Linux @programming.dev the16bitgamer @programming.dev 2mo ago

I got an (almost) internal Floppy Drive working on my Mint Desktop

So why did I even want to do this? Because the front panel of my PC has a 3 1/2" drive hole and I wanted to populate it.

Fine, real reason is because I have a few legacy machine lying around and having a floppy drive accessible is nice to have.

How does it work? Well I have a Floppy to USB adapter inside my rig, and since my motherboard has an unused set of USB 2 headers, I just plugged it into that.

Otherwise, it was just plug and play... almost.

Why the drive works as Plug and Play, linux mint pokes the USB to see if it's still there, so I have a small script at boot that disables it for that internal header.

I am just socked that it works, and while it sucks that I need to be root to read the disks, I am just happy that the whole setup works at all.

14 comments

if TheSecretofLife.txt doesn't contain 42 I'm gonna be upset
- The drive has been making noises since yesterday and it's still not loading. I'd say I'd get back to you, but I don't think it'll load.
  
  hello, I'm upset
  
  that comupter is doing its best though so I don't blame it
don't leave us hanging, what's in those .txts?
- The world may never know :D
  
  And totally not password123!
how does Linux handle "real" floppy drives (via the ISA bus)?
- Most real floppy drives are on their own port. They show up as /dev/fd0
- As I said above
  
  I have a Floppy to USB adapter inside my rig, and since my motherboard has an unused set of USB 2 headers, I just plugged it into that.
  
  So 1 adapter and 1 usb header, and it reads it as a USB Floppy, which I believe Linux has drivers for.
  
  The device is shown as /dev/sdd (sda is 1TB SSD, sdb is hdd#1, and sdc is hdd#2)
Tbh not the worst thing to use as a secondary backup cold wallet, so long as you’re careful where you store it.
I almost have an internal floppy drive also. It's an internal Dell laptop drive that has a mini USB port for external use.
- I have a dell laptop with that port too. Upgraded my CD drive to a CD/DVD combo drive

14 comments