Help: No USB for TP i1200 Running Fedora Core 6

[mactastic]

I have installed Linux (Fedora Core 6 distro) onto my i1200 (1161-43A). With the max-out 320Mb ram and a new HD 40Gb, Linux runs smoothly. Using a PCMCIA Ethernet Card, I can connect to home network and surf the web out of the box, without any tweaking of the Linux kernel.

However, I hit one snag i.e. no usb. I need to disable usb in order to run the Fedora Core 6 installer. After installation, I again need to disable usb at boot time before FC6 can start. Effectively, no usb port attachment can be used, e.g. no floppy disk drive (that came with the i1200), no thumb drive, no digicam, no SD/CF card readers, etc. This is a major handicap.

Is there any forum member able to run Linux on their i1200 (or i1300) with full usb functionality? Please help!