Floppy Disks in Linux
Chapter 12 describes several ways to access MS-DOS floppy disks under Linux; you can mount the floppy and use Linux commands, or use the mtools utility programs to read from or write to the floppy. You also can create a Linux file system on a floppy disk. In fact, you'll find Linux file systems on the boot and root floppies that you use to install Linux.Formatting and creating a Linux file system on a floppy is a straightforward process. To format a 3.5-inch high-density floppy in the A drive, for example, use the following command (for more on floppy drive naming conventions, see the 'How to Format a DOS Floppy' section in Chapter 12):
fdformat /dev/fd0H1440
If you have an old PC with a 5.25-inch high-density floppy as the A drive, you can access that floppy with the device name /dev/fd0h1200 . On the B drive, change the first 0 in the device name to 1.
After you create the file system on the floppy drive, you can mount the floppy at a mount point (an empty directory) in the Linux file system. The following example shows how you mount the floppy drive at the /mnt/floppy directory:
mount /dev/fd0H1440 /mnt/floppy
Now you can use Linux commands, such as cp and mv , to copy or move files to the floppy disk. Before you eject the floppy disk from the drive, use the following command to dismount the floppy:
umount /dev/fd0H1440