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How to Access Your MS-DOS Floppy in Linux

Follow these simple steps:

1. In Windows enter the following into a text file:

This is a sample text file created in Windows.

Save the text file as 'windows.txt' and remove the floppy disk from your drive.

2. Reset you computer and enter Linux.

3. You must log-on as root (the 'Super-User') in order to perform step 4.

4. Now you must 'mount' your floppy. Linux sees drives differently to the way Windows views drives. Windows sees a drive as a device to be accessed, whilst Linux sees drives as directories which first must be 'mounted'.

To mount your MS-DOS floppy, insert the disk you used in step 1 and enter:

mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

5. Now go to the directory that represents the floppy disk you've just mounted:

cd /mnt/floppy

6. Now let's add some text to your 'windows.txt' file. Enter:

vim window.txt

7. Press the <Insert> key to enter 'Insert' mode.

8. Move to the end of the line of text and press the <Return> key twice.

9. Now enter:

This line of text was created was using VIM in Linux!

10. Press the <Esc> key to switch off 'Insert' mode.

11. Now enter:

:w

...and press the <Return> key to overwrite 'windows.txt'.

If you wanted, you could have entered something like:

:w myfile.txt

...to save the file with this new filename.

12. Now enter:

:q

...to exit VIM.

13. Remove the floppy from the disk drive and hold down the <AltGr>, <Ctrl> and <Delete> keys together (Called the 'The Vulcan Death-Grip' when done with one hand) - to reset your computer - and then enter Windows.

14. Open 'windows.txt' and be amazed!

Laurence Hunter
thebits@thebits.co.uk