Floppy Drive Problems

[RE Dude]

Please help.

I'm new to Linux, and am currently running Knoppix version 3.3 (2003-09-24), but can't mount the floppy drive using the desktop icon provided with the distro. How do I mount the floppy drive otherwise? If anyone can help, I'll really appreciate it.

Also, could someone suggest a good introductory text regarding the Linux filesystem and other topics?

[todsr1]

Do you have a floppy in the drive when you try using the desktop icon?

Take a look at the file /etc/fstab. You can do this by typing 'more /etc/fstab' in a terminal window, without the quotes. You should see a line that looks something like '/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy vfat ... '. Assuming this is present then the floppy should be perfectly accessable. If so, stick a floppy in the drive and type 'mount /dev/fd0' you should then be able to cd to /mnt/floppy and see the contents of the disk. if the 'mount.. ' command complains saying you don't have permission or something, try 'sudo mount /dev/fd0' instead.

HTH>

[jalil]

Hi,

I'm also having the same problem on mounting the floppy drive. When I enter mount /dev/fd0 in the console, I get this error message:

mount: mount point /mnt/floppy is a symbolic link to nowhere

Appreciate if somebody can help me to rectify this floppy mounting problem.

Thanks,
Jalil

Note: My fstab entry:

# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem mountpoint type options dump pass
/dev/hda5 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy vfat defaults,user,noauto,exec,umask=000 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto 0 0
/dev/dvd /dvd iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto 0 0
/dev/cdaudio /cdaudio iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 ntfs noauto,users,exec,ro,uid=myuser,gid=myuserl 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda6 none swap defaults 0 0
# Added by KNOPPIX
/dev/hda7 /mnt/hda7 ext3 noauto,users,exec 0 0

[todsr1]

Does the directory /floppy exist? Have you tried mounting /dev/fd0 on /floppy ?

[RE Dude]

Do you have a floppy in the drive when you try using the desktop icon?

Take a look at the file /etc/fstab. You can do this by typing 'more /etc/fstab' in a terminal window, without the quotes. You should see a line that looks something like '/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy vfat ... '. Assuming this is present then the floppy should be perfectly accessable. If so, stick a floppy in the drive and type 'mount /dev/fd0' you should then be able to cd to /mnt/floppy and see the contents of the disk. if the 'mount.. ' command complains saying you don't have permission or something, try 'sudo mount /dev/fd0' instead.

HTH>

todsr1,

Many thanks for the help. My floppy drive works, but there are a few discrepancies among the posts in this forum regarding the /etc/fstab file. In my case, the fstab file has a line that reads the following:

/dev/fd0 /mnt/auto/floppy vfat defaults, user, ...

I've noticed that posters in other threads, as well as this one, seem to have a different line in their fstab file regarding floppy drives. My question is, since this is a removable medium, does this explain why the floppy drive DISAPPEARS from the /mnt/auto/floppy directory? Is this normal?

I thought that the drive would remain, but only its CONTENTS disappear. Is the drive supposed to remain? Granted, when I place a floppy in the drive, the contents reappear with the drive also --- once I mount it again. I haven't tried this, but would all removable medium work the same way --- USB thumb drive or key drives, etc?

[jalil]

If I change the mount point in fstab to /mnt/auto/floppy, this is what I got:

mount: mount point /mnt/auto/floppy does not exist

I am really frustrated with this problem including the cupsys printing problem (so far no solution yet).

Regards,
Jalil