Looking for some CentOS IRLP Linux help

[mancow]

I need to mount a floppy drive but I don't know how. Can anyone help me out?

Also, can I install some sort of GUI on this thing to make things a bit easier?

thanks

 

[bezking]

At the console, type: (press enter after each line)

su
yum install groupinstall gnome-desktop
(then reboot)

Then, you can just open File Explorer and click on the floppy drive.

HTH

 

[mtindor]

Or if you prefer commandline...

As root:

mkdir /mnt/floppy (assuming /mnt/floppy doesn't already exist

Then 'mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

cd /mnt/floppy

ls

should see your files

Of course that assumes your floppy device is /dev/fd0.

Mike

PS: I didn't see the second part of his query where he asked about a GUI

 

[mancow]

Or if you prefer commandline...

As root:

mkdir /mnt/floppy (assuming /mnt/floppy doesn't already exist

I get '/mnt/floppy' exists but is not a directory

'mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

Using this command I get mount: can't find /dev/fd0/mnt/floppy in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

/mnt/floppy

ls

should see your files

Of course that assumes your floppy device is /dev/fd0.

Mike

PS: I didn't see the second part of his query where he asked about a GUI

 

[mancow]

Would / could there be any negative consequences for installing a gui ? Could it somehow cause problems with the operation of IRLP? I'm all for doing it if there are no issues.

At the console, type: (press enter after each line)

su
yum install groupinstall gnome-desktop
(then reboot)

Then, you can just open File Explorer and click on the floppy drive.

HTH

 

[mtindor]

I get '/mnt/floppy' exists but is not a directory

That is fine - that means that the directory mount is already created. You'll never have to do this part of the procedure again on the machine.

Using this command I get mount: can't find /dev/fd0/mnt/floppy in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

Ok - make sure you put teh space in the appropriate place...

mount <space> /dev/fd0 <space> /mnt/floppy

mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

This assumes that your computer floppy drive is enabled in the BIOS and that Linux is recognizing it.

You do NOT want to try to mount the drive before you have a disk in it. The procedure should be:

Disk in
Mount drive
Access data
Unmount drive

mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
cd /mnt/floppy
ls (see if your files are listed there
get your files
umount /mnt/floppy

But you do need to make sure that your floppy device is actually /dev/fd0

grep  Floppy  /var/log/dmesg

If a floppy is seen, you should see something like:

Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M

Mike

 

[mtindor]

Would / could there be any negative consequences for installing a gui ? Could it somehow cause problems with the operation of IRLP? I'm all for doing it if there are no issues.

There _shouldn't_ be - but any time you install a GUI and it is set to automatically fire up when the machine boots, you could run into troubles if the video isn't configured right (I haven't used a desktop linux system in years - and it used to be that _expecting_ a perfect running GUI after install was not a wise thing to expect... since there were often video tuning problems, etc)

If you do as Ben has suggested, I'm guessing he is suspecting that it is going to automatically come up in the GUI. And that means that if video or some other configuration of the GUI just happens to not be quite right, you may not get wacked out looking graphics that are unreadable and such [if you aren't lucky], or you might just get an error that tosses you back to command line [if you're lucky].

I'll let Ben respond further with regard to the faith he has in GUI installs in this day and age since I don' t use them.

Mike

 

[mancow]

As for the GUI, been doing some reading, people say its not a good idea since it tries to mess with the parallel port that is being used by the irlp board.

As for the floppy... I keep getting mount point /mnt/floppy is not a directory

Oh, and by the way I didn't realize the disk wasn't in the drive before trying that command. It said that it's not a valid block device. I inserted the disk and tried it again. That's when I got the mount point /mnt/floppy is not a directory.

 

[mtindor]

Ok if you got the message "mount point exists but is not a directory" when you tried to mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy, then apparently "floppy" exists as a file in /mnt - instead of as a directory.

Try:

mkdir  /mnt/floppy2
mount  /dev/fd0  /mnt/floppy2

Then "cd /mnt/floppy2" and do an "ls" and see if you see anything.

Like I said before though, make sure you already have a floppy in.

Mike

 

[mancow]

Doing the floppy 2 commands worked this time, I see the files now.

However, I think the fact that it's floppy2 is messing things up now. The IRLP instructions tell you to enter the following command to upload the voice files to their system: /home/irlp/scripts/send_wave_files

When I do that it tells me that /mnt/floppy exists but is not a directory and it says mount point /mnt/floppy is not a directory.

Is it looking for regular floppy and not floppy2 ?



 





 

[mtindor]

Ok.. then do this:

~ is a tilde, not a dash

make sure you do line 2 below BEFORE you do anything else below it

cd ~
umount  /floppy2
rm  -rf  /mnt/floppy
rm  -rf  /mnt/floppy2
mkdir  /mnt/floppy
mount  /dev/fd0  /mnt/floppy
cd /mnt/floppy
ls

cd ~ (just makes sure you are not in the directory you are trying to unmount nad delete)
umount /floppy2 - will unmount your floppy so that you could remove the disk if you wanted [but you dont have to]
rm -rf /mnt/floppy (will remove the "file" named "floppy" in /mnt)
rm -rf /mnt/floppy2 (will remove the directory named /mnt/floppy2 since you dont want to use it)
mkdir /mnt/floppy (will create the directory /mnt/floppy so the drive can be mounted to it)
mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy (will associate the floppy drive contents iwth the directory /mnt/floppy)
cd /mnt/floppy (change directory to the directory with the floppy drive contents)
ls (just to verify you see the contents of your floppy)

The " rm -rf " commands are instantly destructive - no prompting before removal, it'll just remove them. So always be careful when doing rm -rf

Mike

 

[mancow]

excellent!!!

Thank you very much. That got it done.

 

[mtindor]

You're welcome. Just an FYI - /mnt/floppy is probably listed in your /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab.

So, in the future you can probably just do the following:

1. insert floppy
2. mount /mnt/floppy (it'll pull the mounting info from mtab/fstab)
3. cd /mnt/floppy
4. manipulate your files
5. cd ~
6. umount /mnt/floppy

so just use "mount /mnt/floppy" and "umount /mnt/floppy" - If you get errors, then /mnt/floppy probably isn't listed in fstab/mtab (but it probably is, and this probably will work)

mike

 

[bezking]

There _shouldn't_ be - but any time you install a GUI and it is set to automatically fire up when the machine boots, you could run into troubles if the video isn't configured right (I haven't used a desktop linux system in years - and it used to be that _expecting_ a perfect running GUI after install was not a wise thing to expect... since there were often video tuning problems, etc)

If you do as Ben has suggested, I'm guessing he is suspecting that it is going to automatically come up in the GUI. And that means that if video or some other configuration of the GUI just happens to not be quite right, you may not get wacked out looking graphics that are unreadable and such [if you aren't lucky], or you might just get an error that tosses you back to command line [if you're lucky].

I'll let Ben respond further with regard to the faith he has in GUI installs in this day and age since I don' t use them.

Mike

My suggestion above was for GNOME - I've never had issues with it and I must have installed it that way 50 times without issue. The current version is great and really simplifies what would otherwise be an arcane command sequence, even for a brand new user. Even if he does get messed up graphics, he can always kill the X environment with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, either try to fix it or just uninstall it, and all will be good.

I've never heard about the issue with the parallel port, though, that will take some looking into.