From: retro@ldgo.columbia.edu (john webber)
Subject: Re: Writing Linux disks on Sun
Summary: An allocation program for to mount Sun Sparc floppy drives (and other devices) is availible
Keywords: Sun disk drive
Organization: Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 14:58:54 GMT


=> Boris Burtin (cosmo@cs.ucsb.edu) writes:
 
=>  I was just curious if someone had a solution to this problem.  It seems that
=>  you can only write DOS disks on a Sun Sparc if you are root and can mount a
=>  DOS floppy.  Does someone have an alternate solution?  Linux can't read a
=>  disk tarred on a Sun, can it?
 
 
On our Sun Sparc (IPC), I've succeeded in writing/reading both raw disk images 
and DOS style compressed tar files (the SLS distribution disks).  It's somewhat 
tedious, since the version of 'all' we use (a home brew allocation program) 
permits mounting only DOS format disks. 
 
To DOS format a disk on Sun Sparc:
        all nm-floppy   /* allocates non-mounted floppy, allows you to format */
        fdformat -d     /* formats the disk as a DOS disk */ 
        deall floppy    /* deallocates nm-floppy  */ 
 
To copy files to DOS formatted floppy: 
        all -w floppy   /* mounts read/write DOS floppy  */ 
        cp files /pcfs  /* copy compresses|tar|regular_unix files to drive mounted
                           on /pcfs  (the file name must conform to DOS name.ext
                           8 character conventions)  */
        deall floppy    /* deallocate floppy  */ 
 
To copy raw disk images to DOS formatted floppy: 
        all -w floppy  			 /* mounts read/write DOS floppy  */ 
        dd if=raw_image of=/dev/fd0    	 /* raw copy disk image to floppy  */ 
        deall floppy    	 	 /* deallocate floppy  */ 
 
I have spoken to the powers that be at my site, and they have approved making
this program availible.  I can upload it to one of the Linux ftp sites,
though I don't know where it should go (the compressed tarfile I created 
contains site/SunOS/Sparc specific code/Makefiles so it isn't
really Linux material).  If anybody is interested in this package, e-mail to the
address below (include a suggestion as to where in the Linux world it belongs), and
I'll upload/uuencode-mail/uuencode-post the compressed tarfile, as needed.

The author wants these notes passed on with the submission of the code:
	o  all has an option for allocating the IRIS printer, which then
	   uses syslog() to log a message to a central server so that use
	   of the IRIS printer can be recorded; every thing is in place for
	   extending this to any of the other device allocations

	o  the exabyte drives attached to miles and trane use a third party
	   device driver and thus their devices are /dev/[r]smt#; other sites
	   might wonder what this device is

	o  all, when dealing with cdrom's first attempts to mount the
	   filesystem as a HSFS and then if that fails, attempts to mount 
	   the filesystem as a normal cdrom filesystem

	o  by default, floppies are mounted read-only; you need to supply the
	   -w option to have them mounted for writing

	most of this in the manual page accompaning all, but manual pages are the great
	unused resource.

NOTICE: this program needs to have uid set to root, your systems person MUST approve
and install this program him/her-self.

John R. Webber
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory
Palisades, NY, 10964

e-mail to retro@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu


-- 

John R. Webber (retro@lamont.ldgo.columbia.edu)
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University
Palisades, N Y  10964