Linux friendly xD card reader
 

I have been reading a multitude of horror stories of problems with reading info on Olympus xD picture cards on anything but Mac and windows machines. I have been windows free for over 10 years and I have no intention of turning my back on the GIMP in favor of some Microsoft knock-off. My Olympus Stylus is useless to me if I can't transfer photos to my Linux machines. Can anyone recommend a card reader that will read and upload pics to my Fedora 9 computers?
Thank You Much - Jared

I don't know why it would be any different than SD, MS, or CF. All of the USB card readers I have take all of the popular card formats, and they all appear as regular USB mass storage drives.

I have never personally used xD (to be honest, I didn't think they were still being used), but I can't see the problem. What exactly have you been reading that leads you to believe there might be an issue?

xD picture card
 

The Olympus xD picture card can only be read using the Olympus Master Software CD-Rom which of course will not work on a Linux machine. The software is proprietary and only supports windows or Mac systems.So you are forced to use a Bill Gates approved image manipulation app.The card can not be opened with my 7-card reader nor will it be recognised when inserted in the card reader slot on any of our 4 household Linux laptop computers .
(as a side issue of the same nature; it is impossible to purchase a usb wireless internet device in the Philippines that is not locked into the windows/mac user needs. Linux can open the folder containing the usb device files but alas, all the files are exe. or mac files)
Ah well onwards and upwards etc.. Thanks for your thoughts - Jared

Olympus xD picture card problem solved - sort of;
After trying several diff card readers I found that the card would fit into at least one slot of the multicard readers and into the multicard slot on the side of my Linux Certified laptop but would not open to allow import of photos. Now here is the GOOD news; with no card in the camera and the camera plugged directly into a usb port on my laptop, I was able to see all the photos on the internal memory of the camera, including some photos I had taken, which I was able to import. Then, Surprise, Surprise! when I connected the camera to the computer again, With an xD card inserted into the camera, the inserted card contents were shown and imported easily and placed into the 'Pictures' folder on the desktop for later work with the GIMP.
I would still like to find a card reader that would work with the xD memory card and Linux because of the convenience of not having to attach the camera to the computer each time I want to access the xD card.
However this 'work around' allows me to use the camera which makes me a happy camper.-
Thanks to all - Jared

These are easily "unlocked" with usb_modeswitch
The "storage" disappears, and you can then use the USB modem.
Have fun.

Tredegar, Thank you so much for the usb modeswitch information. What a fine fellow you are. Jared

Pleased to have helped, and now I notice your post numbers,

Welcome to LQ!