Device names are convention, but it is good to follow those conventions: /dev/fd* is a series of floppy disk devices. You will note that each has a major and minor number: brw------- 1 gaf gaf 2, 0 Dec 29 09:30 /dev/fd0 <snip> brw------- 1 gaf gaf 2, 40 Sep 23 2001 /dev/fd0h1440
The major number identifies the device driver and the minor number is important to the device driver. The minor number will encode things like the drive number and other useful information, like the drive type or partition. By convention, IDE drives are names hdXn, where X is a letter a through d referring to the drive number and n referring to the partition. SCSI devices are scdN where N refers to the unit number. I'm not sure where a ZIP drive shows up on a Mac, but it should show up as an hd or an scd. Then, to make things more readable, simply set up a symlink. Let's say your ZIP drive is /dev/sdc5, so set up a symlink: cd /dev ln -s scd5 zip The Linux use of fstab is better than traditional Unix in that it also conveys permissions for users to mount devices. On 17 May 2002 at 17:54, Michael Bovee wrote: > Hi again, > I'm fine tuning my fstab for devices and permissions that I want to > use, and I'm looking for clarification of a couple points that don't > seem to be detailed in the fstab or mount man pages nor in my unix > and linux books: > > The vanilla SuSE 7.3 install on my Mac PowerBook (PPC) contains a > line in /etc/fstab for /dev/fd0. > Well, Macintoshes haven't shipped with floppy disk drives for years > now, but I do have a swappable zip drive. So, > 1) does fd0 strictly mean floppy disks or can that generically be > used for zip disks, too? > 2) if there's any value in adding lines to /etc/fstab for Mac and PC > formatted zip disks, can I call them special devices of my own > choosing such as /dev/hdc1 and /dev/hdc2 or perhaps /dev/hdb? See, > I'm unclear on the rules of naming devices, basically. > 3) if I set up zip devices and they work, is it still inadvisable to > remove the fd0 entry? > > (I'm new enough to *nix that I'm timid about adding things to this > file without being certain of the consequences ahead of time :0) > > Thank You, > --Michael > > ***************************************************************** > To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the text 'unsubscribe gnhlug' in the message body. > ***************************************************************** -- Jerry Feldman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Associate Director Boston Linux and Unix user group http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9 PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9 ***************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the text 'unsubscribe gnhlug' in the message body. *****************************************************************
