Thanks for the input, I'm still stuck.

@Kevin:
> Your problem is right there.
> You have noexec as a mount option.
> Remove it and everything should work.
  "noexec" ?  Huh?  Where?
Where does "noexec" in /etc/mtab come from?
Since this is primarily for data storage, execution was never a concern.
  My /etc/fstab lists "users", and (for mount, umount) that works okay.
Originally it included "UID=49" which is "plg-dev", an unlisted system user.
ls listings originally showed plg-dev as owner, but only in an Ubuntu boot.
I have yet to see ls display "users" for group ownership.

@Alan:
  Totally correct.  I understand the vfat permission limitations.
The chgrp operation seems not very appropriate in a vfat system.
So, why does ls show LIMITED permissions (and root ownership)?
I don't even know how Linux can keep track.
So, for vfat filesystem:
Is it NOT possible for Linux to set group ownership to users?

My basic problem still is:
No one but root can create or copy files/directories onto that partition.

  (-:  Chas.M.  :-)

> Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:41:58 -0700
> Subject: Re: Operation (by root) not permitted
> From: adayley@gmail.com
> To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> 
> You are attempting to change "Linux style" group settings on files in
> a vfat file system.  That will not work.  The vfat file system does
> not have a way to set or change group ownership.
> 
> The error message is not worded very well.  It should say something
> like "Cannot set group ownership in vfat (FAT32) file system"
> 
> Alan
> 
> On Sun, Aug 29, 2010 at 9:52 PM, ChasM Marshall <chasm750@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >   Hiya,
> >
> >   Okay, I'm baffled.  What in the Ubuntu 9.07 is going on here?
> >
> > # uname -a
> > Linux BlueBeast.localhost 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17
> > 01:57:59 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux
> >
> >  Logged in as root I've edited /etc/fstab.
> > I want the /Meta vfat partition completely open (unlocked).
> >
> > # cat /etc/fstab
> >  # /Meta was /dev/sda5
> >  UUID=45F2-140B  /Meta     vfat    utf8,users,noauto   0       1
> >
> > # mount
> >  /dev/sda5 on /Meta type vfat (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,utf8)
> >
> > # cat /etc/mtab
> >  /dev/sda5 /Meta vfat rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,utf8 0 0
> >
> > # ls -al
> >  drwxr-xr-x   3 root root 4096 1969-12-31 17:00 Meta
> >
> > # chgrp -hR users /Meta
> >  chgrp: changing group of `/Meta/Linux/TextTest.txt': Operation not
> > permitted
> >  chgrp: changing group of `/Meta/Linux': Operation not permitted
> >  chgrp: changing group of `/Meta/TextTest.txt': Operation not permitted
> >  chgrp: changing group of `/Meta/FireFoxMint.jpg': Operation not permitted
> >  chgrp: changing group of `/Meta/FireFoxFedora.jpeg': Operation not
> > permitted
> >  chgrp: changing group of `/Meta/FireFoxSuSE.jpg': Operation not permitted
> >  chgrp: changing group of `/Meta/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-190.53-pkg1.run':
> > Operation not permitted
> >  chgrp: changing group of `/Meta': Operation not permitted
> >
> >  I can not figure out what in Ubuntu (Mint 7) stops root (#) from assigning
> > permissions here.
> > Can you?
> >  This vfat partition was created in SuSE 9.3 and used mkdosfs to create the
> > file system.
> > /Meta is a common mount point (folder?) for multiple of my Linux distros.
> > But it's getting harder to use.
> > As root, it functions okay (mostly) as a common data folder.  I want to give
> > access to all users
> > of any current-booted Linux.  In SuSE 10.3 the process required a new
> > /etc/fstab entry followed
> > by the chgrp command as above.  But in Ubuntu, I'm a bit lost.
> > Here I can see a disagreement between /etc/fstab and /etc/mtab that I can't
> > reconcile.
> >
> >   It may be a while before I can return to the PLUG mail list.  So be
> > patient with me.
> >
> >   (-:  Chas.M.  :-)
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