Using It

Using "User Given Devices" is quite simple, you just need to enter a device name, for example /dev/sdz4 in the Floppy drive: combobox instead of selecting Primary or Secondary.

Note

You need to enter the /dev/ part of the device for two reasons:

  • It is how Kfloppy recognizes the "User Given Devices" mode.

  • It is a security, to avoid that the user writes anything in the combobox that is by chance a device name.

Unfortunately, using any device instead of a floppy device has a few consequences. The major one is that Full Format cannot be selected anymore. Doing so will result in a error message box when trying to start the format. However you can use Zero out and quick format instead. It will not format the device, just zeroing it out, but in practice it is nearly the same; especially all data on the device will be erased.

Warning

Be careful when entering the device name. Kfloppy will pass the device name as is to the external programs. Especially it does not check (and the external programs do not check either) if the device is a floppy drive device. If you give your any of your main disk partitions as device, it will be accepted. (If the partition is mounted or if you cannot write on this device, you will probably get an error message nevertheless, avoiding the worst.)

Note

Even if you can specify a floppy device like /dev/fd0u2880, Kfloppy will refuse to make a Full Format on it.

On Linux®, you can select any file system that you want. On BSD™, only UFS is currently supported (and not tested at time of writing this documentation).

When you are ready to format, click on the Format button as usual. You will get a message box asking you to verify the device name.

Warning

This is the last chance to check the device name before formating. After it, it is too late.