I think the problem with my usb ports is that the permissions are wrong. the 
reason I think this is that lsmod <1>, lspci <2>, and lsusb <3> do detect 
them and I am in groups 'usb' <4>. Do you think I'm on the right track?

to fix this could I:
     chown -R <usar> /*usb* /*USB*

or perhaps 
     chmod -R 777  /*usb* /*USB*

<1>
bmike1@0[~]$ sudo lsmod
 Module Size Used by
 usbserial 28520 1 visor

<2>
 bmike1@0[~]$ sudo lspci -v
 0000:00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 
Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. 
(Wrong ID) USB Controller
 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
 I/O ports at d400 [size=32]

<3>
bmike1@0[~]$ sudo lsusb -v

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               1.10
  bDeviceClass            9 Hub
  bDeviceSubClass         0 Unused
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x0000
  idProduct          0x0000
  bcdDevice            2.06
  iManufacturer           3 Linux 2.6.15-26-386 uhci_hcd
  iProduct                2 UHCI Host Controller
  iSerial                 1 0000:00:07.2
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           25
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0
    bmAttributes         0xc0
      Self Powered
    MaxPower                0mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass         9 Hub
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 Unused
      bInterfaceProtocol      0
      iInterface              0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            3
          Transfer Type            Interrupt
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0002  1x 2 bytes
        bInterval             255
Hub Descriptor:
  bLength               9
  bDescriptorType      41
  nNbrPorts             2
  wHubCharacteristic 0x000a
    No power switching (usb 1.0)
    Per-port overcurrent protection
  bPwrOn2PwrGood        1 * 2 milli seconds
  bHubContrCurrent      0 milli Ampere
  DeviceRemovable    0x48
  PortPwrCtrlMask    0xc0
 Hub Port Status:
   Port 1: 0000.0301 lowspeed power connect
   Port 2: 0000.0100 power
Device Status:     0x0001
  Self Powered

<4>
bmike1@0[~]$ groups bmike1
bmike1 : users tty disk lp uucp dialout fax voice cdrom floppy tape sudo audio 
dip video games lpadmin usb scanner cdrecording camera plugdev
bmike1@0[~]$     
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