[gentoo-user] wtf is superfloppy? (vosonic usb drive)

[Iain Buchanan <iaindb@netspace.net.au>]

Hi all,

I have just purchased the Vosonic X's-Drive 6230 (hate that
punctuation ;) under the promise of linux support... 

Well, it "doesn't" work for me - there is one or two unhelpful lines of
text on their website that mention linux.

All I've found so far, is something mentioning the "superfloppy" format
(what's that?).  Supposedly I can `mount /dev/sda /mnt/tmp` (note the
sda, not sdax) but this doesn't work: 

$ sudo mount /dev/sda /mnt/tmp/
mount: No medium found

There is no /dev/sda1, sda2, etc, as per my other usb storage drives
(only my internal hard drive shows):

$ cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   3     0   58605120 hda
   3     1      40131 hda1
   3     2   10498477 hda2
   3     3     104422 hda3
   3     4          1 hda4
   3     5    1060258 hda5
   3     6   10594836 hda6
   3     7   17157388 hda7
   3     8    5783368 hda8
   3     9   13366048 hda9


dmesg reports

usb 1-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 7
scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 7
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
  Vendor:           Model: VP6230            Rev: 1.07
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 00
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi removable disk sda
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete

fdisk doesn't work either:
$ sudo fdisk /dev/sda
Password:

Unable to open /dev/sda

I heard some whispers of other vosonic owners - how did you get your
drive working?  I have a plain IBM 20Gb in it at the moment, formatted
with the X's Drive itself.

The drive shows under windows, after the 3 card reader slots.

MTIA!
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae fuit.
	[There is no great genius without some touch of madness.]
		-- Seneca

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