[lug] Palm connection issues, and scripts driven by USB events

[Chris Riddoch]

Hi, folks.

On my laptop running SuSE 10.2, (and presumably other recent distros
as well), the files /dev/ttyUSB0 and ttyUSB1 aren't created until the
corresponding device is detected.  In this case, the device is an old
handspring visor.  It isn't until the visor is instructed to initiate
a hotsync that it even appears to be connected to the laptop.  Then,
there's a rather small window of a few seconds to run anything that
will communicate with the visor.  Since I've been running 10.2, for
whatever reason, the connection will seem to start, but not actually
get to the point of transferring useful data before timing out.  Even
stranger, a desktop system I have that *also* runs 10.2 has no such
problems.  Switching cradles makes no difference, so it seems to be
dependent on the particular machine.  If anyone can point me in a
useful direction in debugging this, I'd appreciate it.

A second question, related:  Assuming I can get normal USB connections
to the visor working at all (without using the old serial cradle and a
USB-to-serial adapter... ick) it would be nice to somehow have a shell
script run when the visor connects.  I've been reading about
hwup/hwdown, but it's become clear that I don't really have a full
picture of all the software involved in the mechanism.  I have a vague
feeling that this process isn't even specific to USB.  Udev?  Hotplug?
 What should I start reading that explains how it all fits together?

-- 
epistemological humility
  Chris Riddoch