IBM A20m/Port Replicator/Firewire/Mandrake 9.2
 

I am an all-out Linux user. I'm running:

IBM Thinkpad A20m (Model 2628-3SU) with one USB port
Port Replicator (P/N: 02K8668) with one firewire port and one USB port (and another port that looks like a tiny SCSI interface).
U.S. Logic External 60GB Harddrive (2 firewire ports, 1 USB port)
Mandrake Linux 9.2 (upgraded from 9.1)
Kernel 2.4.22-28 (custom-built by Yours Truly)

Only the port replicator has a firewire port on it, yet both the laptop and the replicator has USB ports through which i can use the external drive with no problem (using the usb-uhci.o module--not the JE module).

I have both USB and Firewire cables.

I can only see the external hard drive using the USB cable.

The latest gscanbus refuses to run: "Invalid port" (I have all the required libraries).

ohci1394.o won't load: "No such device"

I have all the other modules (ieee1394, raw1394, sbp2, cmp), but the OS still won't reconize the drive.

Any assistance would be welcome.

I have done some homework...

The Overview page for the port replicator is:

http://www.ibm.com/pc/support/site.w...id=MIGR-4JV3SC

The original design for the firewire port on the replicator is for DVI: Digital Video Input.

Unfortunately, the DVI port only works with A2*p systems (and I have an A20m--DARN!!!)...

So that pretty much ends it for me...but for those of you with A20p's or other compatible thinkpads, I'm curious to know if it's possible to use the DVI port to connect a storage device like an external hard drive...?

In any case, i'm now looking for another way to connect my external hard drive to my thinkpad through firewire (like perhaps a PCMCIA card?).

Any suggestions in this regard would be appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

Here's your PCMCIA Firewire hardware list:

http://www.tuxmobil.org/pcmcia_linux.html


I would go here as well:

http://www.tuxmobil.org/firewire_linux.html


John