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How do I enable Hot plug / auto mounting of USB Flash drives

Posted: Fri 01 Mar 2013, 16:56
by Arthur45
I have installed Puppy Linux on my Toshiba Equium. However USB flash drives do not appear to be recognized. I have tried several different drives ( all of which are recognized almost instantly on both XP and Ubuntu) on all of the USB Ports.

I have also run / refreshed the "P Mount" tool.

Not directly related to this question but additionaly ...... how do I get Tap / Double Tap enable on the mouse trackpad ?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Posted: Fri 01 Mar 2013, 17:12
by tallboy
Hi Arthur45.
If your Toshiba has USB3, you should take a look at this thread: New lappie, no Puppy.
Oh, and Welcome to the forum! :D

tallboy

Posted: Fri 01 Mar 2013, 17:54
by Arthur45
tallboy wrote:Hi Arthur45.
If your Toshiba has USB3, you should take a look at this thread: New lappie, no Puppy.
Oh, and Welcome to the forum! :D

tallboy
Thanks for the fast response.

No, it doesn't have USB 3. It was made in 2004 / 5

Arthur

Posted: Sat 02 Mar 2013, 16:41
by Arthur45
Any further advice would still be greatly appreciated.

Arthur

Posted: Sat 02 Mar 2013, 16:43
by rcrsn51
Which Puppy version are you using?

Posted: Sat 02 Mar 2013, 17:19
by Arthur45
rcrsn51 wrote:Which Puppy version are you using?
Slacko 5.4 on the laptop in the original post.

Interestingly I am also have exactly the same issues on my Dell Inspiron laptop which is running Precise 5.4.3

Arthur

Posted: Sat 02 Mar 2013, 19:20
by rcrsn51
Just to be clear - when you plug in a flash drive, you do NOT get an icon for it on the bottom row of the desktop?

Posted: Sat 02 Mar 2013, 20:11
by Arthur45
rcrsn51 wrote:Just to be clear - when you plug in a flash drive, you do NOT get an icon for it on the bottom row of the desktop?
No.

Posted: Sat 02 Mar 2013, 20:19
by rcrsn51
I am really surprised that you are seeing this on two different machines with different Puppies.

Try doing a fresh boot off the CD using the boot argument "puppy pfix=ram".

Posted: Sat 02 Mar 2013, 20:26
by Arthur45
rcrsn51 wrote:I am really surprised that you are seeing this on two different machines with different Puppies.

Try doing a fresh boot off the CD using the boot argument "puppy pfix=ram".
OK - I will try this tomorrow and report back.

Thanks.

Arthur

Posted: Sun 03 Mar 2013, 08:47
by Arthur45
I booted from CD using the argument "puppy pfix=ram" as suggested but, alas, without success.

Arthur

Posted: Sun 03 Mar 2013, 16:27
by Karl Godt
The current Puppies's kernels should have the usb drivers ehci_hcd, uhci_hcd and ohci_hcd and usb-storage compiled into the kernel , so they should not need to be loaded .

I would take a look into /tmp/bootkernel.log if the FlashDrive is plugged into the 'puter at bootup, otherwise a

Code: Select all

dmesg |grep -i usb
some seconds after plugging in could reveal something .

Other detection utility is the

Code: Select all

probedisk
script to present current devices in the console that are recognized.

Posted: Sun 03 Mar 2013, 19:49
by Arthur45
Karl Godt wrote:The current Puppies's kernels should have the usb drivers ehci_hcd, uhci_hcd and ohci_hcd and usb-storage compiled into the kernel , so they should not need to be loaded .

I would take a look into /tmp/bootkernel.log if the FlashDrive is plugged into the 'puter at bootup, otherwise a

Code: Select all

dmesg |grep -i usb
some seconds after plugging in could reveal something .

Other detection utility is the

Code: Select all

probedisk
script to present current devices in the console that are recognized.
I will give this a try.

Danke.

Arthur

Auto mount flash drive

Posted: Sun 03 Mar 2013, 20:21
by toomanyquestions
I'm trying to avoid manually using p-mount to mount my flash drives (Macpup 529). I am presently using efm and rox.

My goal is to automatically mount my flash drive, then shortcut the usb drive in /mnt/any_old_name to my home folder or desktop. ...I plan to replicate the process for a few different usb drives.

I tried adding the flash drive uids along with a potential path to fstab, nothing. Perhaps I made a mistake? I'd love to hear any recommendations...

Posted: Mon 04 Mar 2013, 03:46
by greengeek
At times I've had problems with some usb drives not being detected (especially at boot time) and it can be helpful to force the usb hub to reboot.
This thread might suggest some ideas that might be worth trying:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=81417

Posted: Mon 04 Mar 2013, 07:30
by tallboy
Hi toomanyquestions.
I am not familiar with the Macpups, but if you have Menu-> Desktop-> Desktop drive icons manager, switch to 'Show full event manager' and see the options there. You will also find it as Menu-> System-> Puppy event manager. If it doesn't work, you could use http://www.wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html for an advanced search in puppy forum files.

tallboy

Posted: Mon 04 Mar 2013, 15:13
by Arthur45
greengeek wrote:At times I've had problems with some usb drives not being detected (especially at boot time) and it can be helpful to force the usb hub to reboot.
This thread might suggest some ideas that might be worth trying:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=81417
Having had a peek at the BIOS I do wonder if the BIOS is too basic / old to support USB Flash drives. The unit dates from late 2004.

There is an option for USB Floppy drives which is enabled.

I think it may be on its way to the recycler.

Posted: Mon 04 Mar 2013, 15:34
by rcrsn51
Try this command

Code: Select all

lsmod
Look for "uhci_hcd". If it's not listed, run

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modprobe uhci_hcd
Then unplug and replug the flash drive.

Posted: Mon 04 Mar 2013, 17:17
by greengeek
Arthur45 wrote:I do wonder if the BIOS is too basic / old to support USB Flash drives. The unit dates from late 2004.
A unit from 2004 vintage should definitely be capable of normal usb performance with puppy (unless the hardware is broken, which is unlikely, or maybe using one of the known faulty NEC usb chipsets). Booting from usb can be problematic or non-existent on Toshibas from 2004, but once the puppy is running it should be able to be see the usb correctly. I would suggest plugging in a usb stick and then in a console typing "dmesg" and looking for messages that indicate what the system is seeing when you plug / unplug the stick.
I think it may be on its way to the recycler.
Nnnnnnnoo! Please don't send it to the PC playground in the sky....95% of my machines are pre-2004. I cant bear to see hardware retired :-)

Posted: Tue 05 Mar 2013, 01:35
by tallboy
Arthur45, a unit plugged into a USB port may be dependent on a driver to be recognized, but your mainboard have no idea about what you plugged into an empty port. It is easy to forget we only deal with 1 and 0 for internal communication in the machine. If other USB units function normally when plugged into the port, the driver/kernel module is the missing part here.

BTW, you must not throw away an almost new PC! I have a dozen or more old Linux boxes rescued from the containers at the university, and I think every single one is more than 10 years old, some PII, a lot of P3s, and a couple of P4s and similar AMDs. That is the beauty of puppy, it keeps these relics going for many more years! :lol:

tallboy