tlug: Seeking advice on ZIP drives & such w/ Linux

[Matt Gushee <matt@example.com>]

Dear TLUGers--

Well, I'm starting to see too many 8's and 9's when I run 'df'. Time to
think about more storage space. Unfortunately I'm using a notebook PC,
so installing another internal hard disk isn't much of an option. I'm
thinking about buying a removable-media drive, which I would hook up
with a PCMCIA / SCSI card (not a parallel interface, because I use my
one parallel port for printing all the time). I wonder if anyone here
has used such a setup with Linux, and could address the following
points?

* I gather that Iomega ZIP and JAZ drives are supported under Linux. Do
you know of similar products that specifically are or are not supported?
Are there any setup problems associated with particular models? Any info
about comparative quality?

* One of the major things I am thinking about doing with my new storage
device is to move all my development stuff (i.e., '*.a' libraries &/or
source trees) off the hard disk. Since I'm not a developer--I just
compile programs occasionally for my own use--it's not a big problem if
compilation takes more time due to slow disk access. I'm just wondering
if there's any reason why this might be a Bad Idea.

Any tips appreciated. Feel free to e-mail me personally if you don't
want to clutter up the list. By the way, if I don't write again before
the end of the year, akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!

Matt Gushee
Oshamanbe, Hokkaido
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