On Mon, Jul 29, 2002 at 09:07:13AM -0700, alberto wrote: > > Hi all > > I'm having problems in using regular floppies on my LS-120 drive of a NEC > Versa SX, a zip-like drive wich is also capable of reading usual 1.44M > floppies. > > This is how the drive gets recognised at boot time: > # dmesg > > hdc: LS-120 SLIM3 00 UHD Floppy, ATAPI FLOPPY drive > > If I try to load ide-floppy as a module, the kernel message is the following: > # modprobe ide-floppy > > Jul 26 22:09:20 tiburzio kernel: hdc: 1440kB, 2880 blocks, 512 sector size > Jul 26 22:09:20 tiburzio kernel: hdc: 1440kB, 80/2/18 CHS, 150 kBps, 512 > sector size, 720 rpm > Jul 26 22:09:21 tiburzio kernel: hdc: unknown partition table > Jul 26 22:10:01 tiburzio kernel: hdc: unknown partition table From memory, this is because ide-floppy was mainly written with Zip/Jazz disks in mind. They have partitions. LS-120's and normal floppies do not. (I could be thinking of the 2.2 kernel though.) On the plus side, you can partition a floppy disk, but nothing else'll read it. :-) > If I try to make a dos filesystem on the floppy, > # mkdosfs /dev/hdc > mkdosfs 2.5 (07 Jan 2000) > mkdosfs: Will not try to make filesystem on '/dev/hdc' Looks like mkdosfs is hard-wired not to let you do this. You could make /dev/fd2 a symlink to /dev/hdc. Then stupid userland (like the above) will treat it like a FDD. Of course, that might not work. No idea, off hand. :-( > If I try with an ext2 or a tarfile, no problem, it'll do it. > I cannot make any boot floppy, though. > If I modify 'mkboot' brutally substituting /dev/fd0 with /dev/hdc, then it > tries to boot but it outputs an infinite series of 01 01 01 01.... On this one, I can't help. > In the end, how do I convince the kernel that what I have in my /dev/hdc is > infact a normal floppy disk? Do I have to make a device myself (how??!) > Do I have to pass on some boot parameters va LILO or via modprobe? The kernel will let you play with it as a normal floppy disk, it's the user-land assumptions letting you down. (Except possibly your bootdisk problem) -- ----------------------------------------------------------- Paul "TBBle" Hampson, MCSE 5th year CompSci/Asian Studies student, ANU The Boss, Bubblesworth Pty Ltd (ABN: 51 095 284 361) Paul.Hampson@Anu.edu.au Of course Pacman didn't influence us as kids. If it did, we'd be running around in darkened rooms, popping pills and listening to repetitive music. This email is licensed to the recipient for non-commercial use, duplication and distribution. -----------------------------------------------------------
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