Floppy disk help please.

[Locator]

How do I get Vector Linux to recognize when I have a floppy disk in my floppy disk drive (it recognizes the drive, but not what's in it)?

[nightflier]

I seriously doubt that your floppy drive signals the OS upon disk insertion or removal, so some manual intervention is required.

Are you using Thunar as your file manager? Do you see an icon for your floppy drive? If so, when you click on it, does the floppy drive do any thing (light or sound)?

[nightflier]

Hmm... I smell a bug.. just tested on a machine with a working floppy drive. Trying to mount the floppy fails silently.

Just to verify.. in a terminal, as root, issue command: "mount /dev/fd0".
Watch the floppy drive, see if the light comes on.
Look for any errors in your terminal window.
When the command prompt returns, give command "mount" and see if /dev/fd0 is listed in the output.

[Locator]

I have a USB floppy drive, and the system recognizes it when I plug it in, but it treats the formatted diskette IN the drive as though it isn't formatted.

[nightflier]

Never had a USB floppy drive, so now I'm just guessing:

Make sure drive is unplugged
In a terminal, as root, command "tail -f /var/log/messages"
Plug in the drive and look for messages, see if you can see what name it is issued (/dev/something).
In another terminal: "mount /dev/something /mnt/floppy", watch the drive for activity and look for errors. When it settles: "mount", look for a successful operation.

[Locator]

the end result of part 1 is:

root:# tail -f /var/log/messages
Jan 19 11:51:48 vector dhcpcd[2833]: wlan0: broadcasting for a lease
Jan 19 11:51:51 vector gnome-keyring-daemon[2943]: GLib-GIO: Using the 'memory' GSettings backend.  Your settings will not be saved or shared with other applications.
Jan 19 11:51:51 vector gnome-keyring-daemon[2943]: couldn't set environment variable in session: The name org.gnome.SessionManager was not provided by any .service files
Jan 19 11:51:51 vector last message repeated 2 times
Jan 19 11:51:52 vector kernel: [   47.891855] fuse init (API version 7.16)
Jan 19 11:51:52 vector dhcpcd[2833]: wlan0: offered 192.168.2.4 from 192.168.2.1
Jan 19 11:51:57 vector dhcpcd[2833]: wlan0: acknowledged 192.168.2.4 from 192.168.2.1
Jan 19 11:51:57 vector dhcpcd[2833]: wlan0: checking for 192.168.2.4
Jan 19 11:52:02 vector dhcpcd[2833]: wlan0: leased 192.168.2.4 for infinity
Jan 19 11:52:02 vector dhcpcd[2833]: forked to background, child pid 3060
Jan 19 11:54:00 vector kernel: [  176.357017] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
Jan 19 11:54:00 vector kernel: [  176.552033] usb 4-1: New USB device found, idVendor=057b, idProduct=0000
Jan 19 11:54:00 vector kernel: [  176.552038] usb 4-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
Jan 19 11:54:00 vector kernel: [  176.552042] usb 4-1: Product: USB Floppy Drive
Jan 19 11:54:00 vector kernel: [  176.552045] usb 4-1: Manufacturer: Y-E DATA
Jan 19 11:54:00 vector kernel: [  176.560127] scsi8 : usb-storage 4-1:1.0
Jan 19 11:54:01 vector kernel: [  177.574063] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Y-E DATA USB-FDU          7.03 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
Jan 19 11:54:01 vector kernel: [  177.574288] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
Jan 19 11:54:01 vector kernel: [  177.686047] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

the end result of part 2 is:

root:# mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext2 (rw)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup type cgroup (rw)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,devmode=0666)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /root/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev)

so how do I know if the operation is successful or not?

[nightflier]

Your floppy drive was assigned "/dev/sdc". Try "mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/floppy". Then, when you use command "mount", you should see a line containing /dev/sdc1. Check the content with "ls /mnt/floppy".

[Locator]

The result of "mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/floppy" is:

root:# mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/floppy
mount: special device /dev/sdc1 does not exist

then when I tried "mount" I got:

root:# mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext2 (rw)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup type cgroup (rw)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,devmode=0666)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /root/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev)

What should I try next?

[uelsk8s]

I think it should be "mount /dev/sdc /mnt/floppy"

[Locator]

The end result is -

root:# mount /dev/sdc /mnt/floppy
mount: no medium found on /dev/sdc

[Locator]

Never had a USB floppy drive, so now I'm just guessing:

Make sure drive is unplugged
In a terminal, as root, command "tail -f /var/log/messages"
Plug in the drive and look for messages, see if you can see what name it is issued (/dev/something).
In another terminal: "mount /dev/something /mnt/floppy", watch the drive for activity and look for errors. When it settles: "mount", look for a successful operation.

I tried that and got the following result:

root:# tail -f /var/log/messages
Jan 21 15:45:13 vector kernel: [ 4296.248738] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
Jan 21 15:45:13 vector kernel: [ 4296.249488] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Jan 21 15:45:13 vector kernel: [ 4296.261376]  sdc: sdc1
Jan 21 15:45:13 vector kernel: [ 4296.263981] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jan 21 15:46:42 vector kernel: [ 4385.798921] usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 6
Jan 21 16:13:55 vector -- MARK --
Jan 21 16:33:55 vector -- MARK --
Jan 21 16:53:55 vector -- MARK --
Jan 21 17:13:55 vector -- MARK --
Jan 21 17:33:55 vector -- MARK --
Jan 21 17:53:55 vector -- MARK --
Jan 21 17:55:51 vector kernel: [12134.457022] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
Jan 21 17:55:51 vector kernel: [12134.652036] usb 4-1: New USB device found, idVendor=057b, idProduct=0000
Jan 21 17:55:51 vector kernel: [12134.652042] usb 4-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
Jan 21 17:55:51 vector kernel: [12134.652046] usb 4-1: Product: USB Floppy Drive
Jan 21 17:55:51 vector kernel: [12134.652049] usb 4-1: Manufacturer: Y-E DATA
Jan 21 17:55:51 vector kernel: [12134.660130] scsi9 : usb-storage 4-1:1.0
Jan 21 17:55:52 vector kernel: [12135.665066] scsi 9:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Y-E DATA USB-FDU          7.03 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
Jan 21 17:55:52 vector kernel: [12135.665290] sd 9:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
Jan 21 17:55:52 vector kernel: [12135.777052] sd 9:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk

and also:

root:# mount/dev/something /mnt/floppy
bash: mount/dev/something: No such file or directory
vector://home/madscientist
root:# mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext2 (rw)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup type cgroup (rw)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,devmode=0666)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/madscientist/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=madscientist)

 So what do I try next?

[nightflier]

root:# mount/dev/something /mnt/floppy

This was an example intending to be modified. Uelsk8s gave the correct syntax. You are correct in saying that the system does not recognize the floppy (medium) in the drive. You have tested the floppy on a different system?

[uelsk8s]

this last run the system reported "Jan 21 15:45:13 vector kernel: [ 4296.261376]  sdc: sdc1"
so it looks like maybe sdc1 is seen when there is media present?, I am not sure, have not used a floppy in a few years never had a usb floppy.

try "mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/floppy"

[Locator]

root:# mount/dev/something /mnt/floppy

This was an example intending to be modified. Uelsk8s gave the correct syntax. You are correct in saying that the system does not recognize the floppy (medium) in the drive. You have tested the floppy on a different system?

Yes, and with the same type of result.

[nightflier]

You mean, the floppy disk is not recognized on other machines and/or operating systems?