Hey all - it's obvious (or will be) that I'm a noob at Linux (at least to the Knoppix variety). I'm using Knoppix to learn more about this operating system and as an aid at work for when I need Linux but don't want to do the VMWare thing on my laptop.

Anyway -- Knoppix is booting fine - no error messages regarding USB, etc. I see USB being recognized in the boot process. I can also see the 3 USB controllers on my Dell Inspiron 700m when I use USB View. But - my USB thumb drive is not being recognized even when its on the slot at bootup. I've also tried to mount it by first creating a directory called /mnt/usbdrive and then using this command: mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbdrive (this all done using the root shell)

The error I get when I try that mount command is that /dev/sda1 is not a valid block address ("address" may not be the exact term but you get my drift) even though I can go to the /dev directory and see "sda1". So -- I really need to be able to put the files I create in Knoppix somewhere and to be able to use things created elsewhere in Knoppix; the USB drive seems the obvious choice. But -- how to I get Knoppix to recognized the actual USB thumb drive that is in the USB plug? Knoppix is crippled without this ability.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.