Trying to cp files onto floppies from bash shell

[Papoon]

Hiya Friends,

I'm trying to do something with Linux that is very simple in DOS but maybe not so simple in Linux. I have a bunch of files on an old PII running Mandrake 10 --- a box that used to run Win NT, but which nevertheless lacks the resources to be able to run Konqueror or any other GUI-type file manager. I am trying to copy these files onto floppies. All I have is questions. Let's start with some really basic ones.

I've inserted a floppy into the drive. I formatted it, using the mke2fs command. Then, I mounted this filesystem (command: mount /dev/fd0 /mnt). Then, I managed to copy some files onto the floppy.

Now it's time to take the floppy out of the drive, and swap it into the newer computer. However, the command

~]# umount /dev/fd0

results in an error message:

/dev/fd0 not mounted

... but when I try at this point to run the command

~]# mount /dev/fd0 /mnt

I am told that /dev/fd0 is already mounted or /mnt is busy.

Huh? Both statements can't be true. I think I'm following these instructions exactly, but I'm not getting the expected results. What am I doing wrong here? What is the proper procedure for formatting floppies, copying files onto them, getting these floppies out of the machine and into another one?

--- Exasperated in Vancouver

[tejas]

see

/etc/mtab and see if It is mounted

Also, where are you when you try to unmount it?

You can't unmount it if you are in the floppy directory

[Papoon]

Thanks, Tejas in Bangalore. I am in root's home directory when I try to do this.

/etc/mtab contains the line:

none /mnt/floppy supermount rw,sync,dev=/dev/fdo/,fs=ext2:vfat,--,umask=0,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850 0 0

... which I do not know how to interpret.

[tejas]

Wait a second, where did you mount the floppy?

The command should have been:

mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

after making the folder /mnt/floppy

If you had some other filesystem at /mnt/something I doubt you'll be able to umount anything. I think you'll have to reboot.

And look at your /etc/fstab. If you see a floppy line there, then there is no need to mount the floppy as root. Just say mount /dev/fd0

[Papoon]

Oh, dear. This is absolutely not the same as the instructions I had been following, which were to (1) insert the physical floppy in the floppy drive and run mke2fs to format it, and then (2) mount /dev/fd0 /mnt. So I've gotten myself into another Linux mess, I see. Um. What do you mean when you talk of "making" the folder /mnt/floppy? You're not talking about the "make" command, which as near as I can tell has little bearing on the simple little thing I'm trying to do here. So let's back out of this, and start again from square zero. Before I do so, however, what are the consequences of rebooting with the floppy, which is neither mounted nor unmounted, in the floppy drive? Sheesh. This is too hard (or too underdocumented). As a friend of mine likes to say, It's a good thing these modern computers are so fast because everything takes longer. I'm not into two hours of time spent trying to copy a couple of files onto a floppy. From the command line, no less.

[tejas]

OK. Now, from step 0

$ for user commands, # for root

# cat /etc/fstab <-- prints contents of fstab. See if you can find a line on floppy like the one at the bottom

my fstab has this line:
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto pamconsole,exec,noauto,managed 0 0

remember the folder in the second coloumn (for me /media/floppy). Ignore everything after the first two coloumns

Is a similar line there?

if so:
$ mount /media/floppy (or whatever)
$ do whatever work
$ umount /media/floppy

If not:
# mount /dev/fd0 /media/floppy
# work
# umount /dev/fd0

note: my floppy goes to /media/floppy. Yours may go to /mnt/fd0, /mnt/floppy, whatever

[Papoon]

My fstab contains

none /mnt/floppy supermount dev=/dev/fdo/,fs=ext2:vfat,--,umask=0,iocharset=iso8859-1,sync,codepage=850 0 0

... and ]# mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

returns

mount: permission denied

FYI, the formatted diskette is still in the drive.