[NTLUG:Discuss] Linux floppy problems

[Leroy Tennison]

Bought a new "Machspeed" motherboard (K8M8MS/K8M8M for AMD by which uses 
a VIA chipset) and the floppy drive isn't working totally.  I have 
swapped floppies/cables/drives with the same result.  Trying to mount a 
floppy gives a "... specify file system type".  Trying to mke2fs 
/dev/fd0 appears to work but trashes the diskette (no lnoger readable 
without errors).  This behavior is exhibited both on SuSE 8.2 and Fedora 
Core 3. However, I can boot to a floppy created on another PC.  The bad 
news is that the problem isn't manifested using Windows 98...

Any ideas or suggestions?

BTW, I do not recommend recommend a VIA chipset for Linux.  There is no 
Linux video driver for the chipset so the generic driver must be used. 
 Toggling (Ctrl-Alt-F1..) takes 10 of seconds and X startup is 
incredibly slow.  I finally installed a SIS video card which works much 
better even though it's low end.  I have two other motherboards (ASUS) 
using SIS chipsets and haven't had problems.

Merry Christmas (or Happy Hanukkah if that applies).  And yes, you can 
take political correctness and cram it.