From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sun Mar 26 23:11:07 2017 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D551AD1ED84 for ; Sun, 26 Mar 2017 23:11:07 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (mailman.ysv.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::50:5]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BC1941221 for ; Sun, 26 Mar 2017 23:11:07 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) id BB143D1ED82; Sun, 26 Mar 2017 23:11:07 +0000 (UTC) Delivered-To: questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B7EECD1ED81 for ; Sun, 26 Mar 2017 23:11:07 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mailrelay11.qsc.de (mailrelay11.qsc.de [212.99.187.252]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "*.antispameurope.com", Issuer "TeleSec ServerPass DE-2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 1FE21121D for ; Sun, 26 Mar 2017 23:11:06 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de ([213.148.129.14]) by mailrelay11.qsc.de; Mon, 27 Mar 2017 01:10:56 +0200 Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-127-117.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.127.117]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 3F8B83CC56; Mon, 27 Mar 2017 01:10:51 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id v2QNAp1R002010; Mon, 27 Mar 2017 01:10:51 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2017 01:10:51 +0200 From: Polytropon To: john drake Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: External USB floppy drives Message-Id: <20170327011051.c56eafa6.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <5BFBDB16-9DFB-4D85-8D38-CFC7FFBF008E@yahoo.com> References: <81B78129-37AC-49DD-A76C-996F0C8CDADF@yahoo.com> <20170325231500.edd6b184.freebsd@edvax.de> <5BFBDB16-9DFB-4D85-8D38-CFC7FFBF008E@yahoo.com> Reply-To: Polytropon Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-cloud-security-sender: freebsd@edvax.de X-cloud-security-recipient: questions@freebsd.org X-cloud-security-Virusscan: CLEAN X-cloud-security-disclaimer: This E-Mail was scanned by E-Mailservice on mailrelay11.qsc.de with A0DC26A35AB X-cloud-security-connect: mx01.qsc.de[213.148.129.14], TLS=1, IP=213.148.129.14 X-cloud-security: scantime:1.376 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2017 23:11:07 -0000 Re-including list, hope that's okay. On Sun, 26 Mar 2017 15:09:39 -0700, john drake wrote: > On version 5.3, the mount command for an internal 3.5 inch floppy was > mount_msdosfs -o rw /dev/fd0 /mnt That is correct and even works on FreeBSD 10, as long as you have an internal floppy, like this: fdc0: port 0x3f0-0x3f5,0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on acpi0 fd0: <1440-KB 3.5" drive> on fdc0 drive 0 Yes, that is an _actual_ floppy disk drive in my home PC. :-) > On version 10.2, the mount command for a thumb drive is > mount_msdosfs -o rw /dev/da0s1 /met Yes. The use of "da0" vs. "da0s1" depends on partitioning. I'm not fully sure if "s1" needs to be appended in case of using da0. I do not have the external drive at hand so I cannot check, but if I remember correctly, "s1" was not needed for floppies formatted with FAT. At least it worked that way in FreeBSD 10.1, so we can assume it will also work that way in FreeBSD 10.2, 10.3, and 11. > Does this mean that both versions are using the same file structure > and any windows compatible USB floppy drive will work with > FreeBSD 10.2 The mount_msdosfs program interprets the device used for mounting as FAT data, no matter if it's provided via /dev/fd0 or /dev/da0. As long as your "Windows" creates a standard FAT file system on the floppy, it will work. However, the actual device access is something more "low level" than the file system driver. As long as the external floppy drive identifies itself as a USB direct access device _and_ implements the functionality required by the USB standard, it will work. It might be possible that "Windows" requires drivers specific to the drive (and the "Windows" version of course), but FreeBSD does not. Everything that "talks SCSI over USB" will be picked up by the "da" driver - and will work. Imagine it like this: First the USB generic driver (ugen) will identify the device, then the USB mass storage driver will be loaded (umass) and "connected" to the direct access driver (da), which mount_msdosfs will access and then mount the content as FAT into the file system hierarchy. All those points will have to be met in order to work. You can easily verify if a drive works or not if you attach it to a laptop running FreeBSD (or a FreeBSD live CD, or even the install CD or USB stick will be okay for this test). If the device is finally recognized by the "da" driver (see my example mentioned before), everything will be fine. If you only end up with a "ugen" device, the floppy drive is not conforming to the standards and should not be purchased - it probably only works with a specific version of "Windows". See "man da", "man umass", "man ugen", and "man msdosfs" for details. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...