> Your post the other day about this got me to thinking, and the Emacs
> analogy above is similar to my though line and can be extended to
> floppies with (hopefully) little confusion to newbies.
>
> What is needed is a program which when called will dd the image of the
> floppy just inserted into a file, in some specified location, perhaps
> /var/floppy-`date +%s`, for example. with ownership assigned to
> whomever did the calling.
>
> Once the dd is complete, the floppy must be removed, this file is then
> mounted using loopback. Removal of the floppy will force the newbie
> to realize that the data being operated on is not physically on the
> floppy.
>
> Once the work is complete, there is a similar reverse process, which
> can check to ensure that either a blank floppy or the same floppy is
> used, that will call for the floppy to be inserted, and then will
> dd the file back to the floppy, and then call for it to be removed.
>
> The image file can then be either automatically umounted and deleted,
> or alternatively marked in some way so that if it is kept mounted and
> further written to, it will be considered dirty, annotating a need for
> a further sync to the floppy.
>
> The value of this is the usual sync and buffer ability of Linux is not
> degraded, and the forced physical removal of the floppy will also
> force a recognition of a need to later synchronize.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Billy
1. This is too complicated a procedure for most everyday users. They are
used to just sticking the floppy in, using it to store or retreive files,
and taking it out.
2. The dd command would be rediculasly slow. Basically you are doing a
disk copy before and after the use of a floppy.
3. How are you going to force a user to remove a floppy, especially as it
goes against everything he would have learned previously.
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