There have been changes in the Linux kernel recently for floppy support but it's likely that other than 3.5-inch aren't tested, it may be worth testing old distros to see if that is the case.

Do not change the floppy device selection jumper - it's supposed to be set to 1 (if the count starts at zero, on some drives it starts at 1). Connect the drive at the end of the cable, after the twist, to get it to be A: drive.

Are you sure that your 5" drive is properly supported on a modern motherboard ?

Is there more info returned by "dmesg" ?

Just out of curiosity, why not using Linux on the K6-2 ? (I have a Debian 2.2 "Potato" currently on my 486 Laptop. It runs well)

For what it's worth, I've used 5.25" (specifically high density Chinon and Epson) floppy drives under a modern Linux kernel without any issue, I just had to make sure to enable all of the relevant kernel configuration options when compiling the kernel. However, that was on an older socket 7 motherboard if that makes any difference.

I would also suggest searching dmesg for "floppy" or "fd" and see if anything matches. If you don't see anything, you may need to compile your own kernel with floppy support. It's possible that if your kernel does in fact have floppy support, it may not load the appropriate kernel module automatically. To do that manually, you can just do `modprobe floppy` and then try mounting again.

Deunan wrote on 2023-05-21, 16:20:

Do not change the floppy device selection jumper - it's supposed to be set to 1 (if the count starts at zero, on some drives it starts at 1). Connect the drive at the end of the cable, after the twist, to get it to be A: drive.

So, 5" goes to A position at the end of the cable. Drive select stays "1". Tried that. This was MOST I got out of this setup. It still did not moved head but it read at least track 0 and "main" directory entry out.

acl wrote on 2023-05-21, 16:23:

Are you sure that your 5" drive is properly supported on a modern motherboard ?

Is there more info returned by "dmesg" ?

Just out of curiosity, why not using Linux on the K6-2 ? (I have a Debian 2.2 "Potato" currently on my 486 Laptop. It runs well)

I tested some distros that SUPPOSEDLY support older hardware. AntiX and SaliX and some others. Well, most of them expect "real" 686 minimum. Not 5x86. Salix is able to boot with hugepage (5x86) kernel but crashes with memory error -- initrd too big to fit in memory. I have only (ONLY, I wish I could say that at 1998) 128M of ram. They expect 256 (suggested 512).
There is still an option. Pre-install on some other system w. appropriate kernel and make huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge swap. I have not tried it yet. If I run out of options w. this C2D board. will give it a try!

mscdex wrote on 2023-05-21, 16:41:

For what it's worth, I've used 5.25" (specifically high density Chinon and Epson) floppy drives under a modern Linux kernel without any issue, I just had to make sure to enable all of the relevant kernel configuration options when compiling the kernel. However, that was on an older socket 7 motherboard if that makes any difference.

I would also suggest searching dmesg for "floppy" or "fd" and see if anything matches. If you don't see anything, you may need to compile your own kernel with floppy support. It's possible that if your kernel does in fact have floppy support, it may not load the appropriate kernel module automatically. To do that manually, you can just do `modprobe floppy` and then try mounting again.

Tried all that. Yes, floppy support is there. If I enable floppy on CMOS it gets detected. Complains about track0 errors on boot. If I do not enable floppy on CMOS i can load floppy module manually. It MOUNTS floppy but does NOT move a rw head. It stays at track0 and is able to read main directory entry from there. 3.5 inch floppy works fine on same controller. CMOS setup / BIOS accepts only one floppy.
Setup B: as 3" and A: as 5" and manually load module woth correct aparameters floppy=0,2 floppy=1,4 ends up both fd0 and fd1 appearing. 3" floppy is mountable and readable. 5" does not even start drive motor on this combination.

Offf512 wrote on 2023-05-21, 17:20:

So, 5" goes to A position at the end of the cable. Drive select stays "1". Tried that. This was MOST I got out of this setup. It still did not moved head but it read at least track 0 and "main" directory entry out.

Oh so it does read track 0? In that case drive is selected properly. Could be an issue with the cable, or stuck sled (dirty rails). If your drive has a belt-driven head positioning then it should be possible to move the sled with a finger (when power is off). With a worm screw you should be able to turn the screw with your finger, and move heads that way. Make sure the track 0 sensor is not dirty as well. Then I would suspect the cable, and finally some stupid bug or missing code in new kernels that breaks floppy drives.

BTW I don't usually mount floppy drives in Linux, usually I just to copy a file to another machine that is not networked, for that the mtools package is enough. Did you try that?

Since you know the drives works fine on the K6-2-based machine, I would suggest moving the drive back to that machine, verify that it's still working (presumably you tested under DOS there?), and then booting to Linux on that machine (without changing floppy cables or anything) instead and verify that it's working there as well. That way you can narrow down whether it's a software (configuration or otherwise) problem or a problem with the newer (C2D-based) hardware.

If you're comfortable configuring a Linux kernel I would suggest using something like buildroot instead of trying to find a suitable existing distro. This not only lets you build a Linux system (kernel and userland) exactly how you want it, but it also means you can create something that is tailored for/compatible with older hardware (especially the K6-2 for example). Especially for testing, you could build something that just boots to busybox with just enough tools installed, which wouldn't require very much memory at all.

mscdex wrote on 2023-05-21, 17:51:

If you're comfortable configuring a Linux kernel I would suggest using something like buildroot instead of trying to find a suitable existing distro. This not only lets you build a Linux system (kernel and userland) exactly how you want it, but it also means you can create something that is tailored for/compatible with older hardware (especially the K6-2 for example). Especially for testing, you could build something that just boots to busybox with just enough tools installed, which wouldn't require very much memory at all.

Buildroot is a very powerful build system (especially for a cross-compiling toolchain for embedded systems)
... not the most user friendly way of running a Linux system 😀 (100+ skill points on gcc, makefile and uboot are required to get your system running)

Definitely worth a try if you want a modern Linux on old hardware.

You K6-2 is a much more powerful system than my 486DX4. Antix requires a lot of ram because it provides a graphical environment and a desktop. But a simple "Kernel + BusyBox + a few apps" system (console only) will run perfectly and and provided all tools you mentioned in your first post (dd, SFTP, etc...)

The Debian 2.2 Potato I'm using on my 486 runs with 6Mb or RAM and supports my PCMCIA ethernet card for remote access.

https://www.debian.org/releases/potato/i386/c … are-req.en.html
https://cdimage.debian.org/mirror/cdimage/arc … er-contrib/2.2/

Do as Deunan says and make sure to use the jumper for 1st DS (follow what he says) for both drives as needed by PC compatibles with a twist cable.

If it works on another machine but not this more modern one, please tell us the motherboard you have. Some boards have faults you know, and it wouldn't hurt to know if other people look for a reason theirs does not work can find it here.

acl wrote on 2023-05-21, 18:55:

(100+ skill points on gcc, makefile and uboot are required to get your system running)

I have to disagree. Creating a bootable Linux system is very easy with buildroot. The entire configuration process is menu based -- buildroot's, the kernel's, and busybox's. After that, buildroot automatically downloads, compiles, and creates the disk image, tarball, or whatever output you want, all for you, without needing to install *any* build tools beforehand.

The only real downside is that buildroot *is* designed for embedded systems, so while I believe there is still a package manager package available, it's not really supported so you can't install software after the fact. However even for retro systems, I've personally found that's not much of an issue. If you design it right, you could keep all of your data/settings on a separate partition so you can easily replace/update the base OS without losing anything.

mscdex wrote on 2023-05-21, 23:11:

acl wrote on 2023-05-21, 18:55:

(100+ skill points on gcc, makefile and uboot are required to get your system running)

I have to disagree. Creating a bootable Linux system is very easy with buildroot. The entire configuration process is menu based -- buildroot's, the kernel's, and busybox's. After that, buildroot automatically downloads, compiles, and creates the disk image, tarball, or whatever output you want, all for you, without needing to install *any* build tools beforehand.

The only real downside is that buildroot *is* designed for embedded systems, so while I believe there is still a package manager package available, it's not really supported so you can't install software after the fact. However even for retro systems, I've personally found that's not much of an issue. If you design it right, you could keep all of your data/settings on a separate partition so you can easily replace/update the base OS without losing anything.

I must admit that I only experienced Buildroot for embedded systems and my experience was different. Probably because it was mainly with barely supported SBC and with custom applications without clean packaging. It was also more than 10y ago and i'm sure it has improved a lot.
I will definitely revisit the tool with retrocomuting in mind. 👍

the3dfxdude wrote on 2023-05-21, 21:09:

Do as Deunan says and make sure to use the jumper for 1st DS (follow what he says) for both drives as needed by PC compatibles with a twist cable.

If it works on another machine but not this more modern one, please tell us the motherboard you have. Some boards have faults you know, and it wouldn't hurt to know if other people look for a reason theirs does not work can find it here.

ASUS P5PL1 (rev 1)
BIOS 1806 - latest "official"
Nor in any way good experience. But the only LGA775 I currently have.
Glitches - can not flash BIOS under linux, flashbios complains about programmer errors (works under DOS tho)
Core4D supported by dox - in reality wont even POST
Chipset goes extremely hot
Only ONE floppy supported by BIOS (and 5" floppy support is ... welll... *questionable state*)
So, if one has coice - avoid!