148 lines
6.1 KiB
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148 lines
6.1 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN">
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<HTML>
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<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="SGML-Tools 1.0.9">
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<TITLE>Zip Drive Mini-HOWTO: Frequently asked questions</TITLE>
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<LINK HREF="ZIP-Drive-9.html" REL=next>
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<LINK HREF="ZIP-Drive-7.html" REL=previous>
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<LINK HREF="ZIP-Drive.html#toc8" REL=contents>
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<A HREF="ZIP-Drive-9.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="ZIP-Drive-7.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="ZIP-Drive.html#toc8">Contents</A>
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<HR>
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<H2><A NAME="s8">8. Frequently asked questions</A></H2>
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<P>These are some of the questions that we get asked a lot. Please read
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the answers here before asking them again !
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.1">8.1 Can I plug a printer into the parallel ZIP drive ?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>Yes, but. Currently, you cannot have both the lp and ppa drivers
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active on the same parallel port. A resource sharing protocol has
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been designed and is in the early stages of implementation, but will
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not be available before Linux 2.0 is released.
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<P>If you like living on the bleeding edge of things, get the 2.1.x
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kernel and you can have port sharing. See
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<A HREF="http://www.cyberelk.demon.co.uk/parport.html">http://www.cyberelk.demon.co.uk/parport.html</A>
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<P>The easy way to do this with 2.0.x kernel is to have 2 parallel ports.
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I bought my second one for about 15 dollars and it works great.
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You can use one for
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printing and one for your ZIP drive. Just build a kernel with both
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the lp and ppa drivers as modules. I use the newer (1.41) version of
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ppa, so I just load ppa first (insmod ppa). It then finds the zip drive
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on the first port. Then I load lp (insmod lp) and it assigns the printer
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to the second port.
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<P>If you use the 0.26 version of the program then upgrade to 1.41 or newer.
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The only answer you will get on qustions about this driver is to
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upgrade the program.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.2">8.2 Do you plan to support EPP/ECP ports in PPA ?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>
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<P>Version 0.26 of the program does not support EPP. Version 1.41 <B>does</B>
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support the EPP. This program is also much faster. See the performance
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section for more details.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.3">8.3 Can I run Linux from a ZIP drive ?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>People have done this. It would seem this might make a great rescue disk or a
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way to test an install.
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<P>
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<A HREF="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/ZIP-Install.html">http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/ZIP-Install.html</A><P>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.4">8.4 Can I boot from the ZIP drive ?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>This depends on what you are using for a host adapter. If your host
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adapter has a BIOS ROM with code that can boot from target 5 or 6,
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then yes, you can boot from the SCSI ZIP drive. You cannot boot from
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a parallel port drive.
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<P>If you have DOS on your main disk and want to boot Linux from a ZIP
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disk, you can do this using the LOADLIN boot loader. Your kernel
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image must be somewhere on the DOS disk, but the rest of your Linux
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system could be on the ZIP. Make sure that the kernel you use has the
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correct drivers built in.
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<P>As far as I am aware, there are no installation boot floppies for any
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of the popular distributions that contain the parallel ZIP driver.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.5">8.5 Why does Iomega use partition number 4 ?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>This is one of the most popular questions, but I don't think anyone
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has a definite answer to this one. Could be they had their head
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where the sun don't shine. Maybe there is no reason.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.6">8.6 How can I have the disk mounted at boot time ? </A>
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</H2>
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<P>All you need to do is to add a line to your <CODE>/etc/fstab</CODE> file. For
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instance, if you will always have a DOS disk in the drive when you
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boot, you could put
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<P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
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<PRE>
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/dev/sda4 /zip vfat defaults 0 0
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</PRE>
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</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P>in the <CODE>fstab</CODE>. Depending on your distribution, the initialization
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scripts might try to run fsck on partitions listed in your fstab. Be
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aware that this could cause problems if you forget to put the disk in
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the drive when you boot, or have the wrong disk there.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.7">8.7 What happens if there is no disk inserted when I boot ?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>The kernel will try to read the partition table, but the operation
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will time out. There is nothing to worry about. Once you have
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inserted a disk, and try to do something with it the kernel will
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notice that there is a disk there now and rescan the partition table.
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<P>HINT: when you change disks, it is a good idea always to use fdisk to
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check the partition structure on the new disk.
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<P>The BIOS on some SCSI host adapters will attempt to read the partition
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table on your disk during the system boot. If you cannot disable this
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check, you may be forced always to boot with a disk in the drive.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.8">8.8 Can I use the parallel drive as a real SCSI disk ?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>The PPA-3 parallel-to-SCSI adapter is implemented as a single ASIC
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chip that Iomega calls a VPI0. It is embedded on the ZIP drive's
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controller card. There is an actual SCSI bus present, but not in a
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useful form.
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<P>Although I haven't tried to compare the two cards, it seems logical
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that the VPI0 replaces the conventional electrical buffering circuits
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that would be required if the SCSI bus were extended outside the
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package.
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<P>
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.9">8.9 Can PPA be used with Iomega's parallel port tape drives ?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>No. Those drives are floppy-tape drives. There is no SCSI involved.
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<P>Several people have indicated an interest in applying my methods to
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try to determine the protocol and develop a driver for these tapes.
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The first step in that process is to get the DOS driver working under
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DOSemu. I have not yet heard that anyone has been successful in doing
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it.
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<P>
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<H2><A NAME="ss8.10">8.10 Will PPA work with the parallel port SyQuest EZ135 ?</A>
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</H2>
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<P>No. The EZ135 is an IDE drive with a ShuttlePort parallel to IDE
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converter embedded in it.
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<P>However there has been some work done on this driver. Check out
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<P>
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<A HREF="http://www.torque.net/linux-pp.html">http://www.torque.net/linux-pp.html</A><P>
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<P>
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<HR>
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<A HREF="ZIP-Drive-9.html">Next</A>
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<A HREF="ZIP-Drive-7.html">Previous</A>
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<A HREF="ZIP-Drive.html#toc8">Contents</A>
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