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05-12-2005, 09:09 PM
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#1
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Member
Registered: Dec 2004
Location: New York
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 154
Rep:
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Any problems with USB-port PCMCIA cards and USB Floppy Drives?
'Just got my Dell 600m. I'm going to leave it alone until I graduate (2 weeks!), but I noticed there's no floppy drive and if I'm going to be abusing the two USB slots for an optical mouse and a floppy drive...I'll need 4 more USB ports for other crap! Any problems with getting either of these devices to work in Linux (Slackware specifically)? Thanks ahead!
-Galen
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05-12-2005, 09:29 PM
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#2
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LQ Guru
Registered: Nov 2004
Location: San Jose, CA
Distribution: Debian, Arch
Posts: 8,507
Rep: 
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I've successfully used USB floppy drives many times, no problems whatsoever. I can't remember if they show up as a /dev/sd? scsi drive, or do get mapped to fd*. I think with devfs, it's the former, and with udev, the latter.
As far as USB pcmcia cards... should probably work, as far as I know... but have you considered a USB hub?
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05-12-2005, 09:47 PM
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#3
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Member
Registered: Dec 2004
Location: New York
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 154
Original Poster
Rep:
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Quote:
Originally posted by Matir
but have you considered a USB hub?
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I'm not sure that I know the difference. Enlighten me! 
-Galen
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05-12-2005, 10:07 PM
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#4
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LQ Guru
Registered: Nov 2004
Location: San Jose, CA
Distribution: Debian, Arch
Posts: 8,507
Rep: 
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A USB hub is just a device that essentially "splits" a USB port. Essentially, one port becomes (usually) 4. A USB 2.0 hub usually runs about $12-20, making it much cheaper than a PCMCIA card (and leaves your PCMCIA slot(s) open!)
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05-13-2005, 07:11 AM
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#5
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Member
Registered: Dec 2004
Location: New York
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 154
Original Poster
Rep:
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Any disadvantages?
-Galen
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05-13-2005, 10:00 PM
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#6
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LQ Guru
Registered: Nov 2004
Location: San Jose, CA
Distribution: Debian, Arch
Posts: 8,507
Rep: 
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Some USB hubs do not provide enough power for 'powered' USB devices (hard drives and so forth). Though, I believe PCMCIA cards also lack this capability. I have never had a problem with things such as mice, webcams, keyboards, jump/thumb drives, card readers, etc.
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05-14-2005, 12:40 AM
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#7
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Member
Registered: Dec 2004
Location: New York
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 154
Original Poster
Rep:
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Alrighty, thank you so much. Any brands that work GREAT with Linux, or are they all pretty equal? Thanks again!
-Galen
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05-14-2005, 12:53 PM
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#8
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LQ Guru
Registered: Nov 2004
Location: San Jose, CA
Distribution: Debian, Arch
Posts: 8,507
Rep: 
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I have never had any problem with any USB hub under linux. 100% plug and play.
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05-14-2005, 01:09 PM
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#9
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Member
Registered: Dec 2004
Location: New York
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 154
Original Poster
Rep:
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Perfect. Case closed. Thanks a LOT!
-Galen
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05-14-2005, 01:37 PM
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#10
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LQ Guru
Registered: Nov 2004
Location: San Jose, CA
Distribution: Debian, Arch
Posts: 8,507
Rep: 
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No problem. Good luck. 
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