Floppy drive is extremely slow

JZL240I-U · 04-18-2008, 02:30 AM

I noticed this from 8.2 through 10.3: all access by any SuSE to the floppy drive is excruciatingly slow -- about ten times or worse slower than under DOS / Windows. Copying a 100 kB file will need about 2 minutes.

Something is wrong. But what? I have to mount the drive by hand prior to accessing it. It has an entry in /etc/fstab.

But then it is a removable medium. Could there be problems with udev / hal? Anybody with the same problem and a solution? What more information is needed to solve this?

MS3FGX · 04-18-2008, 08:21 AM

Perhaps looking at the system logs while writing a file to the drive would reveal something?

It has been a long time since I used a floppy drive under Linux (or any OS, for that matter), but I can't think how something like udev would slow down access to it. Perhaps there is some kernel issue though, have you tried it under a live CD or similar environment?

Maligree · 04-18-2008, 08:41 AM

Have you tried experimenting with sync/async options in fstab? I haven't used a floppy for a long time now but I do vaguely remember there were some floppy issues related to that. A few years ago.. But I guess you could try.

lambchops468 · 04-18-2008, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maligree

Have you tried experimenting with sync/async options in fstab? I haven't used a floppy for a long time now but I do vaguely remember there were some floppy issues related to that. A few years ago.. But I guess you could try.

I think you are correct
I'll dig into my previous configuration logs and check.

==edit==
taking a look at my SUSE 10 stuff, you need to add async to floppy in fstab

JZL240I-U · 04-21-2008, 12:57 AM

That (async) has done the trick. The drive is not lighteningly fast, but it is usable again. Thanks and kudos to all who have answered.