I'm running Knoppix 5.1.1 (CD version) on an IBM ThinkPad 600e laptop (192 MB RAM; 400 MHz CPU). Everything boots up okay (but I have to use nodma cheat code).

I'm trying to access an IBM Microdrive (512 MB) through the PCMCIA slot using a PCMCIA adapter. While I can eventually access the drive, and the files that it contains, the process take a very long time - so much so that it really isn't usable.

Once Knoppix has booted up, I insert the PCMCIA adapter containing the Microdrive. There are no beeps to indicate that it has been recognized and configured correctly. After about 5-10 minutes a 'PCMCIA disk [hde1]' icon appears on the desktop. Clicking on the icon to mount it opens a window with a progress bar. The window's heading is 'mounting /dev/hde1' (using source /mnt/hde1). However, the progress bar doesn't change and remains at 0% throughout the mounting process. Finally after a further 5-10 minutes the drive is mounted (indicated by the green arrow on the icon). Clicking the icon invokes Konqueror, but this takes a further 15 minutes(!) or so to display the contents of the Microdrive (hde1).

The stages described above take similar lengths of time when I issue the equivalent commands via a terminal window at the command line.

Any ideas what the problem is? Should I be entering any cheat codes at boot-up to aid PCMCIA access/configuration, or editing specific scripts? (I've noted that Knoppix starts the cardmgr at start-up and also adds an entry for hde1 to the /etc/fstab file.)

I would be extremely grateful for some help/advice.

Tallis