Not sure if anyone uses floppy drives anymore much. I know that most machines don’t come with them anymore unless you ask for one.
One of my machines [Machine # 2] has a floppy and I have never had the occaision to use it under linux [opensuse 11.2 currently].
Until now that is!
I have about 30 floppies that I need to transfer the data from. I am able to mount the floppy drive and take data off the currently inserted floppy, but if I want to insert another floppy and remove the data from it, I must unmount and remount the floppy everytime.
There is an entry in fstab:
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto noauto,user 0 0
and a mount point in media
Is there something else I need to have in the fstab line for the floppy so that it will read automatically everytime I insert a disk?
I was unable to find any postings re: this issue. either here or on google.
Assuming you are using a USB floppy, you should alternatively be able to unplug the device, insert a new floppy and plug it in again. If you are using KDE, configure Knotifier to mount on attachment - otherwise you may be no better off than you are now.
caf4926 wrote:
> I would imagine this behaviour is standard and to be expected.
+1
i think the last time i used a floppy was around 2003 and i used the
command line and did this tango:
insert floppy diskette
mount the drive
copy the data
unmount the drive
remove floppy diskette
repeat 1 through six until all diskettes are copied…
the bottom line being that the the mechanical hardware of the old
floppy drive wasn’t designed to sense a disk being removed and another
being inserted…if you took out a disk and inserted another the
system will NOT ‘see’ that and get 'confused…
you could write a little script that loops
mount > copy > umount
with a pause at each point…but, for me it would take far longer
to write the script than to just hit the arrow keys to back up in the
bash history to the next needed command…ymmv
–
DenverD
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]
DenverD’s observations are correct. Floppy unit hardware does not signal if a floppy is inserted/removed to the system (kernel) and thus your system can take no automatic action on such handling.
The entry in /etc/fstab is only there to make the mount easier, you do not have to specify those fields/parameters that are in the /etc/fstab entry. You could of course mount elsewhere either by providing all fields/parameters in the mount command or by changing the mountpoint in the /etc/fstab entry and using a short mount command.
Thanks all for replying so quickly.
It may not be precisely what I wanted to hear, but at least there is nothing wrong. @DenverD - that is exactly how I am doing it. [tango]
So, onward, it is only 30 disc’s, sooner started sooner finished.
> There is an entry in fstab:
>
>> /dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto noauto,user 0 0
If there is a line in fstab, automatic mount will not work.
That’s a general rule, but in the case of floppies, I think it has been disabled as few people use
it. You have to manually mount them. IIRC, it can be done by periodically polling the drive, but it
is a nuisance.
Have a look at lshal, search for “floppy”, there are entries there.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.2 x86_64 “Emerald” at Telcontar)
