[vox-tech] Disks and CDROMs from Linux (Was re: [vox] a very novice Linux user)

[Bill Kendrick]

On Mon, Jun 10, 2002 at 04:04:29PM -0700, David Jeffrey Barnum wrote:
> How do you access floppies and CD-ROMs using Debian.  And can you access 
> Windows formatted disks using Debian?  I downloaded some programs for 
> Linux in WIndows.  Thanks for the help.
> 

If you stick a floppy into your drive, and then issue the command:

  mount /floppy

...it _should_ Just Work(tm).


You'll be able to get to the files by looking in the "/floppy/" directory
on your system.


This is assuming a few things, though:

  * the ability for you, as a user, to mount stuff (e.g., it isn't set up
    where ONLY the super user, 'root', can)

  * your system was set up to automagically recognize what kinds of disks
    there are, and to let you mount them at /floppy


It SHOULD be.  If not, reply to this message (back to vox-tech) with the
response you got from the 'mount' command, and we can help diagnose.



As for CDROMs, it should be pretty much the same:

  mount /cdrom


This should actually be less trouble than floppies.  Definitely let us
know if it doesn't work for you.


When you're done with the floppy or CDROM, unmount it using the command
"umount"  (Notice there's no "n" in the word. >:^[ )  e.g.:

  umount /floppy




Also, there's also another way to access Windows floppy disks under
Linux.  There's a collection of programs known as "mtools"
(I guess "m" = "MSDOS")

They provide similar functionality to what one is used to under MSDOS.
Commands like "DIR", "COPY", etc.  The program names are preceeded with 'm',
though:

  mdir a:
  mcopy a:somefile.txt .      [copy to the current directory, aka "."]


Check the "mtools" man page for more.  (Run the command "man mtools")
If "mtools" isn't installed, it should be as simple as running
"apt-get install mtools" when logged in as root.
(You can get to the root user account temporarily by typing "su" at
a prompt, and then providing the root user's password, when asked for it.)

The advantage of these tools is you can simply pop a disk in and copy
files around and then pull the disk out.  You never need to "mount" the disk.



One last thing... you said you downloaded some Linux software using Windows.
If the Windows you're speaking of happens to be the copy of Windows installed
on the same system as your Linux system (e.g., a dual-boot, and you simply
rebooted into Linux), then accessing the files on the Windows side of your
computer is VERY easy.  (And MUCH more convenient than copying to floppy
and then rebooting :^) )

I'll let someone else explain that, though, since I don't have Windows
on any of my boxes, so I don't know the exact incantation to get to the
files.  (It's another "mount" command, but typically with more options.)

-bill!