AutoDetect?
 

To understand my question I should talk just a little about my linux experience. I first started using linux with Mandrake 10.0ce. It was running on a 2.6 series kernel and it sort of automounted my devices but it never really got it right. Then I moved to slackware 10.1 based on the 2.4 series kernel. No automounting no auto anything. And I got used to that. Setting up fstab and manually mounting has become part oof my life. However, my wife is now starting to use usb drives in my computer and it's just too much for her to manually mount and umount. NOw I use Slackware 11.0 with the 2.6.18 kernel.

So recently I threw in a knoppix 5.1 dvd and when I got to the desktop and threw in a usb drive I noticed that it did not automount it but it did autodetect it. An icon that was not previously there showed up on the desktop and when you clicked on it it mounted it and you unmounted it by right clicking on the icon and when you pulled the drive out the icon disappears, I think that this is somehow based on udev but I'm not sure.

The point is I would like this to happen on my slack box because it still gives me the control of manually mounting like I'm used to but at the same time she can feel like she is automounting.

Trying to read a little bit about auto mounting I understand that is sounds like autofs can still give me this same control but I'm not up for reconfiguring my kernel. Thanks!

Sum up question. Does anybody know how Knoppix autodetects after the computer is started, what is this udev hotplug?

yup,
udev will recognise as "usb mass storage device" almost any usb device pluggined in.

The other package that adds to this functionality is HAL, the Hardware Abstraction Layer. This has a fairly large list of deps though.

I have both udev and hal installed and running but I think I'm having some trouble setting them up.

Okay. So here is the latest and the greatest, I've found out that my problems do not stem from my confusion with udev or hal because they were both already working correctly. After doing some exploring I learned that Slackware Creator Patrick Volkerding (nothing against him or slack, I absolutely love slack keep up the good work Pat) does not integrate HAL support in kdebase hence no support in slackware.

The fix is simple for all you slack 11.0 users, (Early P.S. I installed dropline gnome mostly for dependencies for a few gnome apps I love but that came with hal, I believe udev comes on the slack install) simply download kdebase from www.slacky.it, removepkg kdebase, installpkg kdebase... and restart X. Your good to go. That is the simplest way of course.

Now I just hope to find out how to change the subject of the post for all those curious and wanting slack users out there.