Got it !!!

Had to pass the kernel a special parameter for the ThinkPad floppy at the lilo boot prompt:

linux floppy=thinkpad

Now, I'm going to see if adding this line to lilo.conf will work too.

[edit: Nope it didn't work.]

Hope this helps somebody...everyone's help is appreciated.

jfshadow, did you put that in an append line? Like this:

append="floppy=thinkpad"

You can also add that to an existing append. Like this:

append="hdc=ide-scsi floppy=thinkpad"

(1) try mdir a:
or mformat a:

should work from basic RH 7.2 install

(2) kde->system->disk management-> select mount floppy
(3) kde->system->file manager->enter /mnt/floppy in the file slot

linuxcool, yes, I did try the append line but it didn't work. Does it matter where in linux.conf it appears?

I have always seen the append line associated with a particular linux image. Example:

image=/boot/vmlinuz
label=linux
root=/dev/hda6
append="floppy=thinkpad"
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.2.14
label=linux_old
root=/dev/hda6
append="quiet hdc=ide-scsi floppy=thinkpad"
read-only

Running the linux image will use the "floppy=thinkpad" parameter. The linux_old image will use the "quiet hdc=ide-scsi floppy=thinkpad" parameters.

Don't forget to run /sbin/lilo after making any changes to the lilo.conf file.

There is also a kernel option that will make your floppy into a /dev/hdxx drive

Hello Again:

I did fail to run /sbin/lilo after adding the append line to /etc/lilo.conf of my ThinkPad 360. It works great now, thanks!

Now I have another problem. I installed the same distribution of Linux on my wife's ThinkPad 755 CX and the problem mounting the floppy also occurred. However, this cannot be resolved with the aforementioned solution "linux floppy=thinkpad" or the append line in lilo.conf.

The only differences between her machine and mine are:

It is newer
It has a windows partition also
In lilo.conf there is an extra section to boot "other", or windows

The layout of lilo.conf is exactly the same otherwise.

I was able, though, to successfully create an entry in fstab for the windows partition allowing us to access windows files. At least we can copy from floppy to windows and then read them from windows until I figure out what's up with her stubborn machine.

Is this fun or what?!!

You're welcome.

The thing to remember about mounting floppies is that the filesystem type in the mount command must match the file system on the floppy. If the floppy was created using Windows, use -t msdos in the mount command. If you have created another filesystem type using mkfs, use that in the mount command. If it is a windows diskette, you can also us the mtools package which contains a few dos like commands to read and write dos floppies. mtools has mdir, mcopy, mformat commands that use the same syntax as dos; mdir a:, mcopy a:*.* ., etc..

Actually, I was using the same diskette for both machines. It mounts on mine with the fstab type set to auto, but it won't on my wifes. I did try to manually mount it on my wife's with the following commands:

mount -t vfat /dev/fd0 /floppy
mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy
mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /floppy
mount -t auto /dev/fd0 /floppy

None of them worked. I also tried to pass the kernel the following parameter at the lilo boot prompt:

linux floppy=thinkpad

which worked on mine but not on hers. And as I mentioned the only difference between her machine and mine is that it has windows and a section in lilo to reflect the windows partition boot (other than the model of thinkpad: 755cx vs. 360cse).

Fishy huh?