3. Important Issues and Requirements

There are a couple of known issues with the driver which can be real show-stoppers. It is important that you are aware of them and avoid them, because if you don't you probably won't get the driver working (easily).

3.1 usb-uhci.o

Many users of the driver (but not all) have reported kernel panics and other problems associated with using the driver with usb-uhci.o. For most of these people, the problems went away when uhci.o was used instead. None of this applies if your motherboard requires you use ohci.o.

RedHat 8.0 (and probably other distributions) ship with usb-uhci.o as the default. To change this, edit /etc/modules.conf and

• find the line: alias usb-controller usb-uhci
• replace it with: alias usb-controller uhci
• reboot

Or, if you don't want to reboot, simply run: modprobe -r usb-uhci.o ; modprobe uhci. However, if you have a USB keyboard and don't know the implications of running these commands, save yourself the hassle and just reboot.

3.2 SMP Kernels

There has been a report on the mailing list of big problems with an SMP kernel, which went away when a non-SMP kernel was used. It is therefore highly recommended that you either

• don't use this driver with an SMP kernel until this issue is investigated and resolved
• brace yourself for failure, try the driver with an SMP kernel, and let us know how you got on. (Be sure to read the disclaimer above first).

3.3 Kernel Source Must be Installed

Make sure you have the kernel source installed. To check that you do, run:

• rpm -qa | grep kernel-source

• find the kernel-source-2.4.18-14.i386.rpm file on the RedHat install CDs (CD2).
• run: rpm -Uvh kernel-source-2.4.18-14.i386.rpm to install it

3.4 You Need to be root

You need to be logged in as root to install the driver and configure it.

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