Don't know if this has been answered yet or not..but go to
http://www.linux.org
search the archives for the faqs section (it will be under linux projects
or somjething like that, and then the official faq pages) Do a search for
formatting or floppy or something to that effect and you will come up with
the faq. That's the easiest way to get any info on Linux or UNIX in
general. Those faq's are wonderful.
TO save you some time now...to format a floppy in unix the command is:
fdformat /dev/<device>, for linux it is: fdformat /dev/fd0H1440
To make a filesystem (so you can copy files to it)
mkfs -t <filesystem> -m0 /dev/<device> <disksize in kbytes>, for linux
this is: mkfs -t ext2 -m0 /dev/fd0H1440 1440
If that doesn't work then drop that last 1440 off the end. Anyway. This
will clear the disk and make a filesystem on it. Now, to copy files to the
file system..there are two steps.
First:
mount -t <filesystem> /dev/<device> <mountpoint>, for linux it is:
mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
Second:
cp <files> <mountpoint>, for linux in the example above it is: cp *
/mnt/floppy
That's how you do it. Realize that <filesystem> can be any supported
filesystem type. YOu can format a disk in msdos, vfat, or ext2 depending
on what filesystems your kernel supports. You can also format sysV style
floppies, or other fs types than what is listed here. The rule of thumb is
if it's supported in the kernel (compiled support for it) and you can mount
that type of FS, you can create a FS on disk of that type. One
suggestion..this is going to sound strange and odd, but if you are planning
on using this floppy on many different UNIX systems (AIX, SUN, Linux, etc.)
You probably want to make an msdos file system on the disk. I've tried
ext2fs and it's not supported under either AIX or SUN, so I went right to
MSDOS...I didn't try any of the others. I'd not use VFAT since I'm not
sure how support for that is yet..but MSDOS seems to be pretty well
supported.
Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Bailey [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Saturday, October 31, 1998 3:40 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: xfree86 questions
Actually, when you format a disk in win95 it still makes it a vanilla fat,
so you will be mounting by the following commands, "mkdir /floppy" and
"mount /dev/fd0 /floppy -t msdos". If you want to mount it elsewhere,
make sure you have a directory (doesn't matter what's in it) and then use
"mount /dev/floppy [path-to-mount-directory]". Assuming a smooth mount,
you should see all your files when you check in that directory.
On Sat, 31 Oct 1998, Sergey Pak wrote:
> On Fri, 30 Oct 1998, you wrote:
> >i have downloaded the file that you sent to me. i have spent a lot of
time on the net trying to find the answer to my problems. can you tell me
how to format a floppy under linux and then how to copy that file from a:\
to c:\?
> >
> >Leland Albro
> >Network Administrator
> >Troy ISD
> >[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >
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> No sweat.
> You want to format the the floppy in Win95/98 (same crap) machine and put
the
> file on it. Next, put the floppy into Linux machine and issue the
command:
> mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 'mount-point-directory' (usually i do mount -t
vfat
> /dev/fd0 /floppy). If you didn't configure you kernel then msdos, vfat
file
> systems support is in the kernel by default so you won't have problems.
> If you do then you will error: "vfat file system is not supported".
> It means you have to configure your kernel (Report this to the inpiron
list and
> and you'll get a lot of help. A lot of replies at least).
> Then type "df -k" and you'll see your floppy was mounted and you can work
with
> the its files the same way you do in other file systems. You even can run
rpm
> directly from the floppy if you're installing some *.rpm file. Regards
> Sergey Pak
> -------------
> (888)586-4124
>
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