OK, I have a few friends who use USB keys (and hope to join them soonish). This is really quite trivial. I know how to mount the keys (thanks to Google ) using::
mount -t vfat -oumask=0000 /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbkey

However, I would like to automount them when they are plugged in (ala CD-ROMs and floppy drives) and I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice.

Cheers,
Dan

I'm not sure if you can make the keyring automount in Red Hat 9 simply. Since these devices are USB, it requires some hot plug scripting to work properly, and I'm not sure that can be done automatically without writing some custom scripts. What you can do however is add a line like this to your /etc/fstab file:
/dev/sda1 /mnt/usbkey vfat noauto,user 0 0

next create a link to /dev/sda1 on your desktop (ie KDE). Then you can mount/unmount the drive with your mouse.

BTW I like the poem at the end of your signature. Who's the author?

I havn't figured out how to do it yet. I'm using Slack8.1, not sure whether it's worth me upgrading or no, seeing that my Linuxbox is a 200mhz POS. Hopefully I'll be able to put Linux on a newer box when we get one.

Hey, do you know how to get the two modprobes (usb-storage & usb-uhci(?)) to autoload? Right now I have to type both in the console before I can mount my usb keys.... Or did RH9 just make it easier for you?

I have the line I listed above in my fstab file for a usb 2.0 hard drive and it works fine. The modules were loaded automatically for me, buy you should be able to make them load automatically. Check the conf.modules/modules.conf file in your /etc directory to see if you have an alias for it. If not, you may want to add one. Also make sure the dependencies are set up in the /lib/modules/<kernel-specific>/modules.dep file.

Hi,

I might be wrong, but can't you edit your /etc/auto.misc file to mount your USB drive when you access it? You could have it mount when you try and access your key drive, and then unmount itself after however long you want?

>Craig

I'm a newbie myself, but I found this link that helped me get my USB key working with Redhat9. Sorry if this is no help, I'm just trying to give back to the community that has helped me so kindly. Try this article if you're having problems with USB thumb drives.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1256789,00.asp

Not much to add, in SuSe 8.2, the USB key loaded onto KDE fairly easily as sda1 and a desktop icon is listed. The same can not be said for Gnome.

In KDE, the key seems to load automatically, I have left it in the USB port at home and have turned the machine off several times since leaving it, and it always comes up the same in kde. Its always absent in Gnome.