Introduction
This page describes how to use an Iomega ZIP parallel port drive in Ubuntu. These instructions have been tested with Ubuntu 22.04.3
Installation
All that is required is to add the ppa kernel module for parallel ports. First verify that the parallel port has been detected:
root@phenom:~# sudo dmesg | grep -E 'lp|parport|ppa' | grep -v apparmor [ 15.027018] lp: driver loaded but no devices found [ 15.052448] parport_pc 00:04: reported by Plug and Play ACPI [ 15.052567] parport0: PC-style at 0x378, irq 7 [PCSPP,TRISTATE,EPP] [ 15.148738] lp0: using parport0 (interrupt-driven).
lp0 is successfully detected. The parallel port is configured in the BIOS for EPP mode.
Next, verify that the ppa module isn't already specified - the following command should not print anything:
lsmod | grep ppa
Now let's manually insert the ppa module:
sudo modprobe ppa
Check the kernel logs to confirm the module is installed:
sudo tail /var/log/kern.log Sep 27 13:40:51 phenom kernel: [ 1014.658066] ppa: Found device at ID 6, Attempting to use EPP 32 bit Sep 27 13:40:51 phenom kernel: [ 1014.658541] ppa: Communication established with ID 6 using EPP 32 bit Sep 27 13:40:51 phenom kernel: [ 1014.660962] scsi host9: Iomega VPI0 (ppa) interface Sep 27 13:40:52 phenom kernel: [ 1014.808517] scsi 9:0:6:0: Direct-Access IOMEGA ZIP 100 D.13 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 Sep 27 13:40:52 phenom kernel: [ 1014.875453] sd 9:0:6:0: Attached scsi generic sg7 type 0 Sep 27 13:40:52 phenom kernel: [ 1014.976454] sd 9:0:6:0: [sdg] 196608 512-byte logical blocks: (101 MB/96.0 MiB) Sep 27 13:40:52 phenom kernel: [ 1015.008486] sd 9:0:6:0: [sdg] Write Protect is off Sep 27 13:40:52 phenom kernel: [ 1015.008508] sd 9:0:6:0: [sdg] Mode Sense: 25 00 00 08 Sep 27 13:40:52 phenom kernel: [ 1015.076449] sd 9:0:6:0: [sdg] Cache data unavailable Sep 27 13:40:52 phenom kernel: [ 1015.076465] sd 9:0:6:0: [sdg] Assuming drive cache: write through Sep 27 13:40:52 phenom kernel: [ 1015.316472] sdg: sdg4 Sep 27 13:40:52 phenom kernel: [ 1015.332500] sd 9:0:6:0: [sdg] Attached SCSI removable disk
To have the zip drive installed at boot, the ppa module needs to be in /etc/modules. Check there first:
grep ppa /etc/modules
Add the module:
sudo sh -c "echo ppa >> /etc/modules"
Now reboot your system to test the drive is automatically available. It may be necessary to remove the module and re-insert it to have the drive detected, eg if the module is installed when the drive is not connected or powered on:
rmmod ppa modprobe ppa
Check /var/log/kern.log for details
After reboot, you should be able to see your ZIP drive in the list of devices when running:
cat /proc/scsi/scsi Host: scsi9 Channel: 00 Id: 06 Lun: 00 Vendor: IOMEGA Model: ZIP 100 Rev: D.13 Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
or
root@phenom:~# lsscsi [2:0:0:0] disk ATA SanDisk SDSSDX48 R211 /dev/sda [4:0:0:0] disk ATA SanDisk SDSSDX48 R211 /dev/sdb [5:0:0:0] cd/dvd PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-216 1.06 /dev/sr0 [8:0:0:0] disk ATA SanDisk SDSSDX48 R211 /dev/sdc [8:0:1:0] disk ATA SanDisk SDSSDX48 R211 /dev/sdd [8:0:2:0] disk ATA SanDisk SDSSDX48 R211 /dev/sde [8:0:3:0] disk ATA SanDisk SDSSDX48 R211 /dev/sdf [9:0:6:0] disk IOMEGA ZIP 100 D.13 /dev/sdg
Operations
Once the drive is configured above, working with zip disks is the same as any scsi disk.
- Insert a disk and the desktop Files app will be able to mount it just like a disk.
- The desktop Disks app can format
Command line
root@phenom:~# fdisk -l /dev/sdg Disk /dev/sdg: 96 MiB, 100663296 bytes, 196608 sectors Disk model: ZIP 100 Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x726a014e Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/sdg4 * 32 196607 196576 96M 6 FAT16