This page describes the 3.5" external floppy disk drive and its use.
With HDSware release Version 3.1, a 3.5" external floppy disk
drive can be used with HDS ViewStations. The HDS floppy disk drive
supports reading, writing, and formatting high density (1.44MB) and
double density (720KB) MS-DOS disk formats. Only one floppy disk drive
is supported at one time.
Note that older ViewStations must
have ECO 375A installed in order to connect a floppy disk drive.
Hardware configuration
The HDS floppy disk drive comes with
three separate parts; a floppy drive base unit, a parallel port cable,
and an external wall mount power supply. Use these steps to connect the
floppy disk drive to the ViewStation:
1. Connect the disk drive cable's male connector to the
parallel port on the ViewStation's backpanel.
2. Connect the other end of the disk drive cable to the floppy
drive base unit's male connector.
3. Plug the disk drive power supply's connector into the side
of the floppy drive base unit.
4. Plug the power supply into an electrical outlet. The green
LED next to the power connector should light on the floppy drive base
unit.
Using the Floppy Drive with a Printer
A
parallel port printer can still be used with the floppy disk drive
present. Connect the printer's parallel port cable to the floppy base
unit's female connector (in a daisy chain).
Printing from the ViewStation works the same way as when the
printer was directly connected to the ViewStation. The printer is
accessed via device /dev/pp0. You may notice that the data transfer
rate to the printer is reduced when both the floppy drive and the
printer are simultaneously in use, since the parallel port is shared
between the printer and floppy drive.
Software
configuration
The ViewStation's floppy disk drive is
auto-detected during startup; there is no ViewStation configuration
needed for it. Further, the floppy disk's filesystem is automatically
mounted and exported.
The Console window command "hwconfig" shows the presence of
the floppy drive: Parallel port device 1: 1.44MB Floppy
Disk Drive
The floppy device driver is installed as /dev/fd1 in
the ViewStation's local filesystem. This floppy device driver file name
is used when formatting a disk. Formatting disks is discussed on another
page.
Formatting Disks
This page
contains the manual page for the disk formatting command.
Changing
Floppy Disks
Floppy disks can be changed whenever the floppy
disk drive light is off. When a new floppy disk is inserted, its
density (high or double) is automatically determined. If the floppy disk
is not formatted, the Console message log will contain the following
message: HDS> Unformatted floppy disk?
When NFS is used to access the floppy and the floppy
disk is changed, stale file errors may occur. This is a normal
condition that occurs as a result of the NFS client referencing files
that no longer exist. If the current working directory was within the
floppy filesystem, change it to be the floppy mount point (e.g. `cd
/tmp/ vsfloppy' if the floppy was mounted using the example below).
Floppy Disk Drive Access
This page
describes access to the floppy disk drive with the NFS protocol.
Using the Floppy Disk Drive with Application
Programs
This page describes using the ViewStation's Floppy Disk Drive with
application programs.
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