Can't you just run a bootable CD with FreeDOS for flashing the BIOS? <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 2:35 PM, Basil Chupin <<a href="mailto:blchupin@iinet.net.au">blchupin@iinet.net.au</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">I've busted my balls over the past 2 days trying to figure out why my floppy will not be recognised and display the contents of a floppy disc. I need the floppy to be able to flash the BIOS on a pre-loved mobo I bought 2 weeks ago. I buggered around trying to figure out why the floppy (floppies actually on all the 3 Ubuntu systems I have) won't work - when all did work under the previous distro I was using. And what do I now find? The floppy drive is not really catered for by Ubuntu Lucid, or even Meerkat (I've tried) now! Here is a gem from a Lauchy discussion on this matter: QUOTE > NoOp [2010-08-31 2:20 -0000]: > > Can one of the devs listed in the assigned: Andy Whitcroft and > > Martin Pitt please explain the status? > > You already summarized it pretty well. None of the devs have a floppy > disk, so debugging them is a pain (as much of a pain as floppy disks > are in the first place..) Personally, the last one I had was 2002.. > > So for now, I'm afraid that you have to use an older Ubuntu release > for now, or use the downgraded version for a while. > > I'm sorry that this isn't the answer you are looking for, but it's the > current situation. UNQUOTE Note: none of the devs computers with a floppy....so for all you silly bums and no-hopers who do have one.....tuff teaties! And for all those who still spout the line that Ubuntu will run on all hardware -- get real! It's crap! (Also, just FYI, and this might explain a few things, all the devs appear to be using laptops, not desktops, for their work; this also stated in this "bug thread".) There are, however, at least a couple of "fixes" for the above wonderful regression but one of them, which is to be issue on the cli, "devkit-disks --mount /dev/fd0" comes up with the error message that nobody on this planet knows the command "devkit-disks" except, most likely, the one who actually mentioned it in the bug-discussion. The first "fix" was to insert "floppy" as a new line in /etc/modules - which went down like a lead balloon in my case. And the last, is to replace in Lucid the latest udisks package from ubuntu with the earlier udisks.1.0.1build1 (by using Package:Force Version) -- this courtesy of NoOp. And, of course, there is no way that you can do this Package:Force Version in Meerkat. Alright, now that I have vented my frustrations accumulated over the past 2 days, does anyone have a REAL clue to make anything-Ubuntu recognise a floppy drive and display the contents of the disc in it and even format the disc? (Having stated this, the suggestion in the bug-discussion is to keep running an earlier version of Ubuntu - I think it is Karmic but don't quote me.) If you want to see all of this for yourself then here is the bug-discussion: <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/udisks/+bug/441835" target="_blank">https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/udisks/+bug/441835</a> BC PS I accidentally posted the above in the wrong mail list - opensuse - and the above is FWDed copy of that post. -- ubuntu-users mailing list <a href="mailto:ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com">ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com</a> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users</a> </blockquote></div> -- [C] hicken [G] od -=>Hi Tek, Lo Life<=- <a href="http://planet-zero.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://planet-zero.blogspot.com</a> <div style="visibility: hidden; display: inline;" id="avg_ls_inline_popup"></div><style type="text/css">#avg_ls_inline_popup { position:absolute; z-index:9999; padding: 0px 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 240px; overflow: hidden; word-wrap: break-word; color: black; font-size: 10px; text-align: left; line-height: 13px;}</style>