I just got a new-used Buslink FDD1 USB 1.1 Floppy disk drive.
My experiments (on Panasonic 900MHz CF-W2A laptop) show that it works in WinXP and DSL, but not in Puppy or Knoppix 3.3. In Knoppix 4.0.2, it works hot but not cold-plugged.
Also, this experiment showed a bug in MUT 0.0.6 - if you have more than a screen-full of display, there is no scroll-bar to scroll down.
(NOTE: I am not trying to boot from the floppy (although that does work basically on this machine) -- I am just trying to use the USB Floppy as a generic data device -- there is no floppy disk inserted at boot time. Also, if it matters, this ultra-compact laptop does not have and cannot have an internal floppy drive -- but *nix seem to default to assume there might be one.)
YES
WinXP
DSL 1.5 / 2.4.26
HALF
Knoppix 4.0.2 / 2.6.12
NO
Puppy 1.0.5 / 2.4.29
Knoppix 3.3 / 2.4.24
Looking at the kernels, there is no obvious pattern, so that does not seem to be the issue. In Puppy, neither MUT nor Puppy un/mount nor MToolsFM works. When hot-plugged, a bunch of spurious sdx devices are shown in MUT. Knoppix 3.3 shows something similar.
How can we find out the secret that makes DSL work, and transfer the gene to Puppy?
The drive USB-View details:
USB FDC GOLD-1.30
SMSC USBv1.10 usb-storage 500mA
Vendor 0x424 (SMC) Product 0xfdc rev1.1e
Extra-credit puzzle:
There does not seem to be such a thing as an external 5.25-in USB floppy. I got this Buslink drive because it obviously contains a standard 3.5-in 34-pin floppy. It should be simple to disassemble and attach a standard internal 5.25-in floppy drive, physically. But would this SMC(?) or any USB bridge chips support that, and would any Linux or any OS/driver allow use of 1.2MB/360K etc old floppy disks?
1.0.5 does not support USB Floppy device
Related tech links:
https://lists.one-eyed-alien.net/piperm ... 01904.html
[usb-storage] [PATCH] fix multilun for SMSC usb floppy
Tue Aug 23 21:10:21 PDT 2005
This patch is not yet tested, the device shows up with 8 LUNs.
Index: linux-2.6.12/drivers/usb/storage/unusual_devs.h
+/* https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=105878 */
+* P: Vendor=0424 ProdID=0fdc Rev= 2.10
+* S: Manufacturer=SMSC
+* S: Product=FDC GOLD-2.30
(So, maybe future 2.6+ kernels will be improved.)
=======
This USB Floppy Drive is NOT "officially approved" for installing XP:
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws ... &loc=en_US
Non-IBM USB floppy diskette drives not recognized during Windows XP install - IntelliStation A Pro (Type 6224), IntelliStation M Pro (Type 6220, 6230)
Symptom
When installing Microsoft Windows XP using a non-IBM USB floppy diskette drive on
a drive that requires a driver during installation, the USB floppy diskette drive is not recognized throughout the installation.
When Windows XP looks for the driver the second time, it will not be able to see the USB floppy diskette drive and will prompt the user for the driver (SCSI, SATA, RAID) again.
The installation will never get past this point.
Solution
This is a Microsoft Limitation.
Workaround
If installing Windows XP using a USB floppy diskette drive, use one of the following drives in the approved and available IBM Option kit part number 05K9276:
* Device ID = VID: 057B and PID: 0000 for SONY external USB floppy diskette drive, Sony part number 09K9835
* Device ID = VID: 0644 and PID: 0000 for TEAC external USB floppy diskette drive, IBM replacement part number (FRU) 13N6752
Additional information
Windows XP is working as designed. Windows text mode setup can recognize only a few USB floppy diskette drives listed in the file txtsetup.sif.
The following USB floppy diskette drives are listed in the file txtsetup.sif and are supported:
* USB\VID_03EE&PID_6901 ; Mitsumi USB floppy diskette drive
* USB\VID_057B&PID_0000 ; YEData USB floppy diskette drive, Sony part number 09K9835
* USB\VID_0644&PID_0000 ; TEAC USB floppy diskette drive IBM option part number 27L4226, FRU 05K9283
The following USB floppy diskette drives are not listed in the file txtsetup.sif and are not supported:
* USB\VID_03F0&PID_2001 ; HP
* USB\VID_054C&PID_002C ; Sony
* USB\VID_057B&PID_0001 ; YEData
* USB\VID_0409&PID_0040 ; NEC
* USB\VID_0424&PID_0FDC ; SMSC
https://lists.one-eyed-alien.net/piperm ... 01904.html
[usb-storage] [PATCH] fix multilun for SMSC usb floppy
Tue Aug 23 21:10:21 PDT 2005
This patch is not yet tested, the device shows up with 8 LUNs.
Index: linux-2.6.12/drivers/usb/storage/unusual_devs.h
+/* https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=105878 */
+* P: Vendor=0424 ProdID=0fdc Rev= 2.10
+* S: Manufacturer=SMSC
+* S: Product=FDC GOLD-2.30
(So, maybe future 2.6+ kernels will be improved.)
=======
This USB Floppy Drive is NOT "officially approved" for installing XP:
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws ... &loc=en_US
Non-IBM USB floppy diskette drives not recognized during Windows XP install - IntelliStation A Pro (Type 6224), IntelliStation M Pro (Type 6220, 6230)
Symptom
When installing Microsoft Windows XP using a non-IBM USB floppy diskette drive on
a drive that requires a driver during installation, the USB floppy diskette drive is not recognized throughout the installation.
When Windows XP looks for the driver the second time, it will not be able to see the USB floppy diskette drive and will prompt the user for the driver (SCSI, SATA, RAID) again.
The installation will never get past this point.
Solution
This is a Microsoft Limitation.
Workaround
If installing Windows XP using a USB floppy diskette drive, use one of the following drives in the approved and available IBM Option kit part number 05K9276:
* Device ID = VID: 057B and PID: 0000 for SONY external USB floppy diskette drive, Sony part number 09K9835
* Device ID = VID: 0644 and PID: 0000 for TEAC external USB floppy diskette drive, IBM replacement part number (FRU) 13N6752
Additional information
Windows XP is working as designed. Windows text mode setup can recognize only a few USB floppy diskette drives listed in the file txtsetup.sif.
The following USB floppy diskette drives are listed in the file txtsetup.sif and are supported:
* USB\VID_03EE&PID_6901 ; Mitsumi USB floppy diskette drive
* USB\VID_057B&PID_0000 ; YEData USB floppy diskette drive, Sony part number 09K9835
* USB\VID_0644&PID_0000 ; TEAC USB floppy diskette drive IBM option part number 27L4226, FRU 05K9283
The following USB floppy diskette drives are not listed in the file txtsetup.sif and are not supported:
* USB\VID_03F0&PID_2001 ; HP
* USB\VID_054C&PID_002C ; Sony
* USB\VID_057B&PID_0001 ; YEData
* USB\VID_0409&PID_0040 ; NEC
* USB\VID_0424&PID_0FDC ; SMSC