[sclug] Re:Ubuntu and Zip drives

[Neil Haughton]

Will Dickson wrote:
> Neil Haughton wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Let me come right out and say it - I like Ubuntu, and I like the 
>> latest Ubuntu 6.06 a lot, and mainly because of the apparent 
>> strengths of apt-get etc I'd like to use it to replace my Mandrake 
>> setup at home. But I ain't going to do so until I can get it to 
>> detect and enable my parallel port 100Mb Iomega Zip drive.
>>
>> The Ubuntu forums seem strangely quiet on this topic. Mandrake 9, 
>> 10.0 and 10.1 have had no trouble seeing and auto-mounting it, and 
>> IIRC so did Mepis (which is based on Ubuntu) when I recently tried it 
>> so I would expect Ubuntu to do the same; but it stubbornly remains 
>> Zip-free.
>>
>> Does anyone out there know what the issue might be, or how to 
>> overcome the problem?
>
> Ick. Consider migrating to USB flash drives :-) FWIW, and for whatever 
> reason, kernel 2.6, and the udev monster in particular, never really 
> got on with my IDE zip drive. In the end a combination of that, 
> performance, and capacity limitations persuaded me to move over: the 
> fact that this represented moving from an essentially proprietary 
> technology to an open standard was a bonus. If your box supports USB2, 
> and you're not into hacking on this sort of stuff for its own sake - 
> well, they're fast[1], they have big capacities[1], and they're cheap.
>
> If that cop-out doesn't appeal, then - based on some very hazy 
> memories; YMMV - I suspect the required sequence is:
>
> 1. Get the right combination of kernel modules loaded, in the right 
> order. (Eg. is the printer module "lp" grabbing the parallel port 
> before the "ppa" zip control module?) It might be instructive to 
> compare the result of lsmod on the mandrake setup with that on the 
> Ubuntu one if that's practical. Boot in text mode to do this, if you 
> can: that way all the X-related modules won't have loaded, so it'll be 
> easier to see what's going on.
>
> 2. Persuade udev to cooperate. (I hate udev cordially, and the feeling 
> seems to be mutual, but apparently it's the future so I guess I'm 
> stuck with it.)
>
> 3. Your automounter of choice shouldn't put up too much of a fight 
> after that.
>
> The Oracle of Goog-el may be of use: "Parallel port ZIP disk linux" is 
> one incantation.
>
> [1] Compared to ZIPs
>
> HTH
>
> Will
>

Thanks Will.,

That sounds like good advice, but my addiction to Zip drives has two causes:

1. I have a Zip drive that works perfectly, that I paid for once.
2. I have a box of zip disks that suit my purpose for backing up files 
in rotation.

If I were to move to USB flash  devices I would need  a big one, or 
several smaller ones, to replace the functionality that I currently have 
with Mandriva and my Zip drive, and that means spending money that could 
otherwise go towards

(a) things in the new house we're buying (which makes it a political 
issue :-) ).
(b) a decent flat-screen instead of this huge old CRT I'm still using 
(which would also make the other half really pleased)

But my biggest beef about having to move to something like USB flash is 
that Linux is always held up to be very good with 'legacy' hardware, 
unlike a certain OS I could mention, and consequently this issue sticks 
in the craw a bit.

I'll give your suggested approach a try first.

Regards,

Neil.