Since you probably have the stock mandrake kernel, You probably have a properly working USB subsystem, asuming you installed it, right? (: If you didn't fool around with the install too much, it should be there.
The USB modules and usbdevfs should all be working per default, no user interaction should be neccesary.. I don't know much of usbview, but have you tried just mounting the drive? (:
Code:
mkdir -p /mnt/usb
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb
If all goes well, it now mounted under /mnt/usb. The device might vary basing on what port you shove it in. It could be sda2, sda3, etc etc, or sdb1, sdb2, etc etc.. You can use the command dmesg right after connecting the appliance to verify that the USB sybsystem found it and assigned a device for it. The output of dmesg is very long, but all that you need to read is prolly in the last screenfull.
Oh, and btw, its usually wise to connect USB storage appliances in this order:
Connect cable to appliance and then computer, then power the computer (if not already powered on) and then the appliance. Wait a few seconds before attemting to interact with the device. Its sometimes crucial not to have power in the device before connecting it.. And sometimes it just wont work, power down the device and try again. (e.g. my digicam always fails the first attempt but usually works on the second.. (: )