooting, I looked at the BIOS, and it > told me it *only* saw the 3.5" drive. > That is why I thought of the cable/drive issue. Please keep in mind that the bios versions I recall did not detect a drive unless it was told that there was one (you had to even specify the type/ format of the drive) > > Any chance that > It *looks* like udev knows about it, since it created /dev/fd0 and the > related devices. > >From what I recall, the OS gets the information on what is there from the bios. Look around in the bios and check if you can specify the format of the floppy drives somewhere... And the comment about checking if the cable has been put on upside down (on either side). Please note tat the twist in the cable sits between drive a and b. Still 4 possibilities to try. Louis ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 4/8/2013 7:58 AM, m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: > Good thought... but I think I had one of them disconnected before I took > my system down yesterday and connected both. I will note that the 5.25" > one's light does seem to stay on, regardless. OH. another rusty old memory. if you plugged a floppy cable in upside down (only possible if the cable wasn't keyed, but I remember quite a few that werent), it grounded both drive select and write select, and the drive would write nulls (or something) all over any track that was seeked to, without even sector formatting. this would, of course, erase any disk you inserted. also, the LED would stay on. -- john r pierce 37N 122W somewhere on the middle of the left coast ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 4/8/2013 9:00 AM, Les Mikesell wrote: > That was in the context of the 'mtools' programs - which do map the > devices to dos-like letters but failed in the same way with a problem > with the underlying device. But as someone else mentioned, if 2 > drives are plugged in, it may be trying the wrong device. if I remember correctly, PC floppies require a cable with a twisted bit in it. both drives are jumpered for disk1, and the flip makes the end drive disk0 if you used a straight through ribbon cable and both drives were jumpered for the default, then they would have collided and not worked. its been 10 years since I've hooked one up, so this is from old memories. -- john r pierce 37N 122W somewhere on the middle of the left coast ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
Max Pyziur wrote: > On Mon, 8 Apr 2013, David G. Miller wrote: >> mark writes: >>> On 04/07/13 16:22, Frank Cox wrote: On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:18:29 -0400 mark wrote: > All of 'em are old DOS. Just tried mdir a:, and the same: can't open, > can't initials A:. I really doubt the drives themselves are dead, > but Floppy disks have a finite usable life. Depending on where and how you have been storing them, they may be shot. *shrug* In houses, apts, where I live, not in storage (except possibly for a couple months, and that was all climate-controlled storage). >>> Is it possibly that there's some driver missing? >> Floppy drives also have a limited lifetime. Are you sure the drive >> itself (not the disk) is good? That I don't know, and was trying to think of a way to test it. As I noted in another post, the 5.25" light seems to stay on, and I *think* that was the one I had disconnected before. I also think I mentioned that after bringing it down, connecting, and rebooting, I looked at the BIOS, and it told me it *only* saw the 3.5" drive. > Any chance that we could see your /etc/fstab, at least those lines > regarding floppies? > > Or is that personal? a) Not at home. b) Not really relevant, since I don't have a floppy entry in it, just my h/d partitions. It *looks* like udev knows about it, since it created /dev/fd0 and the related devices. Btw, I updated before I brought it down, so it's on current 5.9. mark mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Mon, 8 Apr 2013, David G. Miller wrote: > mark writes: > >> >> On 04/07/13 16:22, Frank Cox wrote: >>> On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:18:29 -0400 >>> mark wrote: >>> All of 'em are old DOS. Just tried mdir a:, and the same: can't open, can't initials A:. I really doubt the drives themselves are dead, but >>> >>> Floppy disks have a finite usable life. Depending on where and how you have >>> been storing them, they may be shot. >>> >> Yeah, but I tried three of 'em, three different OEM, and three ages, >> and they all give me fdisk saying it's not a valid block device. >> >> Is it possibly that there's some driver missing? > Floppy drives also have a limited lifetime. Are you sure the drive itself > (not the disk) is good? > > I also have a bunch of old floppies and try to keep at least one system with > a working floppy drive. I see: > > [dave@waste ~]# ls /dev/fd* > /dev/fd@ /dev/fd0u1120 /dev/fd0u1722 /dev/fd0u1840 /dev/fd0u720 > /dev/fd0u830 > /dev/fd0 /dev/fd0u1440 /dev/fd0u1743 /dev/fd0u1920 /dev/fd0u800 > /dev/fd0u1040 /dev/fd0u1680 /dev/fd0u1760 /dev/fd0u360 /dev/fd0u820 > [dave@waste ~]# ls -l /dev/floppy > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Apr 3 17:17 /dev/floppy -> fd0 > [dave@waste ~]# lsmod | grep floppy > floppy 57125 0 > > on that system and it reads and writes floppies. Any chance that we could see your /etc/fstab, at least those lines regarding floppies? Or is that personal? > Cheers, > Dave Max Pyziur p...@brama.com ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
mark writes: > > On 04/07/13 16:22, Frank Cox wrote: > > On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:18:29 -0400 > > mark wrote: > > > >> All of 'em are old DOS. Just tried mdir a:, and the same: can't open, > >> can't initials A:. I really doubt the drives themselves are dead, but > > > > Floppy disks have a finite usable life. Depending on where and how you have > > been storing them, they may be shot. > > > Yeah, but I tried three of 'em, three different OEM, and three ages, > and they all give me fdisk saying it's not a valid block device. > > Is it possibly that there's some driver missing? Floppy drives also have a limited lifetime. Are you sure the drive itself (not the disk) is good? I also have a bunch of old floppies and try to keep at least one system with a working floppy drive. I see: [dave@waste ~]# ls /dev/fd* /dev/fd@ /dev/fd0u1120 /dev/fd0u1722 /dev/fd0u1840 /dev/fd0u720 /dev/fd0u830 /dev/fd0 /dev/fd0u1440 /dev/fd0u1743 /dev/fd0u1920 /dev/fd0u800 /dev/fd0u1040 /dev/fd0u1680 /dev/fd0u1760 /dev/fd0u360 /dev/fd0u820 [dave@waste ~]# ls -l /dev/floppy lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Apr 3 17:17 /dev/floppy -> fd0 [dave@waste ~]# lsmod | grep floppy floppy 57125 0 on that system and it reads and writes floppies. Cheers, Dave ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
Hi, Louis, Louis Lagendijk wrote: > On Sun, 2013-04-07 at 15:45 -0400, mark wrote: >> Yes, really. I've got hundreds of the damn things here at home, and I >> want to go through them and get rid of them all. >> >> But... to do that I want to read them. I have both a 5.25" and a 3.5" >> drive, both are plugged in, but in the BIOS, all I see is the 3.5". >> Fine, I figure I'll take care of those. >> >> Nope. I see /dev/fd0 once I've booted up, but neither konqueror nor >> mount nor fdisk works - the latter telling me that /dev/fd0 is not a >> valid block device. After some googling, I tried modprobe floppy, which >> installed it, but still no joy. >> >> Anyone have a clue? >> > Mark, you said that both floppy drives are connected. Could it be that > both are wired to fd0? One drive could be malfunctioning Try with > only one drive connected at a time at the end of the cable and see if > that helps... Good thought... but I think I had one of them disconnected before I took my system down yesterday and connected both. I will note that the 5.25" one's light does seem to stay on, regardless. I was speaking about it to my manager this morning, and he pulls out a 3.5" USB drive I can borrow, so I'll take my system down, pull the 3.5", and see what I see. mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 10:19 AM, Johnny Hughes wrote: If "ls -l /dev/fd0*" does not show a series of device nodes try: >> It does - /dev/fd0, along with all 14 sizes of floppies, of a patter >> /dev/fd0u >> > > I saw in an earlier part of the thread, you were trying to do things to > A: ... A: is a windows device, not a Linux device > > Make sure you are trying to do things to /dev/fd0 and not A: That was in the context of the 'mtools' programs - which do map the devices to dos-like letters but failed in the same way with a problem with the underlying device. But as someone else mentioned, if 2 drives are plugged in, it may be trying the wrong device. -- Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
Johnny Hughes wrote: > I saw in an earlier part of the thread, you were trying to do things to > A: ... A: is a windows device, not a Linux device > > Make sure you are trying to do things to /dev/fd0 and not A: Oh, of course. I was trying mdir, I think - that's an mtools thing - they use a: internally to represent /dev/fd0. mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Sun, Apr 7, 2013 at 2:45 PM, mark wrote: > Yes, really. I've got hundreds of the damn things here at home, and I > want to go through them and get rid of them all. > > But... to do that I want to read them. I have both a 5.25" and a 3.5" > drive, both are plugged in, but in the BIOS, all I see is the 3.5". > Fine, I figure I'll take care of those. > > Nope. I see /dev/fd0 once I've booted up, but neither konqueror nor > mount nor fdisk works - the latter telling me that /dev/fd0 is not a > valid block device. After some googling, I tried modprobe floppy, which > installed it, but still no joy. > > Anyone have a clue? To debug this, I'd do the following: 1. Remove both USB plugs (I assume that these floppies are USB connected) 2. Reboot 3. Plug just one in, then do lsusb and get the end of /var/log/messages One of these might tell you where the floppy is connected in /dev. It might not be /dev/fd0 4. If it doesn't show up immediately, try putting in a floppy disk and do 3 again. 5. If it doesn't show up again, then it's probably dead. 6. If it does show, perhaps at /dev/sdb1, then create a file .mtoolsrc: # USB drive drive u: file="/dev/sdb1" Then do mdir u: Of course, it will probably show up at /dev/fd. Just my pre-tax 2 cents. -- Dale Dellutri ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 04/07/2013 07:26 PM, mark wrote: > On 04/07/13 19:53, John R. Dennison wrote: >> On Sun, Apr 07, 2013 at 07:35:17PM -0400, mark wrote: ls -l /dev/fd? What do you see? >>> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd -> /proc/self/fd/ >> Interesting as that doesn't match the pattern /dev/fd? >> >>> And, while we're at it, ll of /dev/floppy shows >>> >>> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/floppy -> fd0 >> fd0 should have been shown by the ls -l /dev/fd? pattern so is that a >> broken link? >> >> "lsmod | grep floppy" - does it show the floppy module loaded? >> >> If "ls -l /dev/fd0*" does not show a series of device nodes try: > It does - /dev/fd0, along with all 14 sizes of floppies, of a patter > /dev/fd0u > I saw in an earlier part of the thread, you were trying to do things to A: ... A: is a windows device, not a Linux device Make sure you are trying to do things to /dev/fd0 and not A: signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Sun, 2013-04-07 at 15:45 -0400, mark wrote: > Yes, really. I've got hundreds of the damn things here at home, and I > want to go through them and get rid of them all. > > But... to do that I want to read them. I have both a 5.25" and a 3.5" > drive, both are plugged in, but in the BIOS, all I see is the 3.5". > Fine, I figure I'll take care of those. > > Nope. I see /dev/fd0 once I've booted up, but neither konqueror nor > mount nor fdisk works - the latter telling me that /dev/fd0 is not a > valid block device. After some googling, I tried modprobe floppy, which > installed it, but still no joy. > > Anyone have a clue? > > mark Mark, you said that both floppy drives are connected. Could it be that both are wired to fd0? One drive could be malfunctioning Try with only one drive connected at a time at the end of the cable and see if that helps... Louis ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 04/08/13 04:43, Nicolas Thierry-Mieg wrote: > Le 08/04/2013 02:23, mark a écrit : >> On 04/07/13 19:53, John R. Dennison wrote: >>> On Sun, Apr 07, 2013 at 07:35:17PM -0400, mark wrote: > > ls -l /dev/fd? > > What do you see? > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd -> /proc/self/fd/ >>> >>> Interesting as that doesn't match the pattern /dev/fd? >>> >>> fd0 should have been shown by the ls -l /dev/fd? pattern so is that a >>> broken link? >>> > > Ok, ll /dev/fd - which is a directory - shows it pointing to > > /proc/self/fd/. Under tghat is 0-3, where 0-2 are links to /dev/pts/0, > > *all* the same. 3 is a link to /proc/5038/fd/, which does not exist. > > you were asked to type > ls -l /dev/fd? > the question mark is part of what you have to type... > Perhaps you didn't understand what I wrote in the paragraph that you cut out. ** >> If "ls -l /dev/fd0*" does not show a series of device nodes try: It does - /dev/fd0, along with all 14 sizes of floppies, of a patter /dev/fd0u ** Now, if that's not clear enough for you, let me rephrase: /dev/fd0 exists, as does the related ones, as far as I know (note that ll for me is aliased to "ls -laF"). brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 0 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 84 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u1040 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 88 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u1120 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 28 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u1440 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 44 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u1680 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 60 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u1722 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 76 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u1743 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 96 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u1760 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 116 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u1840 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 100 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u1920 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 12 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u360 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 16 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u720 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 120 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u800 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 52 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u820 brw-rw 1 mark floppy 2, 68 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd0u830 Is that clear enough? mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
Le 08/04/2013 02:23, mark a écrit : > On 04/07/13 19:53, John R. Dennison wrote: >> On Sun, Apr 07, 2013 at 07:35:17PM -0400, mark wrote: ls -l /dev/fd? What do you see? >>> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd -> /proc/self/fd/ >> >> Interesting as that doesn't match the pattern /dev/fd? >> >> fd0 should have been shown by the ls -l /dev/fd? pattern so is that a >> broken link? >> > Ok, ll /dev/fd - which is a directory - shows it pointing to > /proc/self/fd/. Under tghat is 0-3, where 0-2 are links to /dev/pts/0, > *all* the same. 3 is a link to /proc/5038/fd/, which does not exist. you were asked to type ls -l /dev/fd? the question mark is part of what you have to type... another poster explained that /dev/fd/ has nothing to do with floppies. >> >> If this still fails ensure that the device is enabled in the system's >> bios. Speaking of that, is the device seen at boot time? >> >> "dmesg | grep ^Floppy" or "grep ^Floppy /var/log/dmesg" should show fd0 >> and a size. > > > Is it time to try MAKEDEV? maybe first try ls -l /dev/fd? and then dmesg Note that I've had a lot of old floppies that were dead when I tried to read them after many years. For me, 3/3 isn't conclusive. I would try to read at least 10 or 20 floppies before deciding that it's a drive or driver issue. ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 04/07/13 19:53, John R. Dennison wrote: > On Sun, Apr 07, 2013 at 07:35:17PM -0400, mark wrote: >>> >>> ls -l /dev/fd? >>> >>> What do you see? >>> >> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd -> /proc/self/fd/ > > Interesting as that doesn't match the pattern /dev/fd? > >> And, while we're at it, ll of /dev/floppy shows >> >> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/floppy -> fd0 > > fd0 should have been shown by the ls -l /dev/fd? pattern so is that a > broken link? > > "lsmod | grep floppy" - does it show the floppy module loaded? > > If "ls -l /dev/fd0*" does not show a series of device nodes try: It does - /dev/fd0, along with all 14 sizes of floppies, of a patter /dev/fd0u mark -- And yet less thanks have we than you. Users scowl at us, and reporters give us scornful names. "Geek" I am to one fat man who lives a firewall away from foes that would steal his identity or lay his little computer in ruin, if it was not guarded ceaselessly. Yet we would not have it otherwise. ---Aragorn, sysadmin. ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 04/07/13 19:53, John R. Dennison wrote: > On Sun, Apr 07, 2013 at 07:35:17PM -0400, mark wrote: >>> >>> ls -l /dev/fd? >>> >>> What do you see? >>> >> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd -> /proc/self/fd/ > > Interesting as that doesn't match the pattern /dev/fd? > >> And, while we're at it, ll of /dev/floppy shows >> >> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/floppy -> fd0 > > fd0 should have been shown by the ls -l /dev/fd? pattern so is that a > broken link? > > "lsmod | grep floppy" - does it show the floppy module loaded? > > If "ls -l /dev/fd0*" does not show a series of device nodes try: > > "/sbin/MAKEDEV fd0" > > and retry the operations that are failing. > > If this still fails ensure that the device is enabled in the system's > bios. Speaking of that, is the device seen at boot time? > > "dmesg | grep ^Floppy" or "grep ^Floppy /var/log/dmesg" should show fd0 > and a size. Ok, ll /dev/fd - which is a directory - shows it pointing to /proc/self/fd/. Under tghat is 0-3, where 0-2 are links to /dev/pts/0, *all* the same. 3 is a link to /proc/5038/fd/, which does not exist. Is it time to try MAKEDEV? mark -- And yet less thanks have we than you. Users scowl at us, and reporters give us scornful names. "Geek" I am to one fat man who lives a firewall away from foes that would steal his identity or lay his little computer in ruin, if it was not guarded ceaselessly. Yet we would not have it otherwise. ---Aragorn, sysadmin. ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Sun, 7 Apr 2013 18:53:54 -0500 John R. Dennison wrote: > > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd -> /proc/self/fd/ > > Interesting as that doesn't match the pattern /dev/fd? Note that /dev/fd has nothing to do with floppy drives. /dev/fd deals with file descriptors, not floppy drives. Just to avoid confusion. -- MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Real D 3D Digital Cinema ~ www.melvilletheatre.com www.creekfm.com - FIFTY THOUSAND WATTS of POW WOW POWER! ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Sun, Apr 07, 2013 at 07:35:17PM -0400, mark wrote: > > > > ls -l /dev/fd? > > > > What do you see? > > > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd -> /proc/self/fd/ Interesting as that doesn't match the pattern /dev/fd? > And, while we're at it, ll of /dev/floppy shows > > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/floppy -> fd0 fd0 should have been shown by the ls -l /dev/fd? pattern so is that a broken link? "lsmod | grep floppy" - does it show the floppy module loaded? If "ls -l /dev/fd0*" does not show a series of device nodes try: "/sbin/MAKEDEV fd0" and retry the operations that are failing. If this still fails ensure that the device is enabled in the system's bios. Speaking of that, is the device seen at boot time? "dmesg | grep ^Floppy" or "grep ^Floppy /var/log/dmesg" should show fd0 and a size. John -- Another age must be the judge. -- Charles Babbage, realizing the technology did not exist to construct his "difference engine", 1837; a full-size implementation exists at the Mountain View, CA Computer History Museum (CHM), where this quote is displayed. The same can be said of the PLATO computer project, which was celebrated in the PLATO@50 conference at the CHM, 2-3 June 2010 pgpCC5ziXAwTP.pgp Description: PGP signature ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 04/07/13 17:49, Frank Cox wrote: > On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:29:14 -0400 > mark wrote: > >> At any rate, I just tried mformat a:, and it tells me that it can't open >> /dev/fd0: No such device or address. > > ls -l /dev/fd? > > What do you see? > lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/fd -> /proc/self/fd/ And, while we're at it, ll of /dev/floppy shows lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Apr 7 15:03 /dev/floppy -> fd0 mark -- Fascism is an extreme right-wing ideology which embraces nationalism, xenophobia, militarism, and supremacist ideals. Though actually secular, it emphasizes mythic beliefs such as divine mandates; and concentrates power in the hands of an elite selected by, and often of, the wealthiest groups of society, from whom all authority flows to lesser elites, such as law enforcement, intellectuals, and the media. ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Sun, 7 Apr 2013 18:22:12 -0400 (EDT) Max Pyziur wrote: > I realize that the contributors on this thread, as well as the originator, > may take this is a given, but in the event this hasn't been done, and it's > a way to get the disk readable (I haven't seen it mentioned yet as > possible solution). mtools doesn't require that the disk be mounted. -- MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Real D 3D Digital Cinema ~ www.melvilletheatre.com www.creekfm.com - FIFTY THOUSAND WATTS of POW WOW POWER! ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Sun, 7 Apr 2013, Frank Cox wrote: > On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:29:14 -0400 > mark wrote: > >> At any rate, I just tried mformat a:, and it tells me that it can't open >> /dev/fd0: No such device or address. > > ls -l /dev/fd? > > What do you see? It's been years since I used floppies on a linux system; but when I still hada 3.5 inch drive, I recall that I first had to put a floppy in, then do a mount command. I realize that the contributors on this thread, as well as the originator, may take this is a given, but in the event this hasn't been done, and it's a way to get the disk readable (I haven't seen it mentioned yet as possible solution). My two cents, MP p...@brama.com ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:29:14 -0400 mark wrote: > At any rate, I just tried mformat a:, and it tells me that it can't open > /dev/fd0: No such device or address. ls -l /dev/fd? What do you see? -- MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Real D 3D Digital Cinema ~ www.melvilletheatre.com www.creekfm.com - FIFTY THOUSAND WATTS of POW WOW POWER! ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 04/07/13 17:11, Brian Miller wrote: > On Sun, 2013-04-07 at 16:43 -0400, mark wrote: >> On 04/07/13 16:22, Frank Cox wrote: >>> Floppy disks have a finite usable life. Depending on where and how you have >>> been storing them, they may be shot. >>> >> Yeah, but I tried three of 'em, three different OEM, and three ages, >> and they all give me fdisk saying it's not a valid block device. > > If they were all written with the same drive it's also possible the head > alignment had drifted which will make things...interesting. > > Try formatting a scratch floppy to see if you can write. If that works > but you still can't read, evidence that it's indeed an alignment > mismatch. These are many years of disks, written on many machines. At any rate, I just tried mformat a:, and it tells me that it can't open /dev/fd0: No such device or address. mark -- Though I don't think (object-oriented programming) has much to offer good programmers, except in certain specialized domains, it is irresistible to large organizations. Object-oriented programming offers a sustainable way to write spaghetti code. - Paul Graham ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Sun, 2013-04-07 at 16:43 -0400, mark wrote: > On 04/07/13 16:22, Frank Cox wrote: > > Floppy disks have a finite usable life. Depending on where and how you have > > been storing them, they may be shot. > > > Yeah, but I tried three of 'em, three different OEM, and three ages, > and they all give me fdisk saying it's not a valid block device. If they were all written with the same drive it's also possible the head alignment had drifted which will make things...interesting. Try formatting a scratch floppy to see if you can write. If that works but you still can't read, evidence that it's indeed an alignment mismatch. ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 04/07/13 16:22, Frank Cox wrote: > On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:18:29 -0400 > mark wrote: > >> All of 'em are old DOS. Just tried mdir a:, and the same: can't open, >> can't initials A:. I really doubt the drives themselves are dead, but > > Floppy disks have a finite usable life. Depending on where and how you have > been storing them, they may be shot. > Yeah, but I tried three of 'em, three different OEM, and three ages, and they all give me fdisk saying it's not a valid block device. Is it possibly that there's some driver missing? mark -- "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." William Pitt, 1783 ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:18:29 -0400 mark wrote: > All of 'em are old DOS. Just tried mdir a:, and the same: can't open, > can't initials A:. I really doubt the drives themselves are dead, but Floppy disks have a finite usable life. Depending on where and how you have been storing them, they may be shot. -- MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Real D 3D Digital Cinema ~ www.melvilletheatre.com www.creekfm.com - FIFTY THOUSAND WATTS of POW WOW POWER! ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On 04/07/13 16:04, Les Mikesell wrote: > On Sun, Apr 7, 2013 at 2:45 PM, mark wrote: >> Yes, really. I've got hundreds of the damn things here at home, and I >> want to go through them and get rid of them all. >> >> But... to do that I want to read them. I have both a 5.25" and a 3.5" >> drive, both are plugged in, but in the BIOS, all I see is the 3.5". >> Fine, I figure I'll take care of those. >> >> Nope. I see /dev/fd0 once I've booted up, but neither konqueror nor >> mount nor fdisk works - the latter telling me that /dev/fd0 is not a >> valid block device. After some googling, I tried modprobe floppy, which >> installed it, but still no joy. >> >> Anyone have a clue? > > What file system is on them? Or did you do something like raw tar > writes to them? If it is typical dos/window FAT, try the programs > from the mtools package. mdir, mcopy, etc. I hate to fight with > stuff like that so I'd probably use a windows box connected to a samba > share to move things over. All of 'em are old DOS. Just tried mdir a:, and the same: can't open, can't initials A:. I really doubt the drives themselves are dead, but mark -- "UN-altered REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this IMPORTANT information is ENCOURAGED!" - Robert McElwain, Net.kook ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] floppy drives
On Sun, Apr 7, 2013 at 2:45 PM, mark wrote: > Yes, really. I've got hundreds of the damn things here at home, and I > want to go through them and get rid of them all. > > But... to do that I want to read them. I have both a 5.25" and a 3.5" > drive, both are plugged in, but in the BIOS, all I see is the 3.5". > Fine, I figure I'll take care of those. > > Nope. I see /dev/fd0 once I've booted up, but neither konqueror nor > mount nor fdisk works - the latter telling me that /dev/fd0 is not a > valid block device. After some googling, I tried modprobe floppy, which > installed it, but still no joy. > > Anyone have a clue? What file system is on them? Or did you do something like raw tar writes to them? If it is typical dos/window FAT, try the programs from the mtools package. mdir, mcopy, etc. I hate to fight with stuff like that so I'd probably use a windows box connected to a samba share to move things over. -- Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
[CentOS] floppy drives
Yes, really. I've got hundreds of the damn things here at home, and I want to go through them and get rid of them all. But... to do that I want to read them. I have both a 5.25" and a 3.5" drive, both are plugged in, but in the BIOS, all I see is the 3.5". Fine, I figure I'll take care of those. Nope. I see /dev/fd0 once I've booted up, but neither konqueror nor mount nor fdisk works - the latter telling me that /dev/fd0 is not a valid block device. After some googling, I tried modprobe floppy, which installed it, but still no joy. Anyone have a clue? mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos