[ltp] Re: PCMCIA USB port cards under Linux?

[John Sullivan]

Mendel Cooper <thegrendel@theriver.com> writes:

> Is there Linux support for PCMCIA USB cards? Specifically,
> the type of PCMCIA cards that give you 2 or 4 USB 2.0 ports.
> Has anyone had any success with these on a Thinkpad? Any issues?
> Did the 2.4 series kernels have this support?
>
> I'm thinking of getting one of these to try with my TP A31 (builtin USB
> 1.1 only)  and possibly also to play with on my TP 760XD (no builtin
> USB at all). The 760 runs a 2.4.21 kernel (not enough oomph for 2.6),
> so hopefully it would still work. . . .

I'm successfully using such a card (2 port) on my old A21m. I think it's an
IOGear, but I'd have to check to be sure.

I did run into something weird with it. It seems like when I tried to have both
my USB TV Tuner and my external drive enclosure plugged into the card at the
same time, only one of the devices showed power --- despite the fact that they
both have external power. But plugging a hub into the card, and connecting both
devices to the hub, works fine, so I didn't explore it further. 

I should mention also that this A21m has some kind of short in the built-in
USB, so that if I plug anything into it, the computer shuts off :/. That's why
I bought the card in the first place.

That machine runs Debian sarge, with a 2.6.8 kernel. I'm almost certain that I
used the card when I was still using a 2.4 kernel though too.

-- 
-John Sullivan
-http://www.wjsullivan.net
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