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- Zip Drive Mini-HOWTO
- Kyle Dansie, dansie@ibm.net
- v2.2, 26 August 1998
-
- This Document provides a quick reference quide on setting up and using
- the Iomega ZIP drive with Linux.
- ______________________________________________________________________
-
- Table of Contents
-
-
- 1. Introduction
-
- 1.1 Home of this document
-
- 2. Quick Start
-
- 3. The ZIP drive
-
- 3.1 Parallel port version
- 3.2 SCSI external version
- 3.2.1 The ZIP ZOOM host adapter
- 3.3 The SCSI Internal version
- 3.4 The ZIP Plus - IMM driver
- 3.5 ATAPI version
- 3.6 IDE version
-
- 4. Configuring a kernel for the ZIP drive
-
- 4.1 SCSI version
- 4.2 PPA driver for 1.2.13
- 4.3 PPA driver in current kernels
- 4.4 PPA command line parameters
-
- 5. Using the ZIP drive
-
- 5.1 Identifying the drive at boot time
- 5.2 Fdisk, mke2fs, mount, etc.
- 5.3 An existing DOS formatted disk
- 5.4 Re-format as a native Linux disk
- 5.5 The ZIP Tools disk
-
- 6. Performance
-
- 7. Frequently asked questions
-
- 7.1 Can I plug a printer into the parallel ZIP drive ?
- 7.2 Do you plan to support EPP/ECP ports in PPA ?
- 7.3 Can I run Linux from a ZIP drive ?
- 7.4 Can I boot from the ZIP drive ?
- 7.5 Why does Iomega use partition number 4 ?
- 7.6 How can I have the disk mounted at boot time ?
- 7.7 What happens if there is no disk inserted when I boot ?
- 7.8 Can I use the parallel drive as a real SCSI disk ?
- 7.9 Can PPA be used with Iomega's parallel port tape drives ?
- 7.10 Will PPA work with the parallel port SyQuest EZ135 ?
-
- 8. Getting more current information
-
-
-
- ______________________________________________________________________
-
-
-
-
- 1. Introduction
-
- The Iomega ZIP drive is a popular, removable media disk drive. It is
- avaliable in several versions.
-
- ╖ Parallel Port
-
- ╖ SCSI
-
- ╖ IDE - ATAPI
-
- ╖ Plus
-
- The most popular seems to be the Parallel port version. It has been
- around a long time and it is low cost. The SCSI version has also
- been around for a while but it needs a scsi card that many people
- do not have already, so it it not quite as popular. The ATAPI
- version now seems to be more available. The Plus is the newer
- version of the ZIP drive. It has the capability to detect what
- port its plugged into, scsi or parallel. This document will focus
- on the Parallel port version, but also offer some tips for other
- versions.
-
-
- This document incorporates information collected and published by
- others, in particular:
-
- ╖ Grant Guenther, grant@torque.net
-
- ╖ Scot Wilcoxon, sewilco@fielday.mn.org
-
- ╖ Joe Mack, mack@ncifcrf.gov
-
- ╖ Byron Jeff, byron@cc.gatech.edu
-
-
- I thank them for their important contributions, and accept
- responsibility for any errors that I have introduced.
-
- A special thanks to Grant Guenther who wrote the 0.26 version of the
- ppa program and also wrote the original version of this HOWTO. If you
- find any mistakes or oversights in this document, please let me know.
- dansie@ibm.net
-
-
- 1.1. Home of this document
-
- The most current version of this document will reside at
- <http://www.njtcom.com/dansie/zip-drive.html>
-
-
-
- 2. Quick Start
-
- OK so you have purchased a new zip drive and now you want to use it.
- Some distributions have the modules already built. You can try insmod
- ppa for starters. (Make sure you have it hooked up and a disk
- inserted). If the ppa program is not there, then configure the
- kernel. My machine has 2 parallel ports, one for the zip and one for
- the printer. This makes things easy, no cable switching.
-
- Configure the kernel:
-
- ╖ cd /usr/src/linux
-
-
- ╖ make xconfig
-
- ╖ scsi support = Y
-
- ╖ scsi disk support = Y
-
- ╖ Iomega zip support as a module
-
- ╖ printer support also as a module
-
- ╖ save it and exit
-
- ╖ make dep
-
- ╖ make clean
-
- ╖ make zImage or zlilo or zdisk
-
- ╖ make modules
-
- ╖ make mdoules_install
-
- Now to use the drive:
-
- ╖ load the module insmod ppa
-
- ╖ build a mounting point. mkdir /zip
-
- ╖ insert a preformatted windoze type disk into the drive.
-
- ╖ mount the disk. mount -t vfat /dev/sda4 /zip
-
- ╖ use any standard file commands as in l /zip, ls /zip, df, cp,
-
- ╖ when you are finished umount /zip
-
- If you had trouble with any of the previous steps, see the following
- sections for more detailed instructions.
-
-
-
-
-
- 3. The ZIP drive
-
- There are at least five or six versions of the Iomega ZIP 100 drive.
- They all accept special cartridges resembling a 3.5" floppy disk that
- hold 100 megabytes of data. The disks actually hold 96 cylinders of
- 2048 sectors each holding 512 bytes. This would normally be called 96
- Megabytes.
-
- The external drive comes in these types:
-
- ╖ Parallel port
-
- ╖ SCSI
-
- ╖ Plus
-
- The internal drive comes in these types:
-
- ╖ SCSI
-
- ╖ IDE
-
-
- ╖ ATAPI
-
- The internal versions can be mounted in 3.5 or 5.25 drive slots. The
- external versions are in a small blue plastic case enclosure, powered
- by an external wall brick.
-
- All the drives have a large pushbutton on the front of the drive.
- This is used to eject the disk. Linux locks the door while using the
- drive, but if the button is pressed while the door is locked, the ZIP
- drive will remember and eject the disk as soon as the software unlocks
- it.
-
-
- 3.1. Parallel port version
-
- The parallel port ZIP drive has two DB25 connectors, the male (DB25M)
- should be connected with the supplied parallel cable to your
- computer's parallel port. The other (female, DB25F) is intended to
- support a chained printer. Linux 2.0.x does not currently support
- simultaneous use of both a ZIP drive and a chained printer. A work-
- around is possible using loadable modules. There are no configuration
- switches. This will likely change in future versions. Check the Linux
- Parallel Port Sharing Project
- <http://www.cyberelk.demon.co.uk/parport.html> for more information.
-
-
- The Linux driver comes in a couple of different versions. The 0.26
- version of the ppa.c program ships standard with the 2.0.x kernels.
- Check out
-
- David Campbell's page <http://www.torque.net/~campbell/> for the more
- current version of this program. At the time of this writing the
- current version is 1.41.
-
-
- The parallel port ZIP drive is compatible with several types of
- parallel ports, but currently the 0.26 version of the Linux driver
- supports only the Standard and bi-directional ports. The newer
- versions support EPP. If your parallel port has configuration
- switches (in hardware or on a CMOS setup screen) be sure to set the
- port into one of those two modes for the 0.26 program.
-
- Be sure that all cables are firmly attached.
-
- Also see section ``Getting more information''
-
-
- 3.2. SCSI external version
-
- The external SCSI version of the ZIP drive has two DB25F connectors,
- and two configuration switches. One switch selects the drive's target
- address. The choice is limited to target 5 or 6. The other enables an
- internal terminator, in case the drive is the last one on a chain.
- The 25 pin SCSI connectors use the familiar Macintosh style wiring.
- The drive is shipped with a Macintosh type cable, but standard cables
- and converters are easily obtained if you are using a host adapter
- with a Centronics or high-density connector.
-
- I have not seen an internal SCSI drive, but I would expect it to have
- a standard 50 pin DIP header SCSI connector and the same two switches.
-
- Make sure that the target address you choose does not conflict with
- any other SCSI devices you may have on the same bus. Also be sure
- that the physically last drive in a chain has termination enabled, or
- an external terminator installed.
-
- If you have an internal SCSI disk or CD-rom, and you connect your ZIP
- drive to the existing adapter, you should check to see if there are
- any terminators on the card that must be removed. Only the two
- extreme ends of the SCSI bus should be terminated. If your bus is
- partly internal and partly external, there should be one terminator on
- the last external device and one on the last internal device, but no
- terminators on the adapter card itself.
-
- Be sure that all cables are firmly attached.
-
-
- 3.2.1. The ZIP ZOOM host adapter
-
- Iomega markets a SCSI host adapter under the name ZIP Zoom. This is
- actually based on the design of the Adaptec AHA1520 family of
- adapters. It has an external Macintosh type DB25F connector,
- compatible with the cable that comes with the ZIP drive.
-
- Linux supports this adapter with the aha152x driver.
-
-
- 3.3. The SCSI Internal version
-
-
-
- Install hardware as described in the "Installation and Reference
- Guide" noting which SCSI ID, IRQ and I/O Port Address are being used.
- (You'll need this info later.) Things will go smother if the drive and
- adapter card use different SCSI ID's.
-
- Recompile the kernel after configuring it to include 'SCSI', 'SCSI
- disk' and 'AHA152X/2825' support. INSTALL NEW KERNEL :-(
-
- Determine what your kernel command line is:
-
- aha152x=[I/O Port][,IRQ][,SCSI ID][,RECONNECT][,PARITY]
-
- For example :
-
- aha152x=0x140,10,7,1
-
- If your using LILO add your kernel command line to your lilo.conf file
- using the append command.
-
- (ie. append = "aha152x=0x140,10,7,1")
-
- If your using LOADLIN add your kernel command line to the command you
- use to initiate loadlin.
-
- (ie. loadlin c:\vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 aha152x=0x140,10,5,1 ro)
-
-
-
-
- 3.4. The ZIP Plus - IMM driver
-
- This is a newer version of the external Zip drive. The
- Zip Plus does not use the ppa driver, instead it uses the
- imm driver. Philippe Andersson sent in this excellent section on
- the imm driver for the Zip Plus. Thanks Philippe.
-
-
-
- Warning: the development of this driver is in alpha stage, which means
- that 1./ you won't find it in the normal linux kernel source tree (nor
- will you be able to select it from make config and friends, of course)
- and 2./ it might not work in your specific setup. But don't fear --
- just go ahead and test it.
-
- First, rebuild your kernel to include the following items:
-
-
- ╖ modules support
-
- ╖ SCSI support
-
- ╖ SCSI Disk support
-
- ╖ lp as a module (if you need it)
-
- You'll notice we didn't select any SCSI low-level driver. That's ok --
- we'll build it separately later.
-
- Then, you need to get the driver source code from Dave Campbell's home
- page (http://www.torque.net/~campbell/imm.tar.gz
- <http://www.torque.net/~campbell/imm.tar.gz>). Version 0.17 is the
- current one at the time of writing (Aug. 98). Unzip it and untar it
- somewhere (under /usr/src, for instance). Then just run make. You'll
- get the module you need (imm.o). Copy it to /lib/modules/$(uname
- -r)/scsi.
-
- If your lp module was loaded (check with lsmod(1)), unload it (rmmod
- lp), then load imm.o (insmod imm) and you're all set basically.
-
- If the ZIP drive was not connected and powered on at the time, you'll
- get the message "init_module: Device or resource busy", and the module
- won't load. (By the way, it looks like you don't need to switch your
- PC off to connect the ZIP -- just make sure the module is not loaded
- and the drive is turned off, then plug it in, turn the drive on, and
- load the module.)
-
- If the ZIP was connected and powered on, but there was no disk in, the
- module will load all right, but you'll get the message that it can't
- read the disk partition table. This is ok, as the partition table will
- be automatically read when you insert a ZIP disk.
-
- If there was a ZIP disk in, you'll get the full information displayed,
- including a list of partitions defined on the disk and its Write
- Protect status. Here is a sample load-time message:
-
-
- vger:~# insmod imm
- imm: Version 0.17
- imm: Probing port 03bc
- imm: Probing port 0378
- imm: SPP port present
- imm: ECP with a 16 byte FIFO present
- imm: PS/2 bidirectional port present
- imm: Passed Intel bug check.
- imm: Probing port 0278
- scsi0 : Iomega ZIP Plus drive
- scsi : 1 host.
- Vendor: IOMEGA Model: ZIP 100 PLUS Rev: J.66
- Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
- Detected scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 6, lun 0
- SCSI device sda: hdwr sector= 512 bytes. Sectors= 196608 [96 MB] [0.1 GB]
- sda: Write Protect is off
- sda: sda1
- vger:~#
-
-
-
- One last remark to mention that this version of the driver also locks
- the drive door while the disk is mounted. If the eject button is
- pressed in this situation, nothing happens, but the drive "remembers"
- and ejects the disk as soon as it is dismounted.
-
-
-
-
- 3.5. ATAPI version
-
- There was an IDE version of the drive produced for a while. I think
- that for the most part this has been replaced by the ATAPI version.
-
- Donald Stidwell sent in these comments on the ATAPI version. Thanks
- Don.
-
- I use an ATAPI Zip drive and it works with both 2.0.32 and 2.0.33
- kernels. I've used it under both RH 5.0 and OpenLinux 1.2 (my current
- used distribution). To get it to work under OpenLinux, I just enabled
- ATAPI floppy support in the kernel. OpenLinux does not have this
- support compiled in by default.
-
- No other drivers are needed. It will mount as an extended partition
- on partition 4. I.E, mine mounts on HDB4. I mount it under /mnt/zip
- as noauto, although I don't suppose there would be any real problem
- with automounting. I just wonder about ejecting disks. I always
- dismount the drive before ejecting a cartridge.
-
- There are more detailed instructions for the ATAPI install in the
- Linux Gazette May 1998 issue. See the 2 cent tip section.
-
- <http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue28/lg_tips28.html#atapi>
-
-
-
- 3.6. IDE version
-
-
- I have not used the IDE version. Eric Backus sent in these comments.
- Thanks Eric.
-
- I have one of these. It came with my Gateway 2000 computer a year
- ago. I think most of these were shipped by large OEM companies like
- this, before the ATAPI version of the ZIP drive was available.
-
- The good news about this drive: no kernel modules or modifications are
- needed to support it. It looks to the kernel like an IDE hard drive.
- It worked for me with no effort with kernel 2.0.31 and 2.0.32.
-
- The bad news about this drive: because it doesn't use ATAPI, you can't
- use the SCSI-to-ATAPI translation, which means you can't use mtools to
- write-protect disks (or to eject them, for that matter).
-
-
-
- 4. Configuring a kernel for the ZIP drive
-
- To use the ZIP drive with Linux, you must have a kernel configured
- with support for the SCSI system, support for SCSI disks, and support
- for the host adapter you are using. If you are not familiar with
- building a kernel, you should read up on the Linux Kernel HOWTO
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO.html> for information.
-
- You must begin the process of building a kernel with the configuration
- step. Here, you identify the specific kernel components that you
- need. First step cd /usr/src/linux. There are several ways to
- actually do the configuration. Under X windows I use make xconfig.
- There is also make menuconfig or make config for command line prompts.
- The easiest way is with xconfig.
-
- In the section SCSI Support set SCSI support = Y. Also set SCSI disk
- support = Y.
-
- In the section SCSI low-level drivers you want to set IOMEGA Parallel
- Port ZIP drive SCSI support = M. The M stands for modules.
-
- In the section Character Devices find and set Parallell Printer
- support = M
-
- If you are a bit unsure about any of this, use zdisk for the make
- step. This will build and install the kernel to floppy. If you screw
- it up somehow, you still have a good bootable system on the hard
- drive.
-
- Now build the kernel with these steps:
-
- ╖ make dep
-
- ╖ make clean
-
- ╖ make zImage or zlilo or zdisk
-
- ╖ make modules
-
- ╖ make mdoules_install
-
- hint if you want to create an output log of the make zImage step you
- can use
-
-
- make zImage 2>&1 | tee zImage.out
-
-
-
-
-
- This is really a good thing to do, if you have compile errors or other
- conflicts in the configuration, now you have a file with the error
- messages or compile errors. This makes asking for help much easier.
-
- You also need to load the modules somewhere. On my system I just added
- a couple of lines to the boot.local file.
-
- ╖ insmod ppa
-
- ╖ insmod lp
-
- My system is Suse 5.0 and this file is in /etc/rc.d. The location
- of this file will vary by distribution, but there will be a file
- somewhere, for local changes to be made at start up time. You
- should use the file that is applicable for your distribution.
-
- Now shutdown and reboot.
-
- You can also build all or part of the SCSI system as modules. If you
- do this, be sure to load scsi.o, then sd.o and finally the driver for
- your host adapter, before you try to access the ZIP drive.
-
-
-
-
-
- 4.1. SCSI version
-
-
- If you already have a SCSI disk in your system, and you are connecting
- the ZIP drive to the same controller, there is no additional kernel
- configuration required. Otherwise, you will most likely have to build
- a new kernel.
-
- If you are building a kernel to support the SCSI version of the ZIP
- drive, you should select SCSI support and SCSI disk support. You must
- also select a driver for the interface card you will use. If you have
- a ZIP Zoom, select the aha152x driver.
-
- Be sure to read the documentation for your adapter in the SCSI HOWTO
- and any README files in the drivers/scsi subdirectory of the Linux
- source tree. Pay attention to command line parameters that you might
- have to use to help the kernel initialise your adapter.
-
- For instance, if you are using the ZIP Zoom card, you will have to add
- something like
-
-
-
- aha152x=0x340,11,7,1
-
-
-
-
- to the boot command (or include it in your /etc/lilo.conf file in an
- append clause). This tells the driver the port address and IRQ of
- your ZIP Zoom card - be sure to use the numbers that correspond to the
- way your jumpers are set.
-
- You should also read Paul Gortmaker's BOOTPROMPT HOWTO
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html> for
- information about configuring your kernel with LILO or LOADLIN.
-
-
- 4.2. PPA driver for 1.2.13
-
-
- The 2.0.x kernel has been released for a very long time now. If you
- are still on the 1.2.13 or anything older than the 2.0.x Please
- Upgrade. I will not answer any questions about these old releases and
- I doubt that any of the developers will.
-
-
- 4.3. PPA driver in current kernels
-
- Since version 1.3.74 the ppa driver has been a standard part of the
- kernel. There were some changes to other parts of the kernel around
- 1.3.78 that required an interim workaround, but since 1.3.85 the
- driver has been quite stable at version 0.26. Since the code-freeze
- for Linux 2.0 is now in effect, I expect that 0.26 will be in the
- next stable kernel.
-
- To build a kernel with ppa support, include SCSI support, SCSI disk
- support and select the Iomega ZIP / PPA-3 support from the list of
- low-level SCSI adapters. You can also build the driver as a loadable
- module.
-
- You can use command line parameters in /etc/lilo.conf or with insmod
- to adjust the driver. This is all documented in
- drivers/scsi/README.ppa in the kernel source tree. I've included a
- summary in the next section.
-
- If you want to use both the lp and ppa drivers on the same parallel
- port, you must build both as loadable modules and load one or the
- other at any point in time, but not both.
-
- Linux's loadable module features are becoming more powerful, and
- correspondingly more complex, every day. You should read the file
- Documentation/modules.txt in the kernel source tree, as a starting
- point.
-
-
- 4.4. PPA command line parameters
-
- If you have ppa built into your kernel, you can adjust its parameters
- from the command line of LILO or LOADLIN with the following syntax:
-
-
-
- ppa=base[,speed_high[,speed_low[,nybble]]]
-
-
-
-
- Where base is the i/o address of your parallel port, speed_high is a
- timing constant for certain fast loops in the driver, speed_low is a
- similar timing parameter for some slower loops and nybble is a flag to
- force the driver to use 4-bit, or nybble mode, even if it wants to do
- otherwise.
-
- For an example, the defaults could be specified as:
-
-
-
- ppa=0x378,1,6,0
-
-
-
-
-
- 5. Using the ZIP drive
-
- If you have built in all the required components, the kernel should
- recognize your adapter and drive at boot time. If you are using a
- loadable module for your driver, the following discussion applies once
- that module is loaded.
-
- For the most part, the SCSI and parallel versions of the drive behave
- identically, except that the parallel version is somewhat slower.
-
-
- 5.1. Identifying the drive at boot time
-
- When your system boots it should display several pieces of information
- about your adapter, your drive, and the disk in the drive. If you do
- not have a disk in the drive, some of this information will be missing
- and will only appear when you insert a disk and then touch the drive
- (make some attempt to access it). Beginning users are advised to boot
- their system with a disk in the drive - things are less confusing that
- way !
-
- Exactly where these messages will appear depends on how your system is
- configured. Often they will be displayed to your system console, but
- they may be diverted into a log file such as /var/adm/messages.
- Usually, you can retrieve the last couple of screens of kernel
- messages with the dmesg command, if you can't find them anywhere else.
-
-
- If you need to get someone to help you with anything, a copy of this
- log information is critical. Try to send as many of the relevant log
- messages as you can along with any bug report.
-
- Here is a sample of what the kernel's log messages should look like:
-
-
-
- scsi0 : PPA driver version 0.26 using 8-bit mode on port 0x378.
- scsi : 1 host.
- Vendor: IOMEGA Model: ZIP 100 Rev: N*32
- Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
- Detected scsi disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 6, lun 0
- scsi : detected 1 SCSI disk total.
- SCSI device sda: hdwr sector= 512 bytes. Sectors= 196608 [96 MB] [0.1 GB]
- sda: Write Protect is off
- Partition check: sda: sda1
-
-
-
-
- This output came from a 1.3.87 system with a parallel ZIP drive. The
- exact output will vary depending on your host adapter and whether you
- have any other SCSI devices in your system.
-
- The first line displays the initialization message from the low-level
- driver for the host adapter, in this case PPA. Following that comes
- the drive identification information returned by each device found on
- the SCSI bus. Line 5 reports the device name assigned to the drive, in
- this case /dev/sda. And the last line hows the result of the
- partition check of the disk in the drive. This one has one partition,
- /dev/sda1. These reports come from different modules in the kernel.
- If you have more than one SCSI adapter, or several disks, each section
- will contain more information.
-
- If you are using a fresh disk, direct from Iomega, the partition check
- should show one partition, /dev/sda4. If you have other SCSI devices
- you will understand that the ZIP drive could appear on some other
- device name like /dev/sdb - so check these messages.
-
- If these lines do not appear, then something is misconfigured in your
- hardware or in the kernel. Check everything carefully before sending
- mail.
-
- If the scsi0: line does not appear, then you have not configured your
- host adapter and its driver correctly. Some drivers will give you a
- hint about what is wrong. If your drive is not detected, you
- probably have a cable problem. If a drive name is not assigned, you
- probably forgot to include SCSI disk support when you built the
- kernel.
-
- Check the README files in drivers/scsi and the SCSI HOWTO for other
- debugging hints.
-
-
- 5.2. Fdisk, mke2fs, mount, etc.
-
- Once you know the drive name for your ZIP drive, you are set. You can
- manipulate the drive with the normal Linux disk management commands.
- fdisk (or perhaps cfdisk) is used to manipulate the partition tables
- on the disk. mke2fs can be used to format a partition with the ext2
- filesystem - the one most commonly used in Linux. mount is used to
- connect a formatted partition into your directory hierarchy.
-
- You should study the manual pages for these tools if you are not
- familiar with them. Be warned that there are now several quite
- different versions of the fdisk program - be careful.
-
- I'll describe two common scenarios.
-
-
- 5.3. An existing DOS formatted disk
-
- If you have a ZIP disk with a DOS file structure that was originally
- created by Iomega's tools, the partition scan should say that the disk
- has one partition, /dev/sda4.
-
- You should make a place to mount the disk, lets say /zip, and then
- mount it as an MS-DOS filesystem:
-
-
-
- mkdir /zip
- mount -t vfat /dev/sda4 /zip
-
-
-
-
- You could also use msdos instead of vfat. vfat supports long filenames
- where msdos does not. Now, the files on the disk should appear in
- /zip. While the disk is mounted, you will not be able to remove it.
- When you are finished with the disk you can umount it to release it
- and detach it from your directory hierarchy.
-
-
-
- umount /zip
-
-
-
-
- Once you've made the /zip mount point - you don't need to do it again,
- so you could come back later and mount something else there.
-
-
- 5.4. Re-format as a native Linux disk
-
-
- If you want to erase a ZIP disk and make a Linux native file system on
- it. You should use fdisk on the entire disk:
-
-
-
- fdisk /dev/sda
-
-
-
-
- and delete any existing partitions (with the d command). Then create
- a new partition with the n command, make it primary partition number
- 1, use w to write the partition table to disk, and quit with q.
-
- Format the partition
-
-
-
- mke2fs /dev/sda1
-
-
-
-
-
- (The 1 is the number that you gave this partition in fdisk). Now you
- can mount the disk:
-
-
-
- mount -t ext2 /dev/sda1 /zip
-
-
-
-
- (re-using that mount point we created before).
-
-
- 5.5. The ZIP Tools disk
-
-
- There is some extra work to be done if you want to use the disk that
- comes with the ZIP drive. As shipped, the software controlled write
- protection is enabled. Most people have unlocked the disk under DOS
- before ever trying to use it with Linux. Linux cannot access a locked
- disk, and it must be unlocked with Iomega's tools.
-
- A native Linux program to manage the write protection feature, among
- other things, is expected to be available soon.
-
-
-
- 6. Performance
-
- With the standard version of the 2.0.x kernels you get the 0.26
- version of the ppa.c program. This is a very reliable simple program.
- It has gotten a lot of use and abuse and held up rather well. The only
- bad thing about this program is that it's not very fast. On my machine
- I have version 2.0.30 kernel, and 2 parallel ports. This is also a
- low-buck machine pentium 133 - 16 meg memory, 5 gig maxtor eide hard
- drive. The machine cost me 500. U.S. Dollars and the drive was 250. I
- am cheap but so what.
-
- I had the ZIP drive on the second port and the printer on the first
- port. The second port was an old add in card, no epp mode. This made
- the driver run in 4 bit mode.
-
- To base line the performance I copied the netscape tar file from the
- hard drive to the zip drive. This file is about 10.6 meg. Time 7
- minutes 15 seconds. Going from the zip drive to the hard drive was
- about 7 minutes even. Not exactly setting the world on fire.
-
- I then made 2 changes. First I switched the ZIP drive to the first
- port and went into the bios and set EPP mode on for the first port.
- At the same time I hooked up the printer to the 2nd port.
-
- Second change I went out and downloaded the new version of the program
- from David Campbells page <http://www.torque.net/~campbell/> Then I
- installed this program. Check out the readme file that is included.
-
- Then I ran the same test again of copying the Netscape tar file to and
- from the ZiP drive. The copy to the C drive was 1:55 seconds. From the
- hard drive to the Zip drive was 1 minute flat. This compares to 7:15
- and 7:00 with the old program. This was a big improvement over the
- 0.26 program. This was also using the zip drive as a vfat file type.
-
- Next I formated a zip drive in ext2 format. Ran the same test again.
- The copy going to the hard drive was only 50 seconds. The copy from
- the hard drive to the Zip drive was only 40 seconds.
-
-
- Performance Summary
-
- For this test case of moving a 10.6 meg file, the 4 bit standard port
- mode and program version 0.26 is the slowest 7:00 and 7:15
-
- The new program (1.41) and EPP mode with ext2 file types is the
- fastest at 50 seconds and 40 seconds.
-
-
-
- 7. Frequently asked questions
-
- These are some of the questions that we get asked a lot. Please read
- the answers here before asking them again !
-
-
- 7.1. Can I plug a printer into the parallel ZIP drive ?
-
- Yes, but. Currently, you cannot have both the lp and ppa drivers
- active on the same parallel port. A resource sharing protocol has
- been designed and is in the early stages of implementation, but will
- not be available before Linux 2.0 is released.
-
- If you like living on the bleeding edge of things, get the 2.1.x
- kernel and you can have port sharing. See
- <http://www.cyberelk.demon.co.uk/parport.html>
-
- The easy way to do this with 2.0.x kernel is to have 2 parallel ports.
- I bought my second one for about 15 dollars and it works great. You
- can use one for printing and one for your ZIP drive. Just build a
- kernel with both the lp and ppa drivers as modules. I use the newer
- (1.41) version of ppa, so I just load ppa first (insmod ppa). It then
- finds the zip drive on the first port. Then I load lp (insmod lp) and
- it assigns the printer to the second port.
-
- If you use the 0.26 version of the program then include the lp and ppa
- as part of the kernel, (not as modules). Then put some appropriate
- configuration commands on your kernel command line. For instance, if
- you use LILO and you have a printer on 0x378 and a ZIP drive at 0x3bc
- you could add the following line to your /etc/lilo.conf file.
-
-
-
- append = "lp=0x378 ppa=0x3bc"
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 7.2. Do you plan to support EPP/ECP ports in PPA ?
-
-
- Version 0.26 of the program does not support EPP. Version 1.41 does
- support the EPP. This program is also much faster. See the performance
- section for more details.
-
-
- 7.3. Can I run Linux from a ZIP drive ?
-
- People have done this. It would seem this might make a great rescue
- disk or a way to test an install.
-
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/ZIP-Install.html>
-
-
- 7.4. Can I boot from the ZIP drive ?
-
- This depends on what you are using for a host adapter. If your host
- adapter has a BIOS ROM with code that can boot from target 5 or 6,
- then yes, you can boot from the SCSI ZIP drive. You cannot boot from
- a parallel port drive.
-
- If you have DOS on your main disk and want to boot Linux from a ZIP
- disk, you can do this using the LOADLIN boot loader. Your kernel
- image must be somewhere on the DOS disk, but the rest of your Linux
- system could be on the ZIP. Make sure that the kernel you use has the
- correct drivers built in.
-
- As far as I am aware, there are no installation boot floppies for any
- of the popular distributions that contain the parallel ZIP driver.
-
-
- 7.5. Why does Iomega use partition number 4 ?
-
- This is one of the most popular questions, but I don't think anyone
- has a definite answer to this one. Could be they had their head where
- the sun don't shine. Maybe there is no reason.
-
-
- 7.6. How can I have the disk mounted at boot time ?
-
- All you need to do is to add a line to your /etc/fstab file. For
- instance, if you will always have a DOS disk in the drive when you
- boot, you could put
-
-
-
- /dev/sda4 /zip vfat defaults 0 0
-
-
-
-
- in the fstab. Depending on your distribution, the initialization
- scripts might try to run fsck on partitions listed in your fstab. Be
- aware that this could cause problems if you forget to put the disk in
- the drive when you boot, or have the wrong disk there.
-
-
- 7.7. What happens if there is no disk inserted when I boot ?
-
- The kernel will try to read the partition table, but the operation
- will time out. There is nothing to worry about. Once you have
- inserted a disk, and try to do something with it the kernel will
- notice that there is a disk there now and rescan the partition table.
-
- HINT: when you change disks, it is a good idea always to use fdisk to
- check the partition structure on the new disk.
-
- The BIOS on some SCSI host adapters will attempt to read the partition
- table on your disk during the system boot. If you cannot disable this
- check, you may be forced always to boot with a disk in the drive.
-
-
- 7.8. Can I use the parallel drive as a real SCSI disk ?
-
- The PPA-3 parallel-to-SCSI adapter is implemented as a single ASIC
- chip that Iomega calls a VPI0. It is embedded on the ZIP drive's
- controller card. There is an actual SCSI bus present, but not in a
- useful form.
-
-
- Although I haven't tried to compare the two cards, it seems logical
- that the VPI0 replaces the conventional electrical buffering circuits
- that would be required if the SCSI bus were extended outside the
- package.
-
-
-
- 7.9. Can PPA be used with Iomega's parallel port tape drives ?
-
- No. Those drives are floppy-tape drives. There is no SCSI involved.
-
- Several people have indicated an interest in applying my methods to
- try to determine the protocol and develop a driver for these tapes.
- The first step in that process is to get the DOS driver working under
- DOSemu. I have not yet heard that anyone has been successful in doing
- it.
-
-
- 7.10. Will PPA work with the parallel port SyQuest EZ135 ?
-
- No. The EZ135 is an IDE drive with a ShuttlePort parallel to IDE
- converter embedded in it.
-
- However there has been some work done on this driver. Check out
-
- <http://www.torque.net/linux-pp.html>
-
-
-
- 8. Getting more current information
-
- More current versions of the parallel port zip drive (ppa.c) program
- and current technical information of the driver can be found at
-
- <http://www.torque.net/~campbell/>
-
- Information of many parallel port external device drivers can be found
- at
-
- <http://www.torque.net/linux-pp.html>
-
- Parallel Port sharing or through-port information is found at
-
- <http://www.cyberelk.demon.co.uk/parport.html>
-
- Installing Linux from a zip drive (for machines without a CD)
-
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/mini/Install-From-ZIP.html>
-
- An X frontend to the ziptool program can be found at
-
- <http://www.scripps.edu/~jsmith/jazip/>
-
- Information on configuration of Lilo can be found at
-
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/mini/LILO.html>
-
- Information on using bootprompts can be found at
-
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html>
-
- If you want to install the Linux OS onto a Zip Drive and run the OS
- from the Zip drive
-
- <http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/ZIP-Install.html>
-
- Iomega's web pages are at
-
- <http://www.iomega.com/>.
-
- And if you are looking for general information about parallel port
- programming for the PC, you might want to visit
-
- <http://www.lvr.com/parport.htm>
-
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