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Question 4.4. How do I format and create a filesystem on a floppy ? 

For a 3.5 inch high density floppy: 

   fdformat /dev/fd0H1440
   mkfs -t ext2 -m 0 /dev/fd0H1440 1440
		or
  mkfs -t ext2 /dev/fd0

NOTE: ***mkfs  uses the command /sbin/mke2fs  so for info man mke2fs ******


For a 5.25 inch floppy use fd0h1200 and 1200 as appropriate. For the `B' drive use fd1 instead of fd0. Full details of which
floppy devices do what can be found in the Linux Device List [Q2.1 `Where can I get the HOWTOs and other documentation
?']. You may have to run mke2fs directly instead of mkfs -t ext2. The -m 0 option tells mkfs.ext2 not to reserve any space on
the disk for the superuser --- usually the last 10% is reserved for root. 

The first command low-level formats the floppy; the second creates an empty filesystem on it. After doing this you can mount
the floppy like a hard disk partition and simply cp and mv files, etc. 

After creating the filesystem you could mount the floppy to a directory
	# mount -o rw ext2 /dev/fd0 /floppy


<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

	On Abby I had to do something different because  of 
the age of floppy disk drive.

abby# fdformat /dev/fd0h720  <---- This was as large as I could go
					about 720k

abby# mkdosfs -v /dev/fd0   <---- This was a special cammand to build
				a dos filesystem under linux.
				There are several other useful options.

		..and after all that. It didn't work either &@#$?!

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

	Some redundant and some new notes on mounting the floppy drive


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			or
You can mount a dos filesystem and read and write to the floppy
example;
mount a floppy disc read/write that already has a dos filesystem on it.

 mount -o rw -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy

The following are filesystems supported in the version of Linux
 -t vfstype
              The argument following the -t is used  to  indicate
              the  file system type.  The file system types which
              are   currently    supported    are    listed    in
              linux/fs/filesystems.c:  minix,  ext,  ext2, xiafs,
              hpfs, msdos,  umsdos,  vfat,  proc,  nfs,  iso9660,
              smbfs, ncpfs, affs, ufs, romfs, sysv, xenix, coher-
              ent.  Note that the last three are  equivalent  and
              that  xenix  and  coherent  will be removed at some
              point in the future -- use sysv instead. Since ker-
              nel  version  2.1.21 the types ext and xiafs do not
              exist anymore.

              The type iso9660 is the default.  If no  -t  option
              is  given,  or  if  the auto type is specified, the
              superblock  is  probed  for  the  filesystem   type
              (minix,  ext,  ext2, xiafs, iso9660, romfs are sup-
              ported).  If this probe fails and /proc/filesystems
              exists,  then  all  of the filesystems listed there
              will be tried, except for those  that  are  labeled
              "nodev" (e.g., proc and nfs).

              Note  that  the  auto  type may be useful for user-
              mounted floppies.   Warning:  the  probing  uses  a
              heuristic  (the  presence  of appropriate `magic'),
              and could recognize the wrong filesystem type.

              More than one type may be specified in a comma sep-
              arated  list.  The list of file system types can be
              prefixed with no to specify the file  system  types
              on  which  no action should be taken.  (This can be
              meaningful with the -a option.)

              For example, the command:
                     mount -a -t nomsdos,ext
              mounts all file systems except those of type  msdos
              and ext.