Summary

SuSE Linux 9.0 Professional recognized the iRiver iHP-140 when it was plugged into the USB port and mounted it as a mass storage device -- OUT OF THE BOX. No additional driver installation was required. I copied about 8 Gigabytes of my Ogg Vorbis encoded music to the iHP-140. The device searches whatever directory structure is created and recognizes which files are playable. My OGG files play fine. Since it is merely a mass storage device any kind of file can be copied to and from the device, so it can also be used as backup media.

My previous review was done on SuSE 9.0. I'm using SuSE 9.1 now, and there are some new developments. My PC has had intermittent communications problems when talking to the iHP-140 frequent enough to make me grit my teeth any time I decide I want to upload more music. While uploading data the link locks up. Often there is a corrupt file name left behind which the Linux system reports has an impossibly large file size, and due to the garbage in the file names I haven't yet been able to figure out how to delete the files. This is also most likely to happen in conjunction with moving files from one directory to another or when renaming files. These are the same files on the same system that I used when testing with SuSE 9.0. Basically, the iHP-140 unit is still adequately functional, but can be counted on to do something annoying eventually. I don't know where the problem is. The 2.6 kernel? Changes in the USBdevfs?

I'm now on SuSE Linux 9.2 Professional and there are again new developments. Everything is working perfectly again. With SuSE 9.2 I was able to use Konquerer to delete the bad files created when I was using SuSE 9.1 to upload Ogg files. I've moved about 12G of Ogg music with no problems or errors.

The three previous comments for SuSE 9.0, 9.1, and 9.2 are mine. The last problems with USB were all completely solved in SuSE 9.3. All my systems are currently on SuSE 10.0 and 10.1 and there are still zero issues with this player. Plug n Play at its finest. Works perfectly.