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Memory Stick, 8887

post #1 of 12
3/15/03 at 8:51pm
Thread Starter 
Hi everybody,

I recently loaded up SuSE 8.1 on my brand new 8887 and I am still trying to get a few things to work. So far I cannot see the Sony memory stick reader, which I really want, since I have a Sony digital camera. Anybody get this working with kernel 2.4.19? I'm wondering if the memory stick is related to the pcmcia card slots?

I am in the process of downloading a few things, namely XFree86 4.3.0, SuSE's latest kernel offering, and KDE 3.1. Perhaps upgrading the kernel will solve the memory stick problem?

So far this laptop rocks. Once I get accelerated graphics and hyperthreading enabled, it will be all the better.

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post #2 of 12
3/17/03 at 1:31pm
Did you mount the device?

mount /dev/sda1 as a msdos (FAT12) partition

As a side note, be sure to umount before ejecting.
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post #3 of 12
3/18/03 at 12:36am
Thread Starter 
harrelld,

Thanks for the response.

However, no I didn't mount the device because the device is not recognized. /dev/sda1 is the mp3 player's mmc card, not the memory stick. All other /dev/sda* devices give an error when I try to mount them. (The error says that the device is not a valid block device)

BTW, I am using the command:

mount -t msdos /dev/sda* /media/stick

A couple more things:

(1) /media/stick does exist and the permissions are drwxr-xr-x

(2) The memory stick in question has a valid msdos file system on it (FAT16, never heard of FAT12) and it works in the reader attached to my windows computer.

I'm still curious if anybody has the memory stick working with any distribution of linux, and if so, what kernel and patches were required.
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post #4 of 12
3/18/03 at 4:03am

I run Mandrake 9.1rc2.

It seems to work fine, some things I had to learn about how Mandrake runs, but I'm fine now. As for overall useability, I prefer RH still, but until I can get it to boot and insstall properly as well, I'm staying here.

Both RH and MDK had problems during the install. Haven't tried RH 8.1 though. Once I see that it is stable, I'll definitely be heading back there. If it gives problems though, Debian with a crap load of upgrades will be where I get to.

FWIW.
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post #5 of 12
3/18/03 at 10:56am
There are three modules required to make this work:

uhci
usb-storage
usbcore

Once these modules are loaded, you should be able to plug in your memory card reader and memory stick and it be automatically detected. (Although you may have to reboot, I don't recall having to do this.)

One note of caution, I have noticed that the usb-storage module uses a lot of system resources when idle. You might want to unload this module if you are not going to be using it for a while.

Be sure to unmount before unplugging reader or removing card.

btw - FAT12 is old ms-dos floppy file system
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post #6 of 12
3/18/03 at 3:41pm
Thread Starter 
Maybe there is some confusion here. There is no need to plug in a memory stick reader, the reader is built into the 8887. It is a slot on the left side of the laptop.

Never the less, I did an lsmod and found that the folowing modules were loaded, usbcore, usb-uhci, and usbserial.

I did a modprobe usb-storage, which loaded the module, but still cannot mount the memory card. Perhaps the built in memory stick uses a different device (other than /dev/sda*) ??? When I had XP loaded on the laptop, a special driver was required to be loaded from the driver disk that came with the laptop before the memory stick reader could be seen.
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post #7 of 12
3/18/03 at 4:04pm
This is my take on matters, harrelld may infact be right... just because the reader is mounted in the case, surely clevco haven't went to the bother of creating a whole new interface to interact with the device?

So my guess is, it's probably a modified USB device..? right?

I would have a look at other linux forums to see if you can find out anymore info...

sorry couldn't have been of more help

NeoCORE
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post #8 of 12
3/18/03 at 4:06pm
Quote:
Originally posted by NeoCORE
This is my take on matters, harrelld may infact be right... just because the reader is mounted in the case, surely clevco haven't went to the bother of creating a whole new interface to interact with the device?

So my guess is, it's probably a modified USB device..? right?

I would have a look at other linux forums to see if you can find out anymore info...

sorry couldn't have been of more help

NeoCORE
Not to intrude, but this was my theory for not only the memory stick reader, but also the mp3 player. While the player has a proprietary connection to the laptop, my guess is that this is a USB-connected device on the other end.

-myrkat
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post #9 of 12
3/18/03 at 6:50pm
Thread Starter 
Yes, I believe you guys are correct, at least with regards to the mp3 player. The mp3 player was recognized immediately after install without me having to load any additional modules.

I have been suspecting that the memory stick may be a pcmcia device, as opposed to a usb device. In the KDE control panel, under information => pcmcia, it says "No PCMCIA controller dectected".

I think I have read on one of these forums that to get pcmcia working, I will need to upgrade and/or patch my kernel. I guess I will try that next.

Thanks
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post #10 of 12
3/18/03 at 6:56pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Symlink
... I have been suspecting that the memory stick may be a pcmcia device, as opposed to a usb device...
Wouldn't that be interesting! That means 3 Type II slots? Technically? Interesting.

-myrkat

-----
Doc, I've come from the future in a time machine that you invented!
-Great Scott! Do you know what this means!?! This damn thing doesn't work!
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post #11 of 12
3/18/03 at 7:48pm
Thread Starter 
Well, I think I am now coming to the conclusion that the memory stick does indeed have its own proprietary interface. Looks like the interface is a WinBond W86L387D host interface bridge.
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post #12 of 12
3/21/03 at 1:44am
As I understand it, the MP3 player uses a USB 1.1 connection.
The WinBond bridge just converts the pin out on the stick to a USB out.
Thinking along this thought.

mkdir /media/memstick
modprobe usbstorage
mount -t /dev/sda2 /media/memstick
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