From: Werner Almesberger (almesber@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch)
Date: 12/16/92


From: almesber@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch (Werner Almesberger)
Subject: Re: SLS: "fdformat" gives "ioctl()" error.
Date: 16 Dec 1992 12:29:55 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.060318.25058@noose.ecn.purdue.edu> mhayashi@gus.ecn.purdue.edu (Mathew S Hayashi) writes:
> fdformat /dev/fd0
> I receive the following error:
> ioctl(FDGETPRM): No such device

The auto-detecting floppy devices (/dev/fd0 and /dev/fd1) don't know
the format after a media change and fdformat obviously has no way to
"probe" the format.

You either have to:
  - access the floppy after inserting it but before formatting. This
    only works if the floppy has already been formatted and you want
    to re-format it in the same format.
  - use setfdprm to define the desired format after inserting the
    floppy.
  - use the fixed-format devices (/dev/fd0H* etc.)

- Werner

-- 
   _________________________________________________________________________
  / Werner Almesberger, ETH Zuerich, CH      almesber@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch /
 / IFW A44  Tel. +41 1 254 7213                 almesberger@rzvax.ethz.ch /
/_BITNET:_ALMESBER@CZHETH5A__HEPNET/CHADNET:_[20579::]57414::ALMESBERGER_/