modprobe or insmod?
 

This has always bothered me as they seem to do the same thing. What's the difference between insmod and modprobe? Is there a benefit to using one over the other?

modprobe, I think may try to set detected values for a module, that uses hardware, as insmod, will just insert the module for the device without parameters or settings 'OR' the modules own default settings.

Not sure.
Perhaps someone else has a better explanation.

Insmod just installs the module you specify. If it requires another one that's not loaded, the operation fails.
Modprobe loads the module you specify and all dependencies.

Cool, another question, to get my joytick working, I have to do modprobe joydev, do I have to do this while its plugged in? Or can I do it then plug it in, and expect the device to work?

Don't have a joystick, so it's hard to say but probably when you run modprobe without it plugged in, it'll fail. But it depends. Test it :)

Hm, I guess that was a bad idea :P. I had joydev already loaded, so I unplugged it then plugged it back in, and launched ZSNES. Instead of just giving me a message about one joystick, its convinced there are two.
And the joystick doesn't work in ZSNES :(. I can't remove the module either
Any idea on how to force remove a module?

Perhaps I should've removed it first...

Make sure all programs using the module are closed, then it should be possible to remove the module.
Good thing is that it looks you can load the module and then plug in the device.

Ah, I had XMMS running, and I have a joystick plug-in for that thing. Should've checked on that before. And I can modprobe, then insert the USB adapter, and it works perfectly. Totally sweet.