IBM R40: external USB floppy does not work

[Uwe Brauer]

Hello

I installed Knoppix 3.3 with debian woody. The external USB floppy
shipped by IBM works with Windows XP, but I cannot access it from
linux. Can anybody help me please?

Thanks in advance


Uwe Brauer

[cuk]

hi,
i have the same problem, although i haven't installed it, it runs from cd. it sees the floppy, but i cannot acces it. by the way, did you install a dual boot? did it go smoothly? i would like to, but i am scared...

[OErjan]

hmmm, dmesg|grep fd might help gain some info.
does
mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /floppy work?
if not whar error messages?

[cuk]

thanx, i will give it a try, just asking, because i have the same comp, thinkpad R40

[cuk]

hi,
so i spent the week reading and reading, forums docs and all i could find, made a persistent home on the hd2, but the floppy still doesnt work, and modem either.
when i type mount -t vfat /dev/fd0/floppy, i get some lines of information how to use the mount command.
when i type dmesg|grep fd nothing happens, and although i read the info page i dont quite understand this command
when i right click the icon and try to format the floppy i get the message > cannot format /dev/fd0H1440 read only file system
on cat /proc/scsi/scsi i get my floppy drive listed 7! times, something like
Host: scsi Channel: 00 Id 00 Lun 00 (to 06)
Vendor: Nec Model: USB UFOOx Rev 1.50
Type: Direct Acces ANSI SCSI revision 02

what does Lun mean?
Isn't it so, that if it recognizes it, it should also run? Any ideas?
also my modem is recognized when i type lcpci -v, but when i query, it is busy. i really did search the forums, but no help so far, only thing i found out that i will probably need the driver, and then i would have to install knoppix, which i dont dare to do yet.
I also have the impression that knoppix is slower when i run it from home, it sometimes get stuck and the icons on the desktop disappeared when i tried to move an oo file there, which isn't the case when i run it normally, without the home=scan cheatcode.
anyway, thats it for now, i hope somebody reads this and has some advise, i am really interested and willing to learn, but i feel this a longer project, i mean changing to linux, wow, so much info at once, nonetheless rewarding, i feel i understand how this box is working much more, i had spent 5 months with xp but had the feeling that it is all going nowhere, the information seemed superficial and much more software based, this software is good no it isnt, yes it is, but nowhere a clear word how the system is actually working. although linux seems much more technical, you can find information for beginners like me, who are not very technical people, and have the principles explained. on the other hand, i sometimes had to agree with anna's post on this forum, and felt similarly, (quite funny post, user name> anna, i think she is british) ok i think i went a little far, thanks for any help in advance, have a nice day

[Uwe Brauer]

hi,
so i spent the week reading and reading, forums docs and all i could find, made a persistent home on the hd2, but the floppy still doesnt work, and modem either.
when i type mount -t vfat /dev/fd0/floppy, i get some lines of information how to use the mount command.
s

Hello

I solved the problem, thanks to mails from the debian laptop list
you have to mount it as a SCSI
suppose you get

lsmod | grep usb



usb-storage 60960 0 (unused)
usb-ohci 18184 0 (unused)
usbcore 57472 0 [usb-storage hid usb-ohci]

all you to do is:
mkdir /mnt/usbdisk1
mount -t vfat /dev/sda /mnt/usbdisk1


Uwe Brauer

[cuk]

verrry interesting,
i did exactly like you told me, lsmod|grep usb gave me the same list, and i continued, first i had a space between vfat and /dev, which again printed me some info about mount, so i typed again, without the space, no idea whether it did something or not, to try out i click on the floppy, for a long time there was nothing and then>
Unable to run the command specified. The file or directory file:/mnt/floppy does not exist.
i tried to format it>
Cannot format: /dev/fd0H1440
/dev/fd0H1440: Read-only file system
ok, to hell with the floppy, i don't really need it anyway, i have my "persistent home" on my hd, so i'll just continue with my private course, today users, i add a user, works, want to switch back, prompt for password, press enter, niente, i close the shell, open again, fine, knoppix and root are there, i change passwords, change to new user, want to change back, type in new password, nada, fine too, as long as i have knoppix and root everytime i restart the shell...so, let's have a look at some commands, apropos user, huh, huge list, let's have a look for some basics, aha, this seems interesting,
partimagedusers> list of allowed users,
pagedown, write it, voila, unknown command, maybe i looked wrong, type part, press tab twice, possibilities partimage and partimaged, let's pick the first and guess what happened, ratatatatata my floppy blinked green and started to run, yuhhuhuhu, at least theoretically it turns and i get the screen saying>
? Partition Image 0.6.2
? * Partition to save/restore
? sda fat12 1.41 MiB #
? sdb fat12 1024.00 MiB
? sdc fat12 1024.00 MiB
? sdd fat12 1024.00 MiB
? sde fat12 1024.00 MiB
? sdf fat12 1024.00 MiB
? sdg fat12 1024.00 MiB

? * Image file to create/use
? __________________________________________________ ____________

? Action to be done: <Next (F5)>
? (*) Save partition into a new image file
? ( ) Restore partition from an image file <About>
? ( ) Restore an MBR from the imagefile
? <Exit (F6)>
? [ ] Connect to server
? IP/name of the server: _________________________ Port: 4025__
? [X] Encrypt data on the network with SSL

well, on info partimage i find out it is a partition backup tool, partimagedusers certainly doesn't exist (or not like i tried to use it), i know that my floppy can run, but don't know how, and that's it for today, i hope i didn't bore you to death, greetings