linux drivers

[Marco_113]

Hi all
i've a problem with a device usb with linux rh 4.2
When i put it on the server, redhat load a driver to make it work.
I would like to load another driver associated to that usb device.
How can i do?
Where can i find a list of all drivers and kernel modules (used and not) on rh 4.2?
Thanks,
Marco

[g33k]

lsmod

should show you loaded modules...

lsusb should show you pluged usb devices,

modprob name_of_modul will load the modul...

and there is also posibility to unload modul, but it must be supported by kernel, which in most distribution is not...

rmmod name_of_module should unload module

more info here http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.3-Manual/custom-guide/ch-kernel-modules.html

[Alexander Chuzhoy]

in /etc/modprobe.conf there're aliases to drivers. You can append/replace an entry based on examples that already exist in the file.

[Matti_Kurkela]

If it is really RedHat 4.2, it's very, very old: it was released in 1997, with a 2.0.30 kernel. If you meant Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 2, please say so.

In fact, the now-standard Linux USB subsystem was not there in RedHat 4.2 yet: the beginnings of it appeared in kernel 2.2.7.

It appears that RedHat 4.2 as released did not have any USB support at all. If an USB mouse and/or keyboard works, it may be because the server's BIOS makes them look like standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard if the operating system does not know how to use USB.

Here's a place which still has RedHat 4.2 distribution available:
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/historic-linux/distributions/redhat/4.2/i386/
Note that the installation documents don't even mention USB anywhere in them.

Of course, someone may have upgraded that OS with a newer kernel and may have added all the necessary tools for USB too. At that time, there was several kinds of USB hotplug helper utilities: if someone has upgraded RedHat 4.2 by compiling the necessary USB tools from source code, there is no way to know which of the various choices he might have used.

Anyway, back then the /etc/modprobe.conf had a different name. It was either /etc/modules.conf or it might have been even /etc/conf.modules. The "alias" directives in that file still work the same now as then.

The "lsmod" command will list all kernel modules that are in use. To find out what is available, you have to use "uname -r" to find out your kernel version number and then look in /lib/modules/ directory tree. It will contain all the kernel modules available for your current kernel.

If a command "modinfo" exists, you can use it to get a description and some parameter information from each kernel module. But even that might be too modern to exist in RH 4.2.

[Marco_113]

Thanks all.
Linux in question is RedHat AS 4 update 2.

[Matti_Kurkela · Accepted solution]

(Sorry about the delay!)

RedHat AS4 uses 2.6 series kernel, with all the new hotplug and udev subsystems.

The hotplug subsystem controls autoloading of modules when devices are plugged in. Its configuration files are in /etc/hotplug directory.

To disable a certain driver from autoloading, find out the module name and add it to /etc/hotplug/blacklist. After that, the driver module in question will not be loaded automatically any more. You could then load another driver manually, if you wish.

To modify which module gets loaded automatically for a given USB device, you need to learn about USB hotplug map files.

All USB devices have various identification numbers readable through the USB bus: vendor ID, product ID, device class, subclass & protocol IDs and more. You have to find out these numbers for your device (the "lsusb" command helps in that) and choose the right combination of identifications that will uniquely identify your device.

The /etc/hotplug/usb.distmap file has a comment which describes the structure of the map files. All the /etc/hotplug/usb.*map and /etc/hotplug/usb/*.usermap files have the same structure, but some files will be overwritten if/when the hotplug subsystem is upgraded. I think the best way would be to create your own /etc/hotplug/usb/*.usermap file: this way your own customizations can be clearly documented.

You can use the blacklist method for quick testing. If you want a more complete solution, you can remove the blacklist entry and create the map file instead.

[Lakshmi Narayanan]

Hi Marco,
To install a new driver or a device for USB, try with this.
"kudzu" (just type kudzu in a terminal and wait for a while)
it will detect any plug & play device and automatically installs its software( I mean its only for usb devices or drivers)
Hope this will help you.
kindly check with this.
Bye,
Have a nice day