| Current Path : /usr/share/doc/util-linux-ng-2.17.2/ |
| Current File : //usr/share/doc/util-linux-ng-2.17.2/README.floppy |
The floppy formatting utility
This utility program low-level formats floppy disks. This utility is
capable of formatting floppies in LS-120 "Superdisk" ATAPI IDE drives, in
addition to the standard floppy controller drives. ATAPI IDE floppy format
required Linux kernel 2.4.10, or higher. For earlier kernel versions:
The patch file linux-2.4.0.patch.txt is for kernel 2.4.0.
The patch file linux-2.4.0-0.96.patch.txt is for the 0.96 version of
ide-floppy.c
The patch file linux-2.4.7.patch.txt is for kernel 2.4.7.
The patch file linux-2.4.7-ac3.patch.txt is for kernel 2.4.7-ac3.
The patch file linux-2.2.16.patch.txt is for kernel 2.2.16 (and 2.2.17,
probably).
Please don't ask me how to apply kernel patches. If you know how to build
and compile the Linux kernel, you know how to apply kernel patches.
The floppy utility can still be used without applying these patches.
You'll just get a jazzed-up version of fdformat.
WARNING: Do not attempt to format 120 mb super-floppies. There's nothing
in the floppy utility that blocks any attempt to issue a request to format
a disk, if the floppy drive claims it can do so. Some LS-120 drives claim
to be able to format 120 mb super-floppies, even though these disk are
factory-formatted, AND CANNOT be user-formatted. An attempt to do so will
permanently destroy the superfloppy disk.
Compiling
To compile this floppy utility you need to install the libpopt library. It
is a small library used to parse command line arguments. It is included in
most Linux distributions by default. If you don't have it, grab it from
[1]ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/code/popt and install it.
You will also need to have the [2]GTK toolkit installed in order to
compile the GTK front end to the floppy utility. Without the GTK toolkit
only the command-line utility will be compiled and installed.
Compiling the floppy utility is straightforward:
./configure
make
make install (if you care, you can simply run it from the current directory
too).
That's it. By default, floppy will install in /usr/local/bin, and use
/usr/local/etc/floppy as its configuration file. The configure script
accepts the usual options:
* --prefix=/usr -- installs /usr/bin/floppy, and uses /usr/etc/floppy
* --sysconfdir=/etc -- use /etc/floppy as the configuration file
Therefore:
--prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc
This configuration installs /usr/bin/floppy, and uses /etc/floppy as its
configuration file.
The floppy utility can also be built by RPM:
rpmbuild -ta floppy-version.tar.(gz|bz2)
Please see the [3]installed manual page for instructions on using the
floppy utility.
Red Hat 9
Red Hat 9 includes the console floppy binary in "util-linux", but does not
include floppygtk, the GTK wrapper. Including floppygtk makes util-linux
depend on X, which will not work very well.
The easiest way to get floppygtk working with Red Hat 9 is to use this
mouthfull:
rpmbuild -ta --define '_prefix /usr/local' \
--define '_mandir /usr/local/share/man' \
floppy-0.14.tar.bz2
floppy and floppygtk will now install into /usr/local, and the Gnome link
will start the /usr/local version. The only problem is that running
'floppy' from gnome-terminal will run the gtk-wrapperless /usr/bin
version. So you can't start the GTK wrapper from a gnome-terminal window,
but the Gnome menu link will work.
Copyright 2K16 - 2K18 Indonesian Hacker Rulez
;?>)