finding where dsl-n hides usb

aeiouer · 06-09-2007, 06:32 PM

okay im looking for my usb drive to mount
but i cant seem to find it
most places say its at /dev/sdb or something like that
but its no there in dsl-n

can someone help?

blackhole54 · 06-10-2007, 01:16 AM

My experience is with DSL 2.4, so things may have changed since then ...

In this version, DSL will not automatically mount the USB device for you. But it will detect the device, create a directory in /mnt and an entry in /etc/fstab. In my case, the USB device was call sda, so,

mount /dev/sda

would mount it on /mnt/sda. Curiously, only root could unmount it. But in DSL this is as easy as putting sudo in front of the umount command.

So if DSL still works this way, I suggest plugging your device in and waiting to see what new directory appears in /mnt. Alternatively you could monitor /etc/fstab. On my system it takes several seconds for this to happen, so don't get too impatient.

I will also note that the graphical mounting tool in the lower right hand corner knew nothing about this new device. Perhaps if it was restarted after inserting the device ... But using the command line is probably easier.

aeiouer · 06-10-2007, 02:43 AM

yeah its different in dsl-n
im tiried of messing with this so im gonna go back to dsl

blackhole54 · 06-10-2007, 07:30 AM

Oops! I didn't see the dash N!

When I get the chance I'll take a look at DSL-N. Unfortunately I am not real up to date on that either.

blackhole54 · 06-11-2007, 12:36 AM

OK, I tried a USB keydrive in DSL-N 0.1 RC3.

No mount point was automatically created, and no entry was added to fstab. I had to do things manually:

Code:

sudo mkdir /mnt/sda
sudo mount /dev/sda /mnt/sda

#  To unmount:

sudo umount /mnt/sda

After which I could access the keydrive (I didn't try writing) at /mnt/sda

What the device is called will, of course, depend on what drives are already in your computer. If you are unsure what the device is called and/or want to verify that the kernel is recognizing it, you can use the system log to tell you. Do the following before inserting the device:

Code:

sudo syslogd
sudo klogd
sudo tail -f /var/log/messages

The -f option causes tail to keep monitoring the log and output additional info when it comes in. When you insert the device, you should see some additional lines output. One or more of these will tell you what the kernel is calling the device (in my case /dev/sda).

DSL-N is still at a very low revision level and unlike DSL uses a fairly new 2.6 kernel, which I believe uses the udev system. This probably means they couldn't just copy the DSL software for handling hotplug. I imagine as development continues, at some point it will start handling things automagicaly.

Good luck.

aeiouer · 06-15-2007, 01:51 PM

hey thanks for the help
ive kinda fell out of linux for a while
i havent had the time to continue useing it
but im sure as summerschool(yeah im only 15)
starts ill start again

aeiouer · 06-16-2007, 01:03 AM

well i tried, and nahh still no lucck for me
garbage is all i can say, well.. just hotplug

blackhole54 · 06-16-2007, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aeiouer

well i tried, and nahh still no lucck for me
garbage is all i can say, well.. just hotplug

There's a possibility the kernel just isn't recognizing your paritcular device. Did you try enabling and then looking at the system log as I suggested?

You also might check into a set of tools called sg3-utils, and see if it is of any help in locating your USB device. I have not used this package, so I probably can't help you with it. I am not even sure it can help you out. But this article has a sidebar that discusses it, which might be useful to you.

aeiouer · 06-17-2007, 01:53 AM

yeah i did it, the first two logs show nothing, the third one shows detection of the drive, something like "full speed usb device.....ehci_something"

but no assining to a place such as dev/sda

blackhole54 · 06-19-2007, 06:28 AM

I don't know if it will be useful to you, but this is what got logged on my machine:

Code:

Jun 18 07:57:11 dslbox user.info kernel: usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
Jun 18 07:57:11 dslbox user.info kernel: scsi1 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Jun 18 07:57:11 dslbox user.debug kernel: usb-storage: device found at 2
Jun 18 07:57:11 dslbox user.debug kernel: usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.notice kernel:   Vendor: JMTek     Model: USBDrive2.0       Rev: 2.00
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.notice kernel:   Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.notice kernel: sda: Unit Not Ready, sense:
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.info kernel: : Current: sense key=0x6
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.info kernel:     ASC=0x28 ASCQ=0x0
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.notice kernel: SCSI device sda: 256000 512-byte hdwr sectors (131 MB)
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.notice kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.debug kernel: sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.err kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.notice kernel: SCSI device sda: 256000 512-byte hdwr sectors (131 MB)
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.notice kernel: sda: Write Protect is off
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.debug kernel: sda: Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.err kernel: sda: assuming drive cache: write through
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.info kernel:  unknown partition table
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.notice kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi1, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Jun 18 07:57:16 dslbox user.debug kernel: usb-storage: device scan complete

I believe the "unknown partition table" message reflects that this was formatted (I have not altered it since purchase on eBay) like a floppy (w/o a partition table) rather than like a hard drive. That is probably why it ends up /dev/sda rather than /dev/sda1.

FYI, if you are wanting to post your results, I will let you know that to post this, I just ended up copying the log file (/var/log/messages) to a hard drive and then rebooted into a full blown distro to deal with it from there. This is both because I have never been able to get highlight then pasting with middle mouse button (emulated on a two button mouse) to work under DSL or DSL-N and I found the very limited functionality provided by busybox's implementation of vi to be too frustrating to deal with. Of course, if you have better solution, feel free ... I just thought telling you this might save you some time and frustration.