Hello all, I am trying to use a KDS CD organizer in vmware (the software uses M$ databasing). It is a USB device, and vmware's help texts say I need to disable the Linux device drivers for the device so that vmware can use it. They say to use the rmmod command or go into /etc/hotplug if it was loaded automatically by hotplug. The problem is, I don't know WHICH module to unload with rmmod, nor have I figured out exactly what all is going on in the hotplug directory. I don't want to kill all USB because my mouse is running on it. I need to unload this specific device only, but don't know what Linux is calling it. I would like to just put a rmmod command in my boot files (seems the easiest-dunno). Can anyone help out?

What is the KDS CD organizer? Some sort of extrnal CD-Rom?

Also posting lsmod might help

Rgds

Rus

http://www.kdsusa.com/product_details.asp?prod=48

Below is the output of lsmod (a command which I had no knowledge of before you metioned it-- thankyou, you've taught me something already):

[root@localhost root]# lsmod
Module Size Used by Tainted: PF
msdos 7404 0 (autoclean)
isofs 27988 1 (autoclean)
zlib_inflate 21156 0 (autoclean) [isofs]
udf 90464 0 (autoclean)
appletalk 25700 1 (autoclean)
ipx 21252 1 (autoclean)
binfmt_misc 7020 1
vmnet 23400 5
vmmon 27956 11
autofs4 11540 2 (autoclean)
lp 8096 0 (autoclean) (unused)
parport 34176 0 (autoclean) [lp]
agpgart 40896 3 (autoclean)
nvidia 1767264 11 (autoclean)
audigy 70952 3
ac97_codec 12488 0 [audigy]
sound 70644 0 [audigy]
nfsd 74256 0 (autoclean)
af_packet 14952 1 (autoclean)
sr_mod 16920 0 (autoclean)
floppy 55132 2
button 3724 0 (unused)
thermal 8224 0 (unused)
processor 10872 0 [thermal]
fan 2528 0 (unused)
ac 2784 0 (unused)
battery 7008 0 (unused)
3c59x 29584 1 (autoclean)
ohci1394 19048 0 (unused)
ieee1394 45900 0 [ohci1394]
nls_cp850 4316 1 (autoclean)
vfat 11820 1 (autoclean)
fat 37944 0 (autoclean) [msdos vfat]
nls_iso8859-1 3516 3 (autoclean)
ntfs 76812 1 (autoclean)
supermount 15296 3 (autoclean)
ide-cd 33856 2
cdrom 31648 0 [sr_mod ide-cd]
tuner 11744 1 (autoclean)
tvaudio 15068 0 (autoclean) (unused)
msp3400 17804 1 (autoclean)
bttv 78496 0
videodev 7872 3 [bttv]
i2c-algo-bit 9064 1 [bttv]
i2c-core 21192 0 [tuner tvaudio msp3400 bttv i2c-algo-bi
soundcore 6276 0 [audigy sound bttv]
ide-scsi 11280 0
scsi_mod 103284 2 [sr_mod ide-scsi]
usbmouse 2936 0 (unused)
keybdev 2720 0 (unused)
mousedev 5268 2
hid 20900 0 (unused)
input 5664 0 [usbmouse keybdev mousedev hid]
usb-uhci 24652 0 (unused)
usbcore 72992 1 [usbmouse hid usb-uhci]
rtc 8060 1 (autoclean)
ext3 59916 2
jbd 38972 2 [ext3]


Keep in mind my ASUS board has two USB controllers onboard for a total of four USB1.1 ports (and all are enabled). However only the two in the rear have anything plugged in right now, the USB mouse and the KDS. If anyone knows of a Linux native driver and software for this CD organizer, I'd love to know, but for now I'd like to get it running in vmware.

Remove the KDS CD organizer. Wait a few minutes for hotplug to remove the module. Type /sbin/lsmod > modulelist

Insert the KDS CD organizer. Wait a few minutes for hotplug to install the module. Type /sbin/lsmod > modulelist-with-KDS-CD-organizer. Compare modulelist and modulelist-with-KDS-CD-organizer with the diff command. Do man diff to found out how to use the diff command.

You have appletalk. Remove that. It going to hurt your network performance.

Oh man, I should have thought of comparing the system with and without, good idea. But I've never used diff, so that's even better. OK that sounds good. But how do I disable modules the proper way so they don't go in at boot time (like the appletalk for starters)?

Hmmm, that test brought me just more confusion, perhaps you can make sense of it. Here is the only difference that occurs. lsmod outputs show a difference in the "used" column of the lsmod output when plugging and unplugging the CD org. WITH the device plugged in, it shows a "1" and unplugged shows a "2". I'm about to do a man lsmod to try to figure out what I'm reading, but your thoughts would be appreciated too. Below is the diff output.


diff modulelist modulelist-no-CD-org
37c37
< ide-cd 33856 1
---
> ide-cd 33856 2

One other thing. When I plug the CD org into one of the FRONT two ports (my 2nd onboard USB controller), then it goes from 2 to 3 on the "ide-cd" line in lsmod. That is, 3 when it is unplugged and 2 when it is plugged in. ??? WTH?

OK I found the driver that is tying it up. It's called HID. If I rmmod that, I still have a mouse, but the CD org is operational in vmware. Great huh? Nope, all CD writing software can no longer find my CD-RW drive, and the entire system become unstable as well, like as in konqueror locking, shells not fully starting and not taking input, and ctl-alt-F6 and logging in as root and init 6 or halt won't even shut down the system. It seems to me that hid driver is somehow tied to the ide-cd driver because of the behavior of the CD writing software once I unload hid. So what I want to try is PREVENT hid module from EVER loading during boot. How can I do that?

If you have hotplug, put the module's name in the blacklist file under /etc/hotplug. Though if the module is compiled in to the kernel, it won't work this way.

Yep, I found that, and put it in there, but it does not work. usb-uhci is in the blacklist already and it still loads too. I thought it was going to be pretty slick, but it is pretty much worthless for my problem unfortunately. Is there anything else I can do???

hmmm, well no one has any other ideas? It'd be nice to be able to free this port up for vmWare, I still really need to do this...