[SOLVED] PCMCIA card using CF not recognized on system and boot,

Toshiba3000 · 2022-09-15 23:39

Hello, congratulations for this successful Q4OS system. A problem has been detected using my old Toshiba 3000 while tried to format my CF,

I've trying to format my 32 gb Sandisk CF using a PCMCIA card adapter, using Q4OS gparted as disk partitioner, but it was not be able to be successful on anything.

So I tried again, this time using a usb card reader. This time gparted recognized the cf card and I tried to format using exfat, Below I show the obtained output:

Unable to detect file system! Possible reasons are:
- The file system is damaged
- The file system is unknown to GParted
- There is no file system available (unformatted)
- The device entry /dev/sdb1 is missing.

I am very lost on what is the solution to format and use cf for file storage, Over windows Xp, my cf used to work perfectly even using PCMCIA card adapters, but I'm not able over Q4OS this time.

Also, during installation, cf is recognized, but it is not a bootable hard disk to try to install Q4OS on it and boot.

My Computer is an old Toshiba Satellite 3000 1 Gb Ram Coppermine Processor PIII almost 1000 Mhz processor speed.

Any help is welcome. Thanks for reading.

Last edited by Toshiba3000 (2023-02-15 17:38)

bin · 2022-09-16 07:47

Hi

You are asking about 2 different scenarios here with different end results. Taking this backwards, why on earth would you want to install an OS on a CF card (other than idle curiosity)?

That aside, if you want to use a CF card for storage with linux then use ext4. I use CF cards all the time in my cameras but of course they are formatted in camera. I have a couple I use as scratch storage and they are quite happy as ext4. PCMCIA support was always a bit fraught in linux - used to need it for PCMCIA network cards - IBM were always good. Haven't used it for years so not sure if it is still in the kernel.

Dai_trying · 2022-09-16 10:14

Also in GParted there as additional support available by installing other tools, to check exactly what is supported you can click View -> File System Support which will give you a table showing what is currently supported and what tools/software can be installed to improve it.

But bear in mind not every option is going to be available for all file types even with the additional software.

acrizona · 2022-09-17 20:57

I have three Toshiba big-screen laptops,,, handy office heaters. Each are sensitive to USB size and format.
A cheapo 4gb flash drive formatted on old XP machine is the ONLY boot-able media acceptable to all three Toshiba laptops.

Toshiba3000 · 2022-09-20 13:30

Thank you all for your feedback. All your comments are welcome. Recently, I have found how to make a package installation to enable PCMCIA slot. Briefly, download and install these packets below, previously giving permissions attributes to the folders usr/src to enable writing, reading and execution (777 attributes):

pcmcia-cs-3.2.8 (you can follow how to install once unzipped clicking on HOW-TO file)
linux-config 5.10 (you can find this packet from Synaptic Q4OS)

Then, the CF card is able to be formatted from PCMCIA slot and be recognized to read and copy files in ext4 format..The CF card used is 32 GB Sandisk, no issues about the size to format it.

But once formatted, I only can write files but not erase them one by one from my laptop, even if you change file permission attributes, giving total freedom on read, write and execute to every file you stored into your CF on a terminal typing:

chmod -R 777 /usr/src/"any file your card has"

Linux terminal seems to have done its work, but in Q4OS nothing happens, no file can be erased or modified.

I only can erase files formatting again the whole CF, which erase all files.

Also, music files and video can be opened using a media player like SMPlayer, but not played directly from the CF card. Then, I must copy a music file to my pc from CF and then, play it, but not move it or erase it. That's all my experience about that.

Let me know if you can not erase your files as the same way I have experienced, and ideas how to fix it if this is possible. Over Windows, CF works as any other hard disk, so I wonder why over Q4OS linux CF takes different configuration ways. Thanks for reading again.

Last edited by Toshiba3000 (2022-09-20 15:16)

bin · 2022-09-20 15:52

My guess is that the card is being mounted Read Only - it doesn't matter what permissions you set on the file if that is the case.
Without knowing what format you've used or where it is mounted cannot give you details but this should help. https://askubuntu.com/questions/175739/ … read-write

Not sure without a bit of fiddling but you should be able to make a permanent entry in fstab for the card which will make the job easier. That way it will 'remember' the settings for the card.

As regards playing direct there have been a couple of threads about this. If you are accessing the file through Konqueror and double clicking on it with SMPlayer as a default media player Konqueror presents a URL for the file that SMPlayer cannot see. Right click>open with may do the trick - or you could install Dolphin-Trinity file manager (not Dolphin or you'll get loads of Plasma goo all over your drive) and play from there. I recall it may be an xdg-open issue.

Toshiba3000 · 2022-09-21 01:40

Thank you, first at all I tried your link as this way:

root@q4os-desktop:/home/adminq# mount -a ext4 -o --rw,remount -force /dev/sdb1/media/adminq/97135f62-3cfb-4437-9a82-a698ca2177c8,

but no success, so I tried install Dolphin-Trinity, and all read-only restrictions have been cancelled....in some way.

Now I can read-write files stored on my CF only using Dolphin-Trinity, but I still not able to use {Move to trash} option from main menu CF which appears inserted on the desktop bar. This icon option must be a consequence part of the downloaded file pcmcia 3.8.2, which installation I did before, it allows me to use my PCMCIA slots from my laptop.

I think, but not sure if it is real, have discovered an incongruity between D-T and CF desktop menu: when I select {Open in New Window}, CF opens a window with files under media: /sdb1, but I can't erase nothing from its files because {Move to trash option} can't be selected when I select a file and a menu appears with options, instead it appears in transparent letters, as not selectable option.

However, opening Dolphin-Trinity program, it allows to these same files on sdb1 to be read and write from root/media/adminq/97135f62-3cfb-4437-9a82-a698ca2177c8 path, as I though I did before remounting my CF, and also can be erased from there selecting {Move to trash} from a menu which opens selecting the file, this time is selectable.

I think this is a weird thing between PCMCIA options for reading-write files and Dolphin-Trinity. From D-T program, files can be read-write and deleted, but over CF menu deleting files is impossible to execute. Something is not well balanced between both, anyway I've achieved what I was looking for, read-write my CF files.

Also, SMPlayer can open a file and can be executed without problems from Dolphin. However,opening from CF desktop menu takes you to

media: /sdb1.

From there, only can be accessed the opening of the media player, but no file content can be seen on screen or heard if were a music file selected..

Once I have explained my experience, I ask myself:

Why a file can be erased depending on path access you choose from an external sdb device?,

Maybe I miss some knowledge to understand this, or maybe is a programming error which I detected. At this point, answers and explanations about this are welcome.

Here are some ideas I though somebody should do about pcmcia program. I don't know how to fix these issues by myself, but if I had enough knowledge to modify something, I will do):

- I really don't understand how linux forbid erase files depending on path entry an user choose to access files. Some menu options should be modified or alert about only-read-files configuration without Dolphin.

- Maybe a program on Synaptics will be needed for installing three packages together (Dolphin, pcmcia 3.2.8 and linux source 5.10), all needed for perfect read-write files from PCMCIA slots.

Thanks for reading.

Last edited by Toshiba3000 (2022-09-21 02:56)

Toshiba3000 · 2022-10-24 04:56

Solved.

I've found 'pcmciautils' package found on Synaptics typing 'pcmcia' at search box. After many failed compilations. and more information about how to install a proper driver for this device, I concluded 'pcmciautils' package, which can be installed on Term console typing:

$ sudo apt-get install pcmciautils ,

must be installed from console Terrm or, even easier from Synaptics, to enable CF first before trying to compile pcmcia-cs-3.2.8 and linux-config 5.10. Probabily both files are not needed to enable CF reader anymoee.

These packages are not needed to make CF reader work under Debian 11, or linux kernel 5.0, as I thought it wiould be at the beginning of this post, because they must be used under older 2.6 linux kernel versions.

Because of this package contains a driver installation for CF reader devices, computer must be REBOOT after installation to enable CF icon at start .

However, and unexpectedly, I found 'pcmciautils' execution on Term console don't generate an automatic warn about the need of reboot the computer for changes take effect, as expected from any driver installation made under Windows or iOS..

Then, REBOOT after installation should be done manually, should allow CF reader device work at start, and a CF card icon should arise on the taskbar at Q4OS start.

Compile any file found on google about to pcmcia install on linux Debisn, probably it will not work before install and reboot manually 'pcmciautils' from Synaptics. Otherwise, probably many errors or false paths trying to compile from inaccurate files and old versions will be find.

I hope this helps. Thank you everybody for join this post.

Q4OS Forum

#1 2022-09-15 23:39

[SOLVED] PCMCIA card using CF not recognized on system and boot,

#2 2022-09-16 07:47

Re: [SOLVED] PCMCIA card using CF not recognized on system and boot,

#3 2022-09-16 10:14

Re: [SOLVED] PCMCIA card using CF not recognized on system and boot,

#4 2022-09-17 20:57

Re: [SOLVED] PCMCIA card using CF not recognized on system and boot,

#5 2022-09-20 13:30

Re: [SOLVED] PCMCIA card using CF not recognized on system and boot,

#6 2022-09-20 15:52

Re: [SOLVED] PCMCIA card using CF not recognized on system and boot,

#7 2022-09-21 01:40

Re: [SOLVED] PCMCIA card using CF not recognized on system and boot,

#8 2022-10-24 04:56

Re: [SOLVED] PCMCIA card using CF not recognized on system and boot,

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