How to mount floppy?

[Kevin J. Cummings]

Bob Goodwin - W2BOD wrote:
> Can someone tell me why I can't mount a Windows floppy containing a
> WordPerfect .wpd file on this FC6 computer?
> 
> mount  /dev/fd0
> mount: block device /dev/fd0 is write-protected, mounting read-only
> mount: you must specify the filesystem type
> 
> so I tried mount -t vfat /dev/fd0
> 
> but that doesn't work!

Of course not.  Most floppies are FAT-12 filesystems.  Try just "-t
msdos" instead of vfat.

> I put the following in /etc/fstab
> 
> /dev/fd0                /media/floppy           auto    defaults,noauto 0 0
> 
> which may not be correct?  I tried to follow what I see in a Centos4.4
> box that does read the floppy directory, but messed around with the
> default,noauto.

My entries for fd0 & fd1:

/dev/fd0	/A:	msdos	defaults,user,noauto
/dev/fd1	/B:	msdos	defaults,owner,noauto

of course this will only allow any user to mount a FAT formatted floppy
by hand (The user can now type:  "mount /dev/fd0"   and it should work
and only that user should have write-access to the floppy.)  You can
read about the differences between "user" and "owner" in the mount man page.

> I feel like a rat in a maze after spending the whole morning trying to
> retrieve the file from an old doggy Windows 98 computer that must have
> crashed twenty times and refuses to recognize a mouse.  Windows without
> a mouse is a real exercise, for me anyway!

Before playing with /etc/fstab, mount it by hand.  In that way, you can
play with the mount arguments until you get it right.  Try:

mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /media/floppy

and see if that works.  If it does, then you can create:

/dev/fd0	/media/floppy	msdos	defaults,user

> Thanks.

Good Luck!

> Bob Goodwin
> 


-- 
Kevin J. Cummings
kjchome at rcn.com
cummings at kjchome.homeip.net
cummings at kjc386.framingham.ma.us
Registered Linux User #1232 (http://counter.li.org)