I've tried Damn Small Linux and a Knoppix 5.1.1 CD, neither finds my USB multi-card reader.

Alternatively, how to prod either one of those into finding the reader and mounting the CF card should work.

All I need this for is to use DD to write some stuff to a 4gig compact flash card for my Palm LifeDrive. Its original MicroDrive died so I'm stuck with building the ROM image from scratch (got that done with Python for Windows and other software).

dd for Windows can't do it, it's still not a 100% clone of the Linux version, so I need Linux just for this one task.

I'm doing it the safe way by unplugging the SATA cables from my hard drives so all that's connected are the DVD burner, the card reader and a USB stick with the partition table.sct file and the ROM image.

The nasty bit Palm did was to use three partitions on thre MicroDrive. A 64 meg "RAM" partition, a 22 meg "ROM" partition which is actually just a mildly compressed ZIP file with a weird header, and the rest of the drive is FAT32 formatted but in some screwy way that's only accessible to PalmOS.

There's plenty of how-to's on using Linux to do this. There's also how-to's supposedly for doing it with Windows, but they all give commands for Linux utilities that don't actually work with the Windows versions. dd for Windows doesn't understand conv=notrunc. Leave that off and it always gives Error 87 and the LifeDrive won't boot. Anyone who's posted on any forum about making this work in Windows either a) neglects to give ALL the specific details or b) had a working MicroDrive to pull a complete image from, which can then be written to a CF card with dd for Windows or even WinImage.

I've worked with computers since 1983 and it's almost always that way, someone has a problem, then when they get it fixed they just say "I fixed it!" without saying HOW they did it.

Probably Ubuntu work.

Look for the most recent live cd you can find. The kernel needs to be fairly recent to support cf readers.

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

I would use a newer LiveCD from 'The LiveCD List'. This way you will be insured to have the newest available kernel & drivers so things should work out for you.

The 'md5sum' or 'hash' is very important to learn to use and too regularly get in the habit of utilizing it. You can get a sum checker for M$ if need be; 'md5sum.exe'.

For GNU/Linux the 'man md5sum' will get you all the information to perform the check. You can get the 'man command' from the 'cli' at anytime.

If you download the Live CD/DVD ISO then be sure to check the md5sum for the original ISO. From the cli;

If the LiveCD ISO md5 is OK then you should check the image burn with 'CdromMd5sumsAfterBurning''.

This way you will know if the burn was OK!

This will check the download ISO with the known md5sum that you also get with the ISO. You should do the check for any download that you might perform, even a LiveCD. Plus burn the image. Sometimes you may need to lower the burn rate to get a valid burn.

As for the closing of a post or thread by a 'OP' with a solution is just a matter of netiquette. A lot of people just fail to follow good personal netiquette. Loads of people want a fix but fail to realize the responsibility of providing feedback thus allowing others the benefit of their solution(s). Some just don't want to show their fault(s) or lack of understanding thus leaving things open. While others 'EXPECT' solutions without thought of helping others; selfishness, spoiled or demanding seem to fit their description. Sometimes it can be lack of or just poor communication skills.


These links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

I found a Knoppix 5.3.1 DVD I'd made a while back and never used. That automatically found and mounted the CF card, so I might be able to get things working with it.