Iomega 100Mb ZIP (ATAPI)

[mac57]

No need for file extensions in Linux. Save the scripts to two separate text files, called mount-zip250 and umount-zip250. You can place them anywhere. Personally, I collect all such scripts into a directory I created called /home/my-userid/bin (replace "my-userid" with whatever your userid is). Then make sure the scripts are executable via:

 

Open Konsole or an xterm and type:

 

chmod +x mount-zip250

chmod +x umount-zip250

 

Now you can try them out. The below assumes you are using KDE, by the way. Continuing with Konsole or an xterm, cd to your /home/my-userid/bin, place a zip disk in the drive, and type:

 

./mount-zip250

 

You should hear the disk spin up, and if all is well, it will mount properly. If you have a zip disk icon on your desktop, you will see it change, with a small green triangle appearing near the bottom and to the right - this is KDE's way of saying "its mounted". If you don't have a zip disk icon on your desktop, the simplest thing to do is to try to cd to the disk:

 

cd /mnt/zip

ls

 

If you see the files you expect, all is well. Even simpler, if you are up for it, type the following and press enter:

 

mount

 

This will display all mounted disks - you should see /mnt/zip in the list. The output is ugly and poorly formatted, but quite effective.

 

To unmount it, nearly the same thing:

 

./umount-zip250

 

You may hear the disk spin again, particularly if you have written to it, as linux updates the disk with what you have written. Again, if you have a zip disk icon on your desktop, you will see the green triangle go away.

 

When all of this is working reliably, you can add it to the KDE menu, so that instead of starting a Konsole or an xterm, you can just select a menu item. Start by right clicking on the KDE menu button on the lower left of you screen (has a the big blue star on it if you are running a default Mandrake setup) and select "Menu Editor". Select any single item (for this example, it doesn't matter which one) and then right click. Select "New Item". You will be greeted with a dialog asking you to provide an item name. Type in something like "Mount Zip250" and click OK. In the next dialog that KDE presents, add in whatever descriptions you would like, and be sure that the Command field is filled out with (in this example):

 

/home/my-userid/bin/mount-zip250

 

Disable the launch feedback checkbox, and save everything (click the Save icon on the menu editor - looks like a diskette). You will see a dialog saying something like "Updating System Configuration". When this completes, your new command is available off the main KDE menu. You don't have to exit the menu editor to try it (which is useful - if you have made a mistake, you can update your command, save it and try again - repeat until correct).

 

Do this again for umount-zip250 and you are done.

 

Ultimately, I created a new folder of commands called "Disk Management" and collected all such commands into it, just for convenience.

 

Good luck!