Can you use Iomega Zip disks with Linux?

[Sid Alam]

Can any one tell me if one is able to use Iomega Zip disks with Linux?

In the control centre under hardware.
My Iomega is showing up in the icon for floppy drives.
Can I access this?
and if so how?

[john5211]

Yes, it is possible to use your zip drive. What kind of interface does it use (IDE, SCSI, USB, etc.)? Also, it will help to know what the file /etc/fstab looks like (i.e. cut and paste it and post back).

By the way, if you have several questions at the same time, it might be easier if you asked them in one post.

John

[Sid Alam]

>What kind of interface does it use (IDE, SCSI, USB, etc.)?

Mine is USB,

thank you for the HowTo's on Rockwell,
I am in the process of reading this (other post on modem dilemma)

I am not able to mount to floppy.
I right click on the floppy and choose mount.

This brings up an error dialog:

Could not mount device.
The reported error was:
mount /deve/fd0 already mounted or /mnt/floppy busy
mount: according to mtab, /dev/fd0 is already mounted on /mnt/floppy
<ok>

I get the same error if I click on it.


Could you help?
(Note I am keeping problems in one thread)

[Sid Alam]

I have decided to type out the file located at:
etc/fstab

/dev/hda1 / ext2 defaults 1 1
non /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0
none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/hda6 /home ext2 defaults 1 2
/dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom auto user, iocharset=iso8859-1, umask=0, exec, codepage=850, ro,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto user, iocharset=iso8859-1, umask=0, sync, exec, codepage=850, noauto 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/hda5 swap swap defaults 0 0

To me it seems a little esoteric.
Although I have come across files located in the etc folder before.

[john5211]

Hey Sid,

The floppy icon should be for the floppy drive (not the zip). To make sure, you can put a floppy disk in the drive and see if it works (just double click on the icon, should be no need to mount it).

The USB Zip drive will be a little more tricky. Because there is no mention of it in your fstab (means FileSystem Table, and dictates which devices get mounted automatically at startup), you will have to mount it yourself. I am not sure of the device name (I don't use a USB zip) but the command will be 'mount /dev/[xxx] /[mountpoint]' where [xxx] is the appropriate USB device in the /dev folder and [mountpoint] is the directory you wish to mount it to.

As for what [xxx] actually is, you could try usbview (should be available from one of the Mandrake menus) and look for the device it is associated with. Also, you might want to try using /dev/usb/scb or /dev/usb/sca.

Good Luck,

John

[Sid Alam]

when I click on the floppy drive it opens up a browser and gives me this error:

Unsupported Action
listDir

In the browser window for Addresss or location I have:

http://navigation.realnames.com/resolver.dll?action=navigation=file%3Acharset=iso= 8859-1 providerid=180fallbackuri=http%3A//www.google.com/search%3Fq%3d%5C1


I am sure this is incorrect. Shouldn't be something like?

file /mnt/cdrom

Please help

[john5211]

We are talking about the floppy drive right?

In theory you should get the contents of the floppy on /mnt/floppy. If this is not the case, use a console to navigate to /mnt/floppy and see if the contents are correct. If not, move down a directory (to /mnt) and (as root) try 'mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy'; then return to the floppy directory and see if the floppy has been mounted.

John

[Sid Alam]

Went to root directory:

[sid@localhost sid] cd /

from root typed:

mount /dev/fd0/mnt/floppy
mount: can't find /dev/fd0/mnt/floppy in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

What can I do?

[john5211]

There should be a space in between /dev/fd0 and /mnt/floppy (you are directing the system to mount the device /dev/fd0 into the directory /mnt/floppy).

John

[Sid Alam]

Computers are still an enigma to me.
I created a normal ".txt" file.
used on unix computer, mounted etc.

checked using console and there it was...:)

Then browsed to the directory and there it was again :)

Although if I click on the floppy icon it opens a browser
with:

http://navigation.realnames.com/res...rset=iso=8859-1providerid=180fallbackuri=http%3A//www.google.com/search%3Fq%3d%5C1

And down the bottom in the status bar it tells me no file.
Call the guys from X-files.

[john5211]

Sounds like there is a problem with the desktop shortcut. You should still be able to use a graphical file manager to manipulate the files though (so, for example, open up a file manager like galeon or konqueror from the menu and you should be able to get to/work with files on the floppy).

John