Beginner Q1: Linux incapable of handling FDD? CONCLUDED

[Amedee Van Gasse]

On 17-01-10 11:05, Thomas Blasejewicz wrote:

> Well, I did ask the same question before on the OpenSUSE forum and went
> through a very long list of such instructions that in the end became so
> technical that I could not follow any longer.
> This question of mine actually started a sort of holy war among the
> users there about what is right and what wrong. So, in the end I
> withdrew my question and apologized to the list for asking it.

Contrary to OpenSUSE and other Linux distributions, Ubuntu has a Code of 
Conduct that disapproves of such "holy wars".

> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/206860
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gvfs/+bug/253842
> https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=525573
>
> There appear to be quite some problems.
> This is what I cannot understand: FDD are "ancient" devices that should
> NOT pose any technical problem. Pop in a floppy, read it. That is
> something I did on many computers using several OS in the past 25 years
> and never even heard of this being able to cause problems (unless the
> machine is broken).

Of course you are right. Floppies have been supported by Linux since 
version 0.99 and earlier.

You know what I think? Somewhere someone introduced a new feature in 
some tiny piece of software that everybody depends on, and they didn't 
test it very well, and they didn't think that it would have consequences 
for floppies, and nobody else bothered to test with a floppy because, 
well, floppies are floppies, always work and who uses them anyway 
nowadays? By the time somebody really noticed a problem, deadlines were 
passed and it was too late to change anything.

So you're frakked because somebody else frakked up. It's not your fault.
What you need now, is help to get a configuration where you either have 
some apps as they were before the bug was introduced, or as they are 
now, and with the bug fixed or a workaround or whatever.

The problem is that very few people still have floppies, and this group 
of people has to intersect with the group of people that has enough 
technical expertise. That's not easy. So you gotta have a bit of 
patience please...

> Conclusion: apparently at least I am too stupid to use floppys under
> Linux. So, I gave up trying. Although it would be very useful to me, if
> I were able to.
>
> I am NOT trying to any other OS, PC etc., but if Linux is really to good
> (so much better than ...), I think something as simple as using a floppy
> should be possible - as long as both media and drives are around.
>
> I consider the matter now closed and really hope, I did not disturb the
> list too much.

I had to look up this word in a dictionary because I am not a native 
speaker, but I think that the correct description for what you are doing 
is "grovelling". It's a negative attitude that does not help you or 
anyone else. I prefer to work towards a solution with a positive attitude.

Conclusion: you jump to conclusions too fast.
Give people a chance to help you. It's very bad for motivation if you 
don't give people a chance, next time around they might not be so 
willing to help you.

-- 
Amedee Van Gasse