[unix-pc.general] Checking the 3B1 floppy drive

jrmacmillan@lily.waterloo.edu (John R. MacMillan) (07/12/88)

Is there a way to check if there is a floppy in (and door closed) on
the 3B1 without causing the error icon?  I tried a few things (like
trying to open(2) the drive), which seemed to work sometimes, but caused
the !! icon others.

Any ideas?
--
John R. MacMillan
jrmacmillan@lily.waterloo.edu		If the universe fits, wear it.
..!watmath!lily!jrmacmillan

rhealey@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU (Rob Healey) (07/16/88)

In article <5153@watcgl.waterloo.edu> jrmacmillan@lily.waterloo.edu (John R. MacMillan) writes:
>Is there a way to check if there is a floppy in (and door closed) on
>the 3B1 without causing the error icon?

	I'm not 100% sure but I believe you can use an ioctl to get the
	status of the floppy. The important info is either in the man
	page for the disk drivers or buried DEEP within /usr/include/sys.
	You'd be surprised what dirty details lurk in /usr/include/sys, I'd
	strongly suggest everyone with a curious streak to spend a few hours
	mulling the sys .h files over. Seems there's alot of unused talent
	in our 3b1's/7300's hardware B^(. Wish there was some way a third
	party could get the sources from Convergent and AT&T and give us
	REAL support. With a 68881 and a properly written OS a 3b1 would be
	one hell of a system. Oh well...

			-Rob


-- 

			-Rob