This is as far as I can get:

root@zootallaptop:/mnt/usb# dmesg | tail
usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
hub 1-1:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-1:1.0: 1 port detected
usb 1-1.1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
usb 1-1.1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 3
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access Corsair Flash Voyager 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
usb-storage: device scan complete

My other stick gives this:

zoot@zootallaptop:~$ dmesg | tail
usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 2
usb 1-1.1: USB disconnect, address 3
usb 1-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 4
usb 1-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 4
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
usbcore: registered new interface driver ub
scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
usb-storage: device scan complete


Based on the above info, can I mount this device? If so, how?

try
(replace X with numbers, such as 1,2, or 3 depending on which ports you plugged your flash drive and create /mnt/removable first)

Try 'blkid', it's a neat command ... for example if I plug in a USB thumb drive, it will show up on here and have filesystem type 'vfat'. Then mount it like willysr says.

I tried those - none of them worked. Also tried sdb1/2/3, and sdc1/2/3. No joy

I don't seem to have blkid - what is it, where can it be found?

No. The device is does not have a device node associated with it.
The stock Slackware kernel should work fine.

Run these three commands as root. I use these to locate my USB SD memory card for my Nikon camera.

#rescan-scsi-bus

#fdisk -l

#blkid

That should help you to locate your device, then you can mount it.

As I see, you miss the sd_mod module. (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD)

If you ever want to know where something is do:

or 'whereis (whatever you want to look for)'

In this case it should be '/sbin/blkid'.

Ack. I think I was doing "where blkid". whereis found it. See, I told you I knew enough to be dangerous :P

Bingo! It's called "SCSI Disk Support", so I didn't include it, thinking I did not have any SCSI disks. I enabled it, upgraded to 2.6.21.3 while was at it. Recompiled. Rebooting with new kernel....</holds breath>....

I had to recompile madwifi and the nvidia video drivers to get internet working, and KDE to work. Now I'm up and running with a 2.6.21.3 kernel, BLK_DEV_SD enabled, and Woohoo! USB sticks work!

Thank you everyone for your help. The problem was that I had omitted BLK_DEV_SD from my kernel, but the information others posted about how to troubleshoot this was valuable information also