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Zip drive [solved]


satelliteuser083
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I've installed ziptool-1.4.0-2 on LE2005 but cannot find any way of addressing the actual drive i.e. no zip-icon and no menu-item. I assume that the system doesn't even know of the drive's existance. Is it necessary to provide an entry in /etc/fstab, as was needed for my pcmcia-hdd? The zip's filesystem is FAT32. A tip would be much appreciated.

 

 

[moved from Terminal Shell Commands by spinynorman]

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bongo: nothing relating to a zip-drive :(

 

However, I DID find some info in a forum by the name of linuxquestions.org, which enabled me to mount AND read the zip. Sadly, since I've rebooted I keep getting the message:

 

"mount: special device /dev/sda4 does not exist"

 

when I now try to mount it. There IS a directory /sda4 in /etc (made it myself), so I don't understand the error-message. Also made /zip100 in /mnt. I then added the following entry to /etc/fstat:

 

/dev/sda4 /mnt/zip100 vfat noauto,user 0 0

 

which, as mentioned above, did allow me to mount the zip-drive once, following a reboot. Can't remember, however, exactly how I achieved that. Any hints, anyone?

 

BTW, I had to log in as root to modify /etc/fstat. When I have previously tried to call, for example, 'kwrite somefile' from within a root konsole the system replies with a whole swathe of messages, some of them errors. It DOES allow me to modify and then store the file, but, on exiting kwrite, even more error-messages appear; very disconcerting. Is there any other way of modifying a root-protected file without actually logging in as root?

Edited by satelliteuser083
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You don't need any /sd4 directory under /etc, so you can safely wipe it.

/dev/sda4 is not a file or directory- it's a device node which should be created by udev.

 

Open a root console, and type

lsmod

If a module named "ide-scsi" (whch is necessary to create the device node /dev/sda4 or /dev/hdc or whatever it likes for your Iomega) is not listed then it's not called automatically, and you should add

ide-scsi

by hand at say the /etc/modprobe.preload configuration file.

Just be careful, the modprobe.preload syntax demands only one module per line, so don't change the textfile formatting!

If you still have problems it's "probably" because the system tries to assign the same device nodes to your floppydisk and zip drive (rather unlikely with a current kernel). This is addressed rather easily.

 

And, of course you don't need to login as root for editing system files.

A plain root terminal is more than enough, and Midnight Commander is much faster and easier to use for editing textfiles than Konqueror.

Edited by scarecrow
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I did "lsmod", and "ide-scsi" was NOT listed; I therefore added the latter to /etc/modprobe.preload as suggested and rebooted the system. When I then tried to mount the zip via the KDiskFree-entry (and with the zip-icon) the error-message was different:

 

"mount: /dev/sda4 is not a valid block device"

 

An improvement?

 

Oh, forgot to ask: do I have to remove the "/dev/sda4 /mnt/zip100 vfat noauto,user 0 0" line from /etc/fstat

 

Just one more point: have just checked /dev for an entry sda4; there is none, so I assume that udev has not managed to create it.

Edited by satelliteuser083
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Following intensive forum-discussions (many thanks, Linux-Help) I have managed to mount my parallel zip-drive in LE2005, using the following modifications (in case they may be of use to anyone)

 

I inserted the following line in /etc/fstab:

 

/dev/sda4 /mnt/zip100 vfat noauto,user 0 0

 

and the folowing lines in /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

 

modprobe scsi_mod

modprobe sd_mod

modprobe ppa

(Note: my zip-drive is pretty old (> 10 years), so I had to use "modprobe ppa", but a younger model may need "modprobe imm")

 

Now the problem: when I boot WITH a disk inserted, a subsequent mount, via zip-icon or KDiskFree, is successful. If, however, I boot WITHOUT a disk in the drive it is not possible to subsequently mount the device (with a disk inserted, of course) and manually issuing the modprobe commands has no effect either.

 

It has been suggested that the zip100-entry in /etc/fstab:

 

/dev/sda4 /mnt/zip100 vfat noauto,user 0 0

 

be modified to include some of the options in the 'fs_mntops' field of the cdrom-entry,

 

/dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom auto umask=0,user,iocharset=iso8859-15,sync,codepage=850,noauto,ro,exec,users 0 0

 

since the cdrom autoloads when a disk is inserted there. Unfortunately, I cannot figure out exactly which options to use, or if any are even possible. Any tips would be much appreciated. Or any other method of enabling a zip-drive mount. :unsure:

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pmpatrick: no, the zip-drive is an Iomega parallel device, type Z100P2, with an ident FCC IO DDXZ100P2.

In case it may nevertheless be useful, here is the lsmod-output:

 

Module                  Size  Used by
nls_cp437               5376  1
binfmt_misc             8744  1
ppa                    10472  1
sd_mod                 15920  2
cpufreq_ondemand        5244  0
cpufreq_powersave       1376  0
speedstep-ich           3820  0
speedstep-lib           3428  1 speedstep-ich
raw                     6720  0
md5                     3648  1
ipv6                  232320  8
hidp                   11968  2
rfcomm                 33692  0
l2cap                  20644  10 hidp,rfcomm
bluetooth              41380  5 hidp,rfcomm,l2cap
i810_audio             34324  2
ac97_codec             17804  1 i810_audio
soundcore               7104  3 i810_audio
parport_pc             31652  2
lp                      9864  0
parport                31624  3 ppa,parport_pc,lp
ipt_TOS                 1888  12
ipt_REJECT              5600  4
ipt_pkttype             1248  4
ipt_LOG                 6208  8
ipt_state               1376  16
ipt_multiport           2144  0
ipt_conntrack           1984  0
iptable_mangle          2080  1
ip_nat_irc              1568  0
ip_nat_tftp             1280  0
ip_nat_ftp              2272  0
iptable_nat            19068  3 ip_nat_irc,ip_nat_tftp,ip_nat_ftp
ip_conntrack_irc       70384  1 ip_nat_irc
ip_conntrack_tftp       3056  1 ip_nat_tftp
ip_conntrack_ftp       71344  1 ip_nat_ftp
ip_conntrack           37400  9 ipt_state,ipt_conntrack,ip_nat_irc,ip_nat_tftp,ip_nat_ftp,iptable_nat,ip_conntra
ck_irc,ip_conntrack_tftp,ip_conntrack_ftp
iptable_filter          2144  1
ip_tables              18176  10 ipt_TOS,ipt_REJECT,ipt_pkttype,ipt_LOG,ipt_state,ipt_multiport,ipt_conntrack,ipt
able_mangle,iptable_nat,iptable_filter
ppp_async               9088  0
ppp_generic            24692  1 ppp_async
slhc                    6176  1 ppp_generic
crc-ccitt               1664  1 ppp_async
af_packet              16232  0
serial_cs               7656  1
floppy                 54736  0
ide-cs                  5156  1
orinoco_cs              6280  1
orinoco                37836  1 orinoco_cs
hermes                  7872  2 orinoco_cs,orinoco
pcmcia                 18632  9 serial_cs,ide-cs,orinoco_cs
yenta_socket           19720  6
rsrc_nonstatic          9056  1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core            41504  6 serial_cs,ide-cs,orinoco_cs,pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
sr_mod                 15332  0
eepro100               27056  0
mii                     4224  1 eepro100
ide-cd                 36772  0
loop                   13544  0
nls_iso8859-1           3744  3
nls_cp850               4544  2
vfat                   11200  3
fat                    35964  1 vfat
supermount             32660  1
intel-agp              20028  1
agpgart                28264  1 intel-agp
hw_random               4340  0
toshiba                 4024  0
ide-scsi               13220  0
scsi_mod              115784  4 ppa,sd_mod,sr_mod,ide-scsi
synclinkmp             51380  0
synclink               61048  0
hdlc                   23392  2 synclinkmp,synclink
lapb                   13568  1 hdlc
syncppp                14272  1 hdlc
generic_serial         11048  0
stallion               32332  0
mxser                  41296  0
moxa                   56716  0
istallion              34536  0
esp                    19480  0
epca                   72448  0
usblp                  10784  0
uhci-hcd               28944  0
usbcore               106008  3 usblp,uhci-hcd
ext3                  123304  2
jbd                    48344  1 ext3

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Do you have anything else(printer?) on the parallel port? I notice you're loading the lp printer module from your lsmod output. From this howto:

 

http://en.tldp.org/HOWTO/ZIP-Drive-4.html#ss4.1

 

 

The most common problem is to load the lp printer module before the ppa program. The ppa program must be loaded before the lp module. The lp module will tie up the port that the zip drive needs, this is why the ppa progam must be loaded first.

 

It could be a problem with the order that ppa and lp are loading. You could test it by booting w/o a zip disk in the drive then running:

 

# rmmod lp

 

then modprobe ppa and related modules and see if it works. If it does, you can alter rc.local to rmmod lp and modprobe the modules in the right order.

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pmpatrick: I rebooted without a zip-disk in, then inserted one and ran the following:

 

[root@sthelens ~]# rmmod lp

[root@sthelens ~]# modprobe scsi_mod

[root@sthelens ~]# modprobe sd_mod

[root@sthelens ~]# modprobe ppa

 

which, unfortunately, didn't help; when I tried to mount the zip the error-message was:

 

Called: mount /dev/sda4

mount: special device /dev/sda4 does not exist

 

I suspect the problem which you outlined concerns driving a printer AND a zip through the same interface rather than just using the zip; I remember reading somewhere that linux isn't very enthusiastic about that particular combination.

 

Anyway, the other info: the ppa module is loaded in /etc/rc.d/rc.local which, I've been informed, is processed right at the end of boot; this would mean that ppa is definitely loaded AFTER the lp-printer module. Which leads to a couple of questions: How do I find out where the lp-printer module is loaded, since I will presumeably have to remove it from there and move it to rc.local (I may need both printer AND zip on my wife's machine)? Also, I assume that rmmod removes the module; is this correct?

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I don't think you have to run down where lp loads from; you should be able to rmmod everything you need and modprobe in the desired order all in rclocal. However, if this is an order of loading problem, you have to find an order that works and your above effort did not. Try rmmod on both lp and ppa then modprobe ppa and then lp and see if that works. If not I would try rmmod on anything related to the parallel port and modprobing in different orders to see if I could get it working right. Once you know an order that works, you can reproduce it in rclocal.

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Thanks to all of you who helped to solve this zip-drive problem :) (at least, it SEEMS to be solved). I modified both files - /etc/fstat and /etc/rc.d/rc.local - on the tower with the same data as on the laptop; the zip-drive responded as expected AND, surprise surprise, the printer (without having to rmmod/modprobe lp). Perhaps the drivers have at some time been adjusted to overcome the loading-order glich. It's all looking very promising. Once again, many thanks. :thumbs:

Have just remembered one point; if I DO have to rmmod/modprobe lp, I assume that the code is just that, i.e.

rmmod lp

....zip-drive entries, then

modprobe lp

Edited by satelliteuser083
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