Re: Gnome Pilot Causing USB Drive problems (version 2.0.10)]

[mcdavey mrao cam ac uk]

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On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 10:36:10 CDT, Sam Williams wrote:
> On Sun, 2004-09-05 at 22:59, JP Rosevear wrote:
> > On Wed, 2004-09-01 at 21:52 -0500, Sam Williams wrote:
> > > There is a serious problem with gpilotd that would allow this
> > > interaction to occur. First, the daemon doesn't allow easy or flawless
> > > hotsyncing for my Clie and now I find that it gets in the way of normal
> > > usbdrive operation....
> > >
> > > Please look into this and see where the problem might exist.
> >
> > Gnome Pilot does not interact directly with USB in the kernel, it simply
> > accesses a serial to usb device bridge provided by the visor module, the
>
> Actually its very simple. I thought my initial documentation explained
> it, but I'll try to be a little more succinct. If I try to mount a

Sam, we can feel your frustration!

Clearly you have a problem that goes away when gpilotd is killed or
suspended, but that doesn't necessarily mean that gnome-pilot code
is at fault.

Thanks for your detailed bug report.  I had a go reproducing the
problem with a card reader, and certainly find the USB writing
can get screwed up.  I've been able to reproduce your symptoms,
but having gpilotd running isn't the only way to do it: my first
test, copying a big file, bombed out when I did a 'df' while
the file was copying.

googling for one of your error messages: 'control timeout on ep0in'
yielded the following:
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-list/2004-August/msg00071.html

which suggests that the problem may lie in not having a powered USB
hub.  See if you can get hold of a powered hub and see if that solves
your problem.

The reason gnome-pilot interferes with your card is that, every 2s,
it examines the /proc/bus/usb/devices file, which causes extra
work on the usb hub.  This seems to be enough to drop power to
your card reader and cause the problems.

> On top of all this I find gpilotd extremely intermittent with hotsyncing
> my Clie.

Have you tried increasing the timeout?  Fire up gpilotd-control-applet,
go to devices, edit, and increase the timeout to 100.

Let us know how you get on.

Matt

p.s. like the Douglas Adams quote...