<left> Contents->Devices

1. Devices
2. Setting Up Device References
3. Mounting Devices

## Devices

Devices, in general, refers to hardware attached to your computer that performs various tasks. Endeavour mainly works with devices that use media (ie, disks) that are capable of posessing a filesystem (a method to store and retrieve files). Such devices include hard drives, floppy drives, zip drives, etc.

Endeavour recognizes your system's filesystem configuration file (typically, it is `/etc/fstab`), this is a listing of all the devices installed and properly configured on your computer that are capable of posessing a filesystem.

In addition, Endeavour has a device references list stored in the file:

- `$HOME/.endeavour2/devices.ini`.

Endeavour's device references list contains information about each device in addition to the information found in your system's filesystem configuration file.

Endeavour always obtains information from your system's filesystem configuration file first, then obtains information from its own device references afterwards on top of that. Each device must be specified in both files in order for Endeavour to access them properly.

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## Setting Up Device References

Before you set up Endeavour's device references, make sure that the devices are properly configured on your system and that they are specified in your system's filesystem configuration file `/etc/fstab`.

To set up the device references, go to Device->Devices... You should then see the dialog shown below.

To edit an existing device reference, select the device and then click on Edit... Or you can add a new device reference by selecting a device that you want to insert at and then click on Add...

You should only add a device reference in Endeavour if circumstances make it not possible to added it to your system's filesystem configuration file `/etc/fstab`.

You should then see the dialog as shown below:

- Name - An arbitary friendly name for this device.
- Device Path - Specifies the location of the device object. This value will be used to correspond this device reference with the device defined in the system's device configuration file `/etc/fstab`.
- Mount Path - Specifies the directory at where this object is to be mounted.
- Type - Specifies the filesystem type.
- Mount and Unmount - Commands to be executed to mount or unmount the device at the specified Mount Path. The object to be executed can be either a program or a script, and must be specified as an absolute path.
- Eject - Command to execute to eject the media from the device. The object to be executed can be either a program or a script, and must be specified as an absolute path.
- Check - Command to execute the filesystem check (fsck) front end program.
- Tools - Command to execute the device's tools program. This is typically a program specially written for the device in question (you may leave this blank if you do not have such a program).
- Format - Command to execute the device's format front end program.
- No Unmount - Specifies that this device may not be unmounted (that it should always be mounted).
- Read Only - Specifies that this device should always be mounted as read-only.

Icons for this device can be set by clicking on the corresponding icon on the right column and then selecting an `.xpm` file. Each icon has a Standard, Selected, and Unmounted state. In most cases you only need to set the Standard icon. Endeavour comes with a set of commonly used icons located in:

- `/usr/share/endeavour2/icons/`

Large icons are typically 48 by 48 pixels, medium icons are typically 32 by 32 pixels, and small icons are typically 20 by 20 pixels.

The specified Mount and Unmount commands will be used to mount or unmount the device. These commands may vary depending on the system that you are using. Type `man mount` or `man unmount` on a console to get more information on how to specify the Mount and Unmount commands.

On Linux systems, to mount or unmount a device when running Endeavour as a non-root user you need to first edit `/etc/fstab` and specify the `user` argument in the options list. For example, to make the first floppy drive (`/dev/fd0`) mountable by any user, specify in `/etc/fstab`:

`/etc/fstab`

    /dev/fd0        /mnt/fd0        msdos   user,noauto     0 0

The above line would allow any user to mount or unmount the device `/dev/fd0` onto the directory `/mnt/fd0`.

For any device that you want Endeavour to be able to mount or unmount you must make sure that it is specified in both the Endeavour device references and in your system's filesystem configuration file `/etc/fstab`.

On some systems you may not specify an alias (such as a symbolic link) to refer to a device node. For example if `/dev/floppy` is a symbolic link that refers to `/dev/fd0` then you must specify `/dev/fd0` (not the symbolic link `/dev/floppy`). If you use a symbolic link then Endeavour may not be able to tell if the device is currently mounted or not mounted.

Some devices may require that a driver or module be loaded before the device is mounted, this can present a problem for non-root users who are not allowed to load or unload drivers or modules. However, you can set things up so that a driver or module will be automatically loaded when a device that needs it is mounted.

On Linux, to automatically load a module when a device that needs it is mounted, edit `/etc/conf.modules`. Below is an example that shows a set up for automatic loading and unloading modules for; an IDE CDROM (that is accessed using SCSI), an IOMega Zip Drive, and a Printer connected to the same parallel port cable as the IOMega Zip Drive.

`/etc/conf.modules`

    # /dev/scd0 - An IDE CDROM accessed using SCSI
    #
    # Loads the ide-scsi module for the IDE CDROM.
    #
    alias scd0 sr_mod
    pre-install sr_mod /sbin/modprobe ide-scsi

    # /dev/sda4 - IOMega Zip Drive (parallel port version)
    #
    # Unloads the modules for the Printer and loads the modules
    # for the IOMega Zip Drive (this is needed to avoid conflicts
    # since they both use the parallel port).
    #
    alias block-major-8 sd_mod
    pre-install sd_mod modprobe -r lp ; modprobe -r bpck-fdc ; \
     modprobe -r zftape ; modprobe -r ftape ; modprobe parport ; \
     modprobe parport_pc
    post-install sd_mod modprobe ppa

    # /dev/lp0 - Printer
    #
    # Unloads the modules for the IOMega Zip Drive and loads
    # the modules for the Printer (this is needed to avoid
    # conflicts since they both use the parallel port).
    #
    pre-install lp modprobe -r bpck-fdc ; modprobe -r zftape ; \
     modprobe -r ftape ; modprobe -r ppa ; modprobe -r sd_mod

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## Mounting Devices

Once the device has been properly set up (on both the system `/etc/fstab` and the Endeavour device references), it can be mounted in one of two ways:

1. Select the device's mount directory and go to Device->Mount
2. Select the device on the Mount Bar (as shown below) and click on the Mount button

To unmount a device, repeat the above step (notice that the Mount button or menu item becomes Unmount when the device is already mounted).

Do not forget to unmount the device before you remove the media or else the data on the media may become corrupted.

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Endeavour Mark II is Copyright © 1997-2006 WolfPack Entertainment

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