Memory card reader (USB port) : ins and outs ?

[Vincent Trouilliez]

> It is by no means obvious that the problem is with Ubuntu at all; you are
> using a different device after all.  Try a simple USB "stick"/"key" and see
> if it works for you.
> 
> -- 
>  - mdz

Okay, after a good night of sleep, I did some more experiments with that
card reader. I commented out the mount point I put last night in fstab,
then removed the memory card, put it back in, and oh magic, it was
mounted instantly, and Nautilus got the message as well, perfect. I
removed/inserted it 3 times i a row, and it worked flawlessly.

That's when I start Warty with the reader already plugged in, and the
'sdx' devices for the empty slots are created.
But if I start the machine with the reader NOT plugged into the USB port
of the motherboard, Warty will not create the devices, and inserting a
memory card as a consequence doesn't trigger anything :o(
I tried "sudo modprobe -r sg" then "sudo modprobe sg", but it doesn't
want to create the 4 sda/b/c/d devices.

I guess that's a clue ? What service is responsible for scanning for
hotplugged drives/devices, and create the appropriate devices ?
Maybe it's somehow faulty on my system, or just plain turned off ? Or it
just needs some kind of configuration/option to work on my machine ?

I see in another thread, that "HALD" is responsible for automounting
partitions ? This is apparently running in my system( looked with 'top')
and seems to work when I insert a memory card...iiiiif the devices for
the reader were created beforehand.
Could it be 'hotpplug" that creates the devices at boot, but fails to
created them when the reader is hotplugged ? Can I force hotplug (or
whatever service is in cause) to scan the USB ports to detect the
reader ?

Regards,

--
Vince