How do I edit the fstab file in LEAP 15 to enable a 1.44mb floppy?
I’ve tried several things to no avail.
Thanks in advance!
It has been quite a while since I last owned a computer that could read floppy disks.
I think they show up as device “/dev/fd0”. And you need somewhere to mount them. So maybe
sudo mkdir /dev/floppy
And then add a line to “/etc/fstab”
/dev/fd0 /floppy vfat noauto,users,gid=users,fmask=133,dmask=022 0 0
That “noauto” says to not automatically mount. You can change that as you wish.
In all honesty, you would probably be better off without an “fstab” entry. The system should then mount the floppy when it is inserted (depending on desktop configuration). With KDE, the device notifier should show up and allow you to click to mount.
I think the mkdir /dev/floppy is a mistake. First because you should not create things yourself in /dev (it is removed on shutdown and freshly created by udevd on boot), but also because in the fstab entry you use /floppy and not /dev/floppy.
Also, I when mounting by an fstab entry, the owner:group that are mimicked fot this non-Linux file system is root:root. Thus depending on what access is needed, the fmask and dmask must be adapted.
When the access should be for a particular user, then the mounting through desktop is to be preferred as @nrickert alread mentioned because then owner:group are set to those for the user running the desktop.
And yes, not many will be able to test this anymore rotfl!
You are right. That was supposed to be “/floppy”. I should reread my posts more carefully before clicking “Submit Reply”.
Thanks for the correction.
Yes, that was a very long time ago. Probably somewhere around 1988 that I junked a computer like that. It was 2007 that I junked my last computer for 3.5 inch floppies.
On Thu, 18 Apr 2019 12:26:03 +0000, nrickert wrote:
> tannington;2900171 Wrote:
>> Couldn’t resist … and how long since one like this:
>> http://paste.opensuse.org/view/raw/b85a6865
>
> Yes, that was a very long time ago. Probably somewhere around 1988 that
> I junked a computer like that. It was 2007 that I junked my last
> computer for 3.5 inch floppies.
Several years back, I bought a USB adapter that handles all three floppy
sizes as well as MFM and RLE hard drives. It’s amazing how often I use
it supporting several churches and offices.
If I had known such a tool existed 10-15 years ago I would have bought one. Now I’m not so sure. Who made it?
I got it up ( the floppy drive that is…)
Yes, it is really, really, REALLY, a legacy device but I had to get some data off some floppies from a legacy project- how appropriate.
I’m surprised that the floppy’s were even still readable.
I pretty much remembered how to set up a floppy in fstab but the last time I did any fstab editing I don’t remember there being a long UUID: tag with a bunch of numbers
after it and before the actual device definition so I was a bit hinky with messing around with it.
It seems to me, correct me if I’m wrong- but didn’t YAST at one time have a fstab editor?
Thanks all for the assistance
Yes,often the UUID is used to define the device, but as the UUID only point (through a symlink) to the “real” /dev/sd…, you can still use what you were used to.
And YaST has a partitioner. And the word “partitioner” is in this case (as in many other cases where people use this word rather unprecise), not only a real partitioner, but it also manages file systems and fstab entries when you ask it to do so. But that fstab editing is IMHO bound to the others functions and I doubt that it will be very helpfull in a case like yours.
In any case, congratulations that you got it working!
I have a 2004 Dell with a floppy drive; as soon as I put a floppy disk in the drive, the KDE notification pops up asking me whether I wish to open it with the File Manager. When I click on the eject icon, it ejects. No need for an fstab entry.
Note that this machine is an ex-Windows machine and so openSUSE discovered and configured the floppy drive itself. However, I have not installed LEAP 15 on this machine; so the functionality may have been removed in LEAP 15.
That is all correct (except that I do not see the connection with Windows) and I assume it will still work in 15.0 (and 15.1), but it is not what the OP asked for. He may have a different use case where he wants to have an fstab entry for (e.g. when not running a GUI).
But i admit that he did not explain why he wants to have an fstab entry (the infamous Describe the goal, not the step), but OTOH, none of us did ask him why he wants this.
I only mentioned Windows to point out that openSUSE discovered the floppy drive on a second hand device and set everything up without the slightest intervention from me. From the command line, you just use mount and umount. An fstab entry is pointless for any of the use cases I have had for floppy disks and I struggle to imagine one where it would of any use.
My opinion differs.
An fstab entry is handy for predefining certain parameters so that they are not needed to be typed whith the mount command.
Use cases?
Imagine that one only wants to read floppies comming from some other source and thus protectt hem from overwriting. Having the ro option in the entry would offer that protection without having to type it on every mount.
As floppies do have non-Linux file systems, owner:group and permissions have to be faked. Thus uid=, gid=, and the different mask options might be useful to have them predefined.
Also, you say “you use mount”, but that is only possible as “you” is root. When you want to enable other users (you as a person or others) to do the mount, you probably want to add the option user.
The above is only what comes to my mind at short notice, the OP might still have another wish/use case.