Floppy Icon missing from Desktop

[utu]

@klaus

Nicely done, sir.

If these last steps work out, shouldn't the patient
modify his /etc/fstab accordingly?

I note that in some earlier versions of Knoppix, there used to
be an entry in /etc/fstab of the form:
/dev/fd0 /floppy auto defaults,user,noauto 0 0
or, using your terminology,
/dev/fd0 /media/fd0...etc.

If Knoppix 6.4.3 doesn't mount floppies automatically,
then hopefully we can click File Manager to mount fd0.
If not, we may still need a clickable icon on the desktop,
in addition to the mkdir and fstab additions here.

For what it's worth, when I plug in my USB floppy,
Knoppix 6.4.3 adds the following to my /etc/fstab, and
vfat stuff shows up in File manager to be read, etc:

# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/sdc /media/sdc vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,shortname=winnt,uid=kn oppix,gid=knoppix 0 0


@kl522
I have a usb floppy to read some old stuff of mine.
Would you believe GWBasic?


@Newbie1
You are in good hands. These guys, and Harry know
Knoppix inside out.

[Newbie1]

The command Code: hwinfo --floppy Did not show anything. I did see the screen flash something but only the command prompt returned.
Code: sudo mkdir /media/fd0 and sudo mount -o uid=1000,gid=1000 /dev/fd0 /media/fd0 also did not have any affect. Still no Floppy icon anywhere.
I opened File Manager clicked GO then My Computer and in the right pane there was the Floppy icon. A single click on any of these I get: Error File Doesn't exist. A Right-click shows Open or Properties, Open gets File Doesn't exixt, Properties shows File Type of Mount Point, Size of files 0 last access 01/01/70 00:00.
I then opened Leaf Pad and clicked Open, the device list showed Floppy Drive but no Files.
I Shutdown the MSI system and tried my old ECS system. First thing I noticed is that Linux Kernel took less than a second. On the MSI system it took 65 seconds. Still no Floppy icon and File manager acted the same. But with Leaf Pad I was able to Open and Save TXT files.
I think the BIOS on the MSI system is bad. I will stick with DOS and Windows to do the rest of my tests.
Someone more familiar with Linux should look into the Floppy issues as there is something wrong with the whole Knoppix File Manager thing.

Unless someone is willing to "show" me how to Run a DOS/Windows executable from a Jumpdrive, then this thread is closed.

Thanks

[utu]

FWIW,

I have NO fd on my system.
cd /var/log..........................................'set up shop in /var/log
rm user.log........................................ 'erase user.log
hwinfo --floppy --log user.log.............. 'generates a 600k text file in user.log

less user.log | grep fd......................... 'doesn't tell me anything useful about anything fd...
less user.log | grep floppy................... 'nor does this


Just watching the lxterminal, this 600k of text
flies by on one line in about 1 or 2 sec.

I have a cdrw.
Doing a similar exercise as above,

rm user.log
hwinfo --cdrom --log user.log ..............'generates a text file almost as big as for floppy

less less user.log | grep cd................... 'tells me a lot about cd... things

As before,
Just watching the lxterminal, this 600k of text
flies by on one line in about 1 or 2 sec.

[klaus2008]

Today I booted Knoppix 6.4.3 CD on my notebook (HP omnibook xt1000) with a USB floppy disk drive connected. There was no medium in the floppy drive. I issued hwinfo --floppy in a terminal and was surprised that the the command did not show any information about the floppy disk drive. I issued

hwinfo --usb

and found a long list of USB devices. One device was my USB floppy disk drive. It had got the device name /dev/sdb.

My next step was to open the PCMan Filemanager. I did not see any icon for the floppy disk drive. After I had inserted a floppy disk into the floppy disk drive there was activity in the floppy disk drive and in the PCMan Filemanager's left pane appeared a new icon. It had got the same name as the floppy disk. I clicked on that icon and in the PCMan Filemanager's right pane appeared the usual icons. The floppy disk's mount point was /media/sdb. When I removed the floppy disk from the drive the icons disappeared in the right pane of the file manager. In the left pane of the PCMan Filemanager vanished the floppy disk's icon.

After this success I took my Windows 7 Pro system with Oracle VirtualBox 3.2.12 installed. This system has got a traditional floppy disk drive built in. I had to add a floppy disk drive to my virtual maschine before I started Knoppix 6.4.3. I opened a terminal and issued hwinfo --floppy. Again there was no information about the floppy disk drive. But when I issued

hwinfo --storage-ctrl

I saw that there was floppy disk controller in the system. Afterwards I opened the PCMan Filemanager and inserted a floppy disk into the physical floppy disk drive. There was no icon for the floppy disk shown in the filemanager's window. Therefore I issued the commands I suggested in my previous post.

sudo mkdir /media/fd0
sudo mount -o uid=1000,gid=1000 /dev/fd0 /media/fd0

This time there was no special icon for the floppy disk drive but after I had moved to the directory /media/fd0 I found the files on the floppy disk. I closed the filemanager's window and issued

sudo umount /media/fd0

before I removed the floppy disk from the floppy disk drive.

My third attempt was to boot my PC from the Knoppix 6.4.3 CD. There was a similar experience as in the virtual maschine. But I after had plugged in my USB floppy disk drive the floppy disk was detected automatically as in the first attempt with the notebook.

Maybe there is a way to turn on an automount operation for the traditional floppy disk drives in Knoppix 6.4.3. But in the rare case that I need a floppy disk drive I can use my USB device.

[utu]

I think this mystery may be just one of expectations.

I note there is no icon for a CD initially anywhere
on my Desktop or File Manager UNTIL there is some
removable medium actually in the CD device.

Usually Knoppix prompts for some information if it
sees a new device or new media. Soon afterwards
appropriate icons appear here and there in the
File Manager.

Wouldn't surprise me (NOW) if that's true for floppies and
USB devices as well.

[krishna.murphy]

Since a mount command is required for most filesystems, I'm not surprised that the drive doesn't show up in pcman unless there's a medium in a removable type drive. The raw, unmounted "drive" (filesystem) shows up as soon as I plug something in, but I have to click it in the list of filesystems to mount it. I haven't seen drive icons on the desktop since version 5, either before or after mounting.

Cheers!
Krishna