Floppy Drive A

[sszindian]

In Mint 7, when I used the "Open File selector window" and went to- floppy drive - a directory was given and I was able to select the file I wanted. In Mint 8, it doesn't give a directory so therefore I can't select a .txt file or graphic to load into a program, it just doesn't load anything. The light on the floppy drive A activates but that is the end of it. Is this a BUG in Helena? I have a lot of information and graphics in various formats stored on floppy disks (3-1/2") saved from when I switched to Linux from Windows that I certainly don't want to loose- If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it ?

[lagagnon]

Are you sure that you have a valid floppy disk? They are notorious for only lasting a few years before the media becomes unstable. Have you tried a few different floppies that you know have good data on them?

[sszindian]

Yes sir... tried several (both .txt and graphic) disks... just wont recognize the disk contents (Thank you for the response!)

[DrHu]

The light on the floppy drive A activates but that is the end of it.

Test in a terminal with msdos session

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-2887.html

check the /etc/fstab file for the floppy mount
--and permission in /dev/fd* of course..

And that the BIOS of the computer has enabled the floppy drive fully..

[sszindian]

Hmmm... DrHue thanks for that info... one problem... I have no idea what you are talking about I'm totally NEW to the Linux world . I do know how to get into the terminal but that's the extent of my Linux knowledge I'm afraid, the rest you mentioned is, well... beyond what I know how to do unless it's a step-by-step procedure?

[sszindian]

Well... here I sit in total darkness!! Kinda looks like no one else has this problem using the little-ole 3-1/2" froppy drive on their system (probably since no one has one.) Wanna thank the two replys I did have for trying to help ... I guess I'm alone here with this new "HELENA" that I thought was going to be a real buster against my Microsoft XP. All I know is "Everything Works Fine In Microsoft" not hardly so in LinuxMint8. About the only two faults I see with LinuxMint8 is my "FLoppy Drive 'A' can't be accessed (worked fine in Mint 7) and my printer and scanner doesn't work like it should (didn't work in Mint 7 or Mint 8.)"

[lagagnon]

OK - one last try. Open a terminal, type "tail -f /var/log/messages". Insert a known valid floppy diskette with data on it into the floppy drive. Then open nautilus and try to access the drive. Post to this thread the messages you see in the terminal. Also, with the diskette still loaded show us the output to the command "df -h".

[sszindian]

OK... here's what I got (after figuring out what NAUTILIS meant (This Linux is a new ball game for me!)

-desktop ~ $ "tail -f/var/log/messages"
bash: tail -f/var/log/messages: No such file or directory
-desktop ~ $ nautilus

(nautilus:3161): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed
-desktop ~ $ "df -h"
-desktop ~ $

As you can see after typing the "df -h" and pressing enter, nothing happened except returning to the prompt.

[lagagnon]

-desktop ~ $ "tail -f/var/log/messages"

You missed the space between the f and the / . See my command above.

[sszindian]

This is what I tried.... (both ways) and I get the same results?

(1)
-desktop ~ $ "tail -f /var/log/messages"
bash: tail -f /var/log/messages: No such file or directory

(2)
-desktop ~ $ "tail-f /var/log/messages"
bash: tail-f /var/log/messages: No such file or directory
-desktop ~ $

[lagagnon]

When I put the quotes around those commands I mean to highlight them - not for you to put the quotes!!!

Code: Select all

tail -f /var/log/messages


[sszindian]

Phewwwwwww...... finally (I told you I was a rookie at this!)
Here's what I got-

zaorski@zaorski-desktop ~ $ tail -f /var/log/messages
Dec 7 18:00:11 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 13.600090] intel8x0: clocking to 48000
Dec 7 18:00:16 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 18.492902] eth0: Media Link On 100mbps full-duplex
Dec 7 18:00:09 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 24.739147] usb 3-1: usbfs: interface 1 claimed by usblp while 'usb' sets config #1
Dec 7 18:00:23 zaorski-desktop pulseaudio[1653]: ratelimit.c: 3 events suppressed
Dec 7 18:00:40 zaorski-desktop pulseaudio[1745]: ratelimit.c: 1 events suppressed
Dec 7 18:38:24 zaorski-desktop sudo: pam_sm_authenticate: Called
Dec 7 18:38:24 zaorski-desktop sudo: pam_sm_authenticate: username = [zaorski]
Dec 7 18:41:52 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 2528.301114] usblp0: removed
Dec 8 07:59:33 zaorski-desktop rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="4.2.0" x-pid="412" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] rsyslogd was HUPed, type 'lightweight'.
Dec 8 10:21:50 zaorski-desktop pulseaudio[1745]: ratelimit.c: 1 events suppressed

(then I did this - right in TERMINAL - couldn't find that NAUTILUS area again for the life of me.)

zaorski@zaorski-desktop ~ $ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda5 7.3G 3.3G 3.7G 47% /
udev 360M 264K 359M 1% /dev
none 360M 448K 359M 1% /dev/shm
none 360M 292K 359M 1% /var/run
none 360M 0 360M 0% /var/lock
none 360M 0 360M 0% /lib/init/rw
zaorski@zaorski-desktop ~ $

[lagagnon]

As I said above you need to run that command BEFORE you insert the floppy disk, then insert the floppy disk, then open the file manager ("Computer" icon), then access the floppy drive and THEN post the messages that will have been written to the terminal.

[sszindian]

We'll try this once more......

zaorski@zaorski-desktop ~ $ tail -f /var/log/messages
Dec 8 16:32:05 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 10.639327] usblp0: USB Bidirectional printer dev 2 if 1 alt 0 proto 2 vid 0x03F0 pid 0x3B11
Dec 8 16:32:05 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 10.639386] usbcore: registered new interface driver usblp
Dec 8 16:32:05 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 10.872412] Intel ICH 0000:00:02.7: PCI INT C -> Link[LNKC] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
Dec 8 16:32:06 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 11.700061] intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured 55151 usecs (2653 samples)
Dec 8 16:32:06 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 11.700072] intel8x0: clocking to 48000
Dec 8 16:32:06 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 11.978379] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
Dec 8 16:32:11 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 17.512897] eth0: Media Link On 100mbps full-duplex
Dec 8 16:32:07 zaorski-desktop kernel: [ 25.103800] usb 3-1: usbfs: interface 1 claimed by usblp while 'usb' sets config #1
Dec 8 16:32:21 zaorski-desktop pulseaudio[1666]: ratelimit.c: 2 events suppressed
Dec 8 16:32:51 zaorski-desktop pulseaudio[1757]: ratelimit.c: 3 events suppressed
----------------------------------
zaorski@zaorski-desktop ~ $ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda5 7.3G 3.3G 3.7G 47% /
udev 360M 264K 359M 1% /dev
none 360M 1.1M 359M 1% /dev/shm
none 360M 288K 359M 1% /var/run
none 360M 0 360M 0% /var/lock
none 360M 0 360M 0% /lib/init/rw
zaorski@zaorski-desktop ~ $

Click on "computer" on desktop-
and when I click on the"floppy icon" I get pop-up window (about an inch-high by two inches-long with a red circle and a white dash in the red circle) it says-
Unable to mount location
No media in the drive
(there IS media in the drive I assure you)
If I click on "Floppy Drive" from the menu-column on the left, I get Nothing!
and-
Nothing enters in the terminal itself.

Did I do something wrong again?

[sszindian]

Surprise... Surprise... This no floppy drive access was really starting to bug me so.... I installed a "Brand New Hard Drive" and loaded on a "Brand New Copy of UBUNTU 9.10" And guess what??? "NO 3-1/2" FLOPPY DRIVE ACCESS ON THAT DISTRO EITHER" soooooo I would be inclined to believe that there is a serious flaw in Ubuntu 9.10 to begin with which is where Mint 8 comes from... I wonder how long it's going to take before it's fixed. Like I said in my original post here, Mint 7 accessed the floppy just fine, makes you wonder why someone changes something that already works!!!!
Now... "thanks to those of you who tried to help me with this, maybe now there is a new direction that can be approached with this BUG."

[Pierre]

Now if this was me, I would go back to using Mint7.
just coz that did work on the floppy drive & access to those diskettes is the criteria.

I'm still testing Helena & won't put it onto my main PC for some time yet.
this Gloria is working just fine.....