USB is notoriously fragile on the beagleboards. In the 2.6.34 
kernel even changing the USB hub could lead to failures.

As far as I know this tested fine for Darren when he was working
with the 2.6.37 kernel on the board, but I need him to confirm
this fact.

Have we tried a keyboard ? Just wondering if the right HID options
are on, and the keyboard provides a user-space event free way to
test the usb support.

I tried a keyboard, it does not work.

There are 2 USB port on the board. One is USB OTG port, another is USB Host port.

With the 20110305 build image from
http://autobuilder.yoctoproject.org/nightly/20110305-4/machines/beagleboard/arm/

The USB Host port can work, when I plug a USB stick:
###############
root@beagleboard:~# usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci-omap and address 2
scsi0 : usb-storage 1-2:1.0
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Netac    OnlyDisk         1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 2009600 512-byte logical blocks: (1.02 GB/981 MiB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
 sda: sda1
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
EXT3-fs: barriers not enabled
kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
EXT3-fs (sda1): using internal journal
EXT3-fs (sda1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode

root@beagleboard:~# 
root@beagleboard:~# mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (rw)
/dev/root on / type ext3 (rw,relatime,errors=continue,barrier=0,data=ordered)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /mnt/.psplash type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=40k)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime)
none on /dev type tmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,gid=5,mode=620)
tmpfs on /var/volatile type tmpfs (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /media/ram type tmpfs (rw,relatime)
/dev/sda1 on /media/sda1 type ext3 (rw,sync,relatime,errors=continue,barrier=0,data=ordered)

###################

But if the filesystem format is fat in the USB stick, It can not be recognized and automatic mounted.

Unfortunately, The USB OTG port still does not work.

Changing the state to accepted, will add the vfat options ASAP.

Note: the vfat options should be in place, or will be soon. There are no
plans to add OTG support.

should be fixed. changing state, adding whiteboard entry.

With 1.1 M1 20110602 build sato-sdk image, the USB does not work again. When I plug a usb stick, it can not be found. There is no message print on the screen.

Branch: 1.1_M1
Commit: b4a215bd94cf1508782e49b1a3f8c6b1f7effbb9

With 20110506 build, the usb stick can be found:
##################
root@beagleboard:~# usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci-omap and address 2
scsi0 : usb-storage 1-2:1.0
scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Netac    OnlyDisk         1.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 2009600 512-byte logical blocks: (1.02 GB/981 MiB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
 sda: sda1
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
#######################

git info with 20110506 build:

commit 856a5e496b7ddd814f6a94552d02074f0ab30842
Author: Saul Wold <sgw@linux.intel.com>
Date:   Fri May 6 20:56:00 2011 -0700

    qemu: Set Broken bit for world build
    
    Signed-off-by: Saul Wold <sgw@linux.intel.com>


Reopen this bug.

Hmm. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would have caused
this to happen. The meta changes we did recently wouldn't have hit this, or even
been in this build.

Luckily we are refreshing the BSP and will be able to re-test this as part of
that work.

Note the the EHCI port on the C4 is 2.0 only, so keyboards and mice do not work unless you connect a USB hub first. Revisions C1-C3 (if I recall correctly) had a flaky vbus line and I don't think there is a reliable fix for that hardware.

Fixed with:

commit ee4dd303b6667a691ed6093b13c226a7466ee31e
Author: Bruce Ashfield <bruce.ashfield@windriver.com>
Date:   Wed Jun 22 16:00:01 2011 -0400

    linux-yocto/meta-yocto: update yocto/standard and beagleboard SRCREVs

Verified it with 20110625 build on beagleboard C4

keyboards and mice can work with a self powered USB hub

Tree/Branch: Poky/Master
Poky Commit: a1f79a7896b6411669b3ccada6204d2695e80fc5