Howto: Use Floppy in Ubuntu 8.10

By default, the use of floppy drives is disabled in Ubuntu 8.10.
The reason for a not responding floppy under /dev/fd0 (standard device) is the deactivated kernel module for floppies. To permanently activate the module loading of the floppy, simply run in xterm:

gksudo gedit /etc/modules

and add this simple line to /etc/modules


floppy


The Floppy will be now available after reboot – to use it instantly, simply type into xterm:


sudo modprobe floppy


To mount the floppy, add a mountpoint in /media like

sudo mkdir /media/floppy


and mount it with:

sudo mount /dev/fd0 /media/floppy


To permanently have the device linked to the mountpoint, edit /etc/fstab:

gksudo gedit /etc/fstab


and add this line:

/dev/fd0 /media/floppy auto rw,user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0