[GLLUG] Simulating a USB plug-in event

[John Winters]

Here's a little thing that's been niggling me for a while.

In my latest PC I've got one of those panels which accept a wide variety 
of flash memory cards - SDHC, uSD, Compact Flash, etc.  It works fine 
with Linux except for one point.  When you want to remove a card you 
have to be very careful which unmount option you choose.  Gnome now 
offers "Eject" and "Safely remove drive", and I have seen desktops which 
offer three different options.  If I do an "Eject" from the Gnome 
desktop, all is well, but if I choose "Safely remove drive" then the 
whole device is powered off and can't be used again until the computer 
is re-booted.  To further confuse matters, the Gnome pop-up which 
appears when you insert a card also has an "Eject" button, but it works 
like the "Safely remove drive" option in the desktop, and not like the 
"Eject" one.

I've learned which one to use, but occasionally someone else will use my 
machine and choose one at random, rendering the slots unusable without a 
re-boot.  It seems that what happens is the USB power is cut off and 
can't be restored without un-plugging and re-inserting the USB device, 
which as it's built into the computer is a bit difficult.

So my question - I've been hunting for a way to get the computer to 
re-initialise the USB device, without actually unplugging and 
re-plugging (or re-booting the computer), so far without success. 
Anyone know if there's a way this can be done?

TIA,
John