Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
Hi, Thanks for the advice. In the end, I selected the upgrade option on my reinstall and didn't reformat as I didn't fancy going to the trouble of re-installing all the extra stuff I'd added since the original installation. This took about ten minutes and when I rebooted, the drive was detected, even down to there being an icon for it on the desktop. I set up a mount point using Control Centre and eventually got the permissions right. It's working fine now with no printing conflicts so far. Technoslick wrote: Sorry for the very late reply, Graham, but this is the best that I can do when I 'get' your post 'four days' after you made it. sigh I am going to cover a lot of ground in this post to make sure that whatever results you get are not because of any neglected set-up issues. If this is not a multi-boot installation, just MDK Linux, I would say it isn't that much extra work to wipe everything off and start as if the drive was being first baptized with Linux. I have this thing for removing all possible variables when I do something like this. It's up to you whether you want to keep your current installation and just load new over it. If you do decided to start over 'clean', use the Linux 'fdisk' to remove all your Linux partitions. After writing the deletion to the drive, insert your MDK CD #1 in the primary CD-ROM drive and turn the box off. You didn't mention whether this was a dual-boot/multi-boot set-up. I am going to assume is not. you can adjust all of this accordingly. When you next boot-up, on starting your install, you need to go into the BIOS and check two settings before installing Linux. The first is that 'PNP O/S' is set to 'No'. the second is that your printer port is set to whatever your drive and/or printer needs. ECP is generally required for all modern printers. ECP-EPP is also good. SPP is uni-directional printing, generally for the older, dumber lasers, very old ink-jets and dot-matrix printers. You did not say whether you plan on daisy-chaining a printer to the back of the Zip drive. I strongly recommend that you don't, if the printer is a relatively new ink-jet or laser. If you still have the documentation for your printer, see if there is a reference to this. I have seen it stated before. Check the documentation for the Zip drive (you probably don't have any, right?) to see whether it can work under ECP or must have SPP. Iomega has stated that some of the earlier models 'must' run under SPP. If this is true for yours (and you probably won't know until after all is said and done), you will have to make some compromise or buy another printer port card. If you can afford to, have space in the computer for it, and are inclined to open your computer to put one in, get a high-speed printer port card. You will always have the best performance and 'luck' when each of these devices are on its own printer port. Connect your Zip drive up to the parallel port, daisy-chain your printer, if you must, and make sure that both are on before starting the install of MDK. Boot-up, check your BIOS as I mentioned earlier, make your adjustments if necessary, save and re-boot into your MDK installation. During the initial stages of the install, your Zip drive will be recognized and the appropriate parallel port/SCSI configuration made. MDK may also recognize your printer, too. Even then, you will have to see in the end if you can use the Zip drive and the printer, alternately at first, then together (like printing from a file on the Zip drive) to see what you can do or not do. I apologize for the very technical, and lengthy post on what should be a simple answer. My experience has shown that the only way to be insure that software works correctly is to make sure that the hardware it drives is set appropriately. A little patience and prep in the beginning assures you that any problems you encounter later on will more likely be software issues, not hardware related. Zip drives are notoriously testy by their very nature and cause more printer-related problems than any others I have seen out in the field. As the externals have gone to USB, these problems are almost non-existent. But, you and I are trying to apply old technology to a modern world of software driven printers that communicate back to the computer through that very same port. Here's where the two conflict, both polling and wanting control of that same port simultaneously. I am very ignorant of how Linux manages the two here, compared to the Windows environment, so the settings and prep here will make sure that Linux gets he best chance to makes things work right. Good luck to you. Let me know if you have any problems, either here or by direct email. If you decide to repost, give me a week at least, to be sure that I get your post. ;-) T - Original Message - From: Graham Watkins [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 29, 2002 2:45 PM Subject: Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
Technoslick wrote: I finally got around to installing my external Zip 100 drive to one of my MDK boxes... Before I tried to manually install it on my MDK 8.2 computer, I looked at several references, one of which from Iomega's own Web site (you pointed me there, indirectly.) Those instructions conflicted a bit with another set that came up as a high score in Google for what I was looking for. I tried it both ways, neither of which helped me get the drive to be recognized. I eventually ended up reinstalling 8.2 because I think I may have messed up my symlinks and got so terribly confused. On install, 8.2 found the drive and took care of everything for me. Phew! If you don't mind me asking, how did you go about the re-install? Did you reformat the partitions or just install over what was already there? Someone's just lent me an external zip drive and Ifind the prospect of re-compiling the kernel too daunting to contemplate. -- Graham Watkins For me, morning begins when I realize that the soft warm body curled up next to me is a cat. (Kinky Friedman - Frequent Flyer) Registered Linux user number 265254 http://counter.li.org Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
On Friday 25 October 2002 11:52 pm, you wrote: What would I not install if i don't want supermount installed by default? Rather, what package do I need to make sure isn't installed in the firstplace, to avoid having supermount on a clean system? --- Femme Hi Femme! TBH, I'm not sure - I've always just done a supermount -i disable as root, deleted my old icon, right-click on the desktop, create a new icon pointing to whatever device I was working on...and this works for me! HTH's! :-) -- /\ Dark Lord \/ Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
On October 25, 2002 08:55 pm, Ronald J. Hall wrote: On Friday 25 October 2002 11:52 pm, you wrote: What would I not install if i don't want supermount installed by default? Rather, what package do I need to make sure isn't installed in the firstplace, to avoid having supermount on a clean system? --- Femme Hi Femme! TBH, I'm not sure - I've always just done a supermount -i disable as root, deleted my old icon, right-click on the desktop, create a new icon pointing to whatever device I was working on...and this works for me! HTH's! :-) I hate to be the bearer of bad news but supermount is a kernel module and I believe the only way to get rid of it is to recompile the kernel. I can't believe how many are having troubles. Mine works perfectly for what I use it for. Spence Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
At 11:55 PM 10/25/2002 -0400, you wrote: On Friday 25 October 2002 11:52 pm, you wrote: What would I not install if i don't want supermount installed by default? Rather, what package do I need to make sure isn't installed in the firstplace, to avoid having supermount on a clean system? --- Femme Hi Femme! TBH, I'm not sure - I've always just done a supermount -i disable as root, deleted my old icon, right-click on the desktop, create a new icon pointing to whatever device I was working on...and this works for me! HTH's! :-) -- /\ Dark Lord \/ Simple enough. Thx DL :) --- Femme Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
At 05:03 PM 10/24/2002 -0400, you wrote: On Thursday 24 October 2002 12:50 pm, you wrote: If supermount were disabled, why would the Desktop icon open an unmounted drive? Wouldn't you 'have' to mount the drive, first? T snip Ugh. Its why I disabled supermount. Now I can just click on my Zip icon on my KDE desktop, and boom! up blows a window with the contents... snip Nope, it will do it in one quick 'n easy operation. Kinda negates the need for supermount, with all its problems, don't it? ;-) -- /\ Dark Lord \/ What would I not install if i don't want supermount installed by default? Rather, what package do I need to make sure isn't installed in the firstplace, to avoid having supermount on a clean system? --- Femme Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
I finally got around to installing my external Zip 100 drive to one of my MDK boxes... Before I tried to manually install it on my MDK 8.2 computer, I looked at several references, one of which from Iomega's own Web site (you pointed me there, indirectly.) Those instructions conflicted a bit with another set that came up as a high score in Google for what I was looking for. I tried it both ways, neither of which helped me get the drive to be recognized. I eventually ended up reinstalling 8.2 because I think I may have messed up my symlinks and got so terribly confused. On install, 8.2 found the drive and took care of everything for me. Phew! I have been following the numerous supermount problems others have been having in the listserv, so I know that it can get flaky. Here's what I noticed on mine: 1) If I try to do a listing of the contents of a newly inserted Zip disk from the console prompt, it either tells me there is an 'input/output error' or that the device does not exist. Which one depends on whether I have accessed the drive through X-windows prior to doing this at the console level or not. 2) If I go into KDE and click on the Zip drive icon, it tells me I do not have permission to access the device. 3) If I then go into Konqueror and try to access '/mnt/zip', it happily does so without a problem. As long as I switch to another folder outside of '/mnt', switch my zip disks, then go back into '/mnt/zip', Konqueror has no problems automounting the disks as I change them. 4) Once I exit out to the console level, doing a listing gives me the error as stated in 1). However, I can CD over to the Zip disk and do a listing easily enough. I guess it comes down to knowing the rules of the game, huh? Have you noticed about the same, Sharrea? T Sharrea wrote: On Sunday 20 Oct 2002 10:01 am, Technoslick wrote: So, your external zip drive was automatically recognized during install? Is it USB or parallel port? I have an old parallel port zip drive that I have cursed as much as used in the past. (really don't like the things) I haven't interacted much with Iomega, so I can't complain about them. I was just never impressed with the way their software always screwed up my printers and caused what seemed like random lock-ups... I wonder if it would be worth giving it a go in Linux? Does yours work pretty reliable under MDK? Mine is an old parallel port zip drive (250MB) and yeah, I don't like my zip drive much either... too slow. However it works flawlessly in linux, no problems whatsoever. A few months back Tom (at least I think it was Tom) had suggested mounting your zip drive somewhere other than under the /mnt dir so you don't have to wait while the zip disk is read when browsing other mounted devices in the /mnt dir. Seems like a good idea to me, I just haven't gotten around to doing so. Actually, I'll go do it right now! Get back to us if you have any problems installing your zip drive. Sharrea Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
If supermount were disabled, why would the Desktop icon open an unmounted drive? Wouldn't you 'have' to mount the drive, first? T snip Ugh. Its why I disabled supermount. Now I can just click on my Zip icon on my KDE desktop, and boom! up blows a window with the contents... snip Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
On Thursday 24 October 2002 10:05 am, you wrote: I finally got around to installing my external Zip 100 drive to one of my MDK boxes... Ugh. Its why I disabled supermount. Now I can just click on my Zip icon on my KDE desktop, and boom! up blows a window with the contents. Or right click and use the mount option in the menu. Or from a shell type mount /mnt/zip. -- /\ Dark Lord \/ Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
On Tuesday 23 Jul 2002 12:53 pm, Leonard W. Miller wrote: -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:newbie-owner;linux-mandrake.com]On Behalf Of Richard Holt Sent: Monday, July 22, 2002 7:57 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop On Monday, 22 July 2002 03:41 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Even though you created the mount point, did you mount it? In KDE there should be a icon on the desktop for the zip. mount /mnt/zip I think that is what it is Thanks, yes, I tried it. I get a dialog: X Error Could not mount device. the reported error was: mount: special device /dev/sda4 does not exist. Apparently something isn't right in the line in fstab, but I've not found a better example. regards, Richard. I know this is 3 months late but I just found the instructions on how to install a parallel zip drive after installing your system. In the past I couldn't do it and had to reinstall the system to get my zip drive working as I read somewhere that you had to use mknod to create the device and I couldn't figure how from the man page (don't understand the minor/major thing). Anyway simple instructions are here: http://www.iomega.com/support/documents/10661.html I was surprised at just how simple it is! Took all of 2 minutes! Sharrea -- Help Microsoft stamp out piracy - give Linux to a friend today Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
Thanks, Sharrea, Just in time. :-)) After reconfiguring, lost the zip config. I'll check it out. It's a pain to reinstall just to get the zip working. saludos, Richard. On Fri, 18 Oct 2002 01:13:06 +1300, Sharrea [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tuesday 23 Jul 2002 12:53 pm, Leonard W. Miller wrote: -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:newbie-owner;linux-mandrake.com]On Behalf Of Richard Holt Sent: Monday, July 22, 2002 7:57 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop On Monday, 22 July 2002 03:41 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Even though you created the mount point, did you mount it? In KDE there should be a icon on the desktop for the zip. mount /mnt/zip I think that is what it is Thanks, yes, I tried it. I get a dialog: X Error Could not mount device. the reported error was: mount: special device /dev/sda4 does not exist. Apparently something isn't right in the line in fstab, but I've not found a better example. regards, Richard. I know this is 3 months late but I just found the instructions on how to install a parallel zip drive after installing your system. In the past I couldn't do it and had to reinstall the system to get my zip drive working as I read somewhere that you had to use mknod to create the device and I couldn't figure how from the man page (don't understand the minor/major thing). Anyway simple instructions are here: http://www.iomega.com/support/documents/10661.html I was surprised at just how simple it is! Took all of 2 minutes! Sharrea -- Help Microsoft stamp out piracy - give Linux to a friend today Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
At 01:13 AM 10/18/2002 +1300, you wrote: I know this is 3 months late but I just found the instructions on how to install a parallel zip drive after installing your system. In the past I couldn't do it and had to reinstall the system to get my zip drive working as I read somewhere that you had to use mknod to create the device and I couldn't figure how from the man page (don't understand the minor/major thing). Anyway simple instructions are here: http://www.iomega.com/support/documents/10661.html I was surprised at just how simple it is! Took all of 2 minutes! Sharrea -- Thx Sharrea! I was about to ask how to do this or hunt the web... whichever came first. My question is related tho... I've ripped out hte floppy on my desktop machine (don't ask why ... long story). So now when i install MDK It asks do i want to add packages selection to a floppy drive. Well YES I BLOODY WELL DO! But I have no floppy... so will a zip drive work in this situation?! I don't think it will but maybe someone can point me to how to do this? or if its been done before? --- Femme Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
On Friday 18 Oct 2002 1:15 pm, FemmeFatale wrote: At 01:13 AM 10/18/2002 +1300, Sharrea wrote: snip Anyway simple instructions are here: http://www.iomega.com/support/documents/10661.html I was surprised at just how simple it is! Took all of 2 minutes! Thx Sharrea! I was about to ask how to do this or hunt the web... whichever came first. My question is related tho... I've ripped out hte floppy on my desktop machine (don't ask why ... long story). So now when i install MDK It asks do i want to add packages selection to a floppy drive. Well YES I BLOODY WELL DO! But I have no floppy... so will a zip drive work in this situation?! I don't think it will but maybe someone can point me to how to do this? or if its been done before? Femme I have done that in the past but not by choice. The sh*tty IBM Deskstar hd I had at the time was causing all sorts of hw conflicts and when installing MDK (8.0 I think), the install process didn't recognise my floppy drive and kept writing my boot disk, etc, to the zip drive instead. The strange thing was that after the initial reboot the floppy drive did indeed show up every time! (had that happen 3-4 times) I don't know how you would actually _tell_ the installation to use your zip drive, but perhaps with no floppy drive present, it will just do it automatically anyway(?) Sharrea -- Help Microsoft stamp out piracy - give Linux to a friend today Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
On Wed, 24 Jul 2002 07:26, Richard Holt wrote: Thanks for the advise. Finally, insert CD#1, expert, Update, let it find the drive, go through all the motions and back in business. I know there must be a way to probe for it and set it up but this is the only way I found that works. Richard. I THINK you have to create the device with /sbin/MAKEDEV which I don't have a clue how to use. Maybe you can make sense of man MAKEDEV? I once had the same problem but couldn't figure out how to use MAKEDEV so I ended up reinstalling. Sorry I'm not much help. Sharrea -- oxymoron: Microsoft Works Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
RE: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
Have you tried making a new icon/link. I seem to recall reading that the kde/mandrake install made link doesnt work, and you need to make a new. Brian D. Klar - CVE OTS WPAFB -Original Message- From: Richard Holt [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, July 22, 2002 7:57 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop On Monday, 22 July 2002 03:41 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Even though you created the mount point, did you mount it? In KDE there should be a icon on the desktop for the zip. mount /mnt/zip I think that is what it is Thanks, yes, I tried it. I get a dialog: X Error Could not mount device. the reported error was: mount: special device /dev/sda4 does not exist. Apparently something isn't right in the line in fstab, but I've not found a better example. regards, Richard. Hello, Installed mdk81 on Dell Latitude, PII-D300XT, 128MB. At install, the floppy was connected, not the Zip drive. Hence, problems to access Zip drive. Have created /mnt/zip and added the following line to fstab: /dev/sda4 /mnt/zip auto ... user,iocharset=iso8859-1,exec,codepage=850,noauto 0 0 but it still isn't accesible. What should I add to wake up the Zip? Have found info about installing but nothing has worked so far. I have tried in the past to reinstall to correct minor annoyances, but ended up with LiLo at the end unable to write to MBR resulting in, for me, wiping out everything and starting over. There must be a better way. Thanks, Richard. -- Servicios GO-TRO,ca, v/f:0265-641-0003, 0414-675-8257 -- Servicios GO-TRO,ca, v/f:0265-641-0003, 0414-675-8257 Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
Thanks for the advise. Finally, insert CD#1, expert, Update, let it find the drive, go through all the motions and back in business. I know there must be a way to probe for it and set it up but this is the only way I found that works. Richard. On Tuesday, 23 July 2002 08:44 am, Klar Brian D Contr MSG/SICN wrote: Have you tried making a new icon/link. I seem to recall reading that the kde/mandrake install made link doesnt work, and you need to make a new. Brian D. Klar - CVE OTS WPAFB -Original Message- From: Richard Holt [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, July 22, 2002 7:57 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop On Monday, 22 July 2002 03:41 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Even though you created the mount point, did you mount it? In KDE there should be a icon on the desktop for the zip. mount /mnt/zip I think that is what it is Thanks, yes, I tried it. I get a dialog: X Error Could not mount device. the reported error was: mount: special device /dev/sda4 does not exist. Apparently something isn't right in the line in fstab, but I've not found a better example. regards, Richard. Hello, Installed mdk81 on Dell Latitude, PII-D300XT, 128MB. At install, the floppy was connected, not the Zip drive. Hence, problems to access Zip drive. Have created /mnt/zip and added the following line to fstab: /dev/sda4 /mnt/zip auto ... user,iocharset=iso8859-1,exec,codepage=850,noauto 0 0 but it still isn't accesible. What should I add to wake up the Zip? Have found info about installing but nothing has worked so far. I have tried in the past to reinstall to correct minor annoyances, but ended up with LiLo at the end unable to write to MBR resulting in, for me, wiping out everything and starting over. There must be a better way. Thanks, Richard. -- Servicios GO-TRO,ca, v/f:0265-641-0003, 0414-675-8257 -- Servicios GO-TRO,ca, v/f:0265-641-0003, 0414-675-8257 Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
[newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
Hello, Installed mdk81 on Dell Latitude, PII-D300XT, 128MB. At install, the floppy was connected, not the Zip drive. Hence, problems to access Zip drive. Have created /mnt/zip and added the following line to fstab: /dev/sda4 /mnt/zip auto ... user,iocharset=iso8859-1,exec,codepage=850,noauto 0 0 but it still isn't accesible. What should I add to wake up the Zip? Have found info about installing but nothing has worked so far. I have tried in the past to reinstall to correct minor annoyances, but ended up with LiLo at the end unable to write to MBR resulting in, for me, wiping out everything and starting over. There must be a better way. Thanks, Richard. -- Servicios GO-TRO,ca, v/f:0265-641-0003, 0414-675-8257 Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
On Monday, 22 July 2002 03:41 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Even though you created the mount point, did you mount it? In KDE there should be a icon on the desktop for the zip. mount /mnt/zip I think that is what it is Thanks, yes, I tried it. I get a dialog: X Error Could not mount device. the reported error was: mount: special device /dev/sda4 does not exist. Apparently something isn't right in the line in fstab, but I've not found a better example. regards, Richard. Hello, Installed mdk81 on Dell Latitude, PII-D300XT, 128MB. At install, the floppy was connected, not the Zip drive. Hence, problems to access Zip drive. Have created /mnt/zip and added the following line to fstab: /dev/sda4 /mnt/zip auto ... user,iocharset=iso8859-1,exec,codepage=850,noauto 0 0 but it still isn't accesible. What should I add to wake up the Zip? Have found info about installing but nothing has worked so far. I have tried in the past to reinstall to correct minor annoyances, but ended up with LiLo at the end unable to write to MBR resulting in, for me, wiping out everything and starting over. There must be a better way. Thanks, Richard. -- Servicios GO-TRO,ca, v/f:0265-641-0003, 0414-675-8257 -- Servicios GO-TRO,ca, v/f:0265-641-0003, 0414-675-8257 Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
RE: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop
add umask=0 after the iocharset=iso8859-1 /dev/sda4 /mnt/zip auto user,iocharset=iso8859-1,umask=0,exec,codepage=850,noauto 0 0 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Richard Holt Sent: Monday, July 22, 2002 7:57 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [newbie] how to mount zip drive, post install, Dell laptop On Monday, 22 July 2002 03:41 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Even though you created the mount point, did you mount it? In KDE there should be a icon on the desktop for the zip. mount /mnt/zip I think that is what it is Thanks, yes, I tried it. I get a dialog: X Error Could not mount device. the reported error was: mount: special device /dev/sda4 does not exist. Apparently something isn't right in the line in fstab, but I've not found a better example. regards, Richard. Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
