Did you try the drivers from here:

http://ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

They say they work with Tiger on both PPC and Intel.

There even newer ones than that. Check out:

http://www.mimomonitors.com/products/mimo-720-S

http://www.mimomonitors.com/products/iMo

This sounds similar to an issue I was having on Windows (Linux worked fine)

See this post:

http://plugcomputer.org/plugforum/index.php?topic=310.msg3823#msg3823

Don't know if my experience is relevant in this case (I was using XP 32-bit), but I had similar symptoms (on Windows boxes, Linux worked fine)

I had previously installed some FTDI drivers (for both a USB-TTL cable for Arduino programming and a FTDI USB to Serial dongle) so I thought Sheeva would be recognized ok. It seemed to be when I plugged in it, but as you describe no virtual COM ports were created. I used FTDI's troubleshooting PDF and it pointed me in the right direction. I looked in Device Manager and changed the view to View Devices by connection and drilled down to the USB port where the USB to Serial Converters were detected. Right-clicking on the device gave me a dialog with an Advanced tab that had a checkbox for Load VCP (virtual com port). As soon as I checked the box for both converters, the COM ports were detected.

Perhaps when you ran the executable package from FTDI, this twiddled the right knobs? I also ran the package but still had issues. I have attached two relevant screen shots for anyone interested.

Title says it all:

http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/SheevaPlug_Installation_guide

I am not the author, just noticed this on the SlimDevices forum and thought I would mention it here.

Glad you got a little farther. Not sure about your new errors though...did you do a saveenv after you made the changes in uboot? I have made the mistake of not doing so more than once...

Modify the file located at:

sheevaplug-installer-alpha-6/scripts-linux/openocd/config/interface/sheevaplug.cfg

with the changes mentioned in the wiki article.

Hopefully that works for you...

I have followed the above instructions and everything seems to work well. However, when booting from the SD card I get the following errors during bootup:

EXT3-fs warning: checktime reached, running e2fsck is recommended
EXT3 FS on mmcblk0p1, internal journal
EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with writeback data mode.
VFS: Mounted root (ext3 filesystem) on device 179:1.
Freeing init memory: 140K
 * Filesystem type 'fusectl' is not supported. Skipping mount.
 * Setting preliminary keymap...                                         [ OK ]
 * Starting kernel event manager...                                      [ OK ]
 * Loading hardware drivers...                                           [ OK ]
 * Loading kernel modules...                                             [ OK ]  * Loading manual drivers...
 * Setting kernel variables (/etc/sysctl.conf)...                               Unknown HZ value! (94) Assume 100.
                                                                         [ OK ]
 * Setting kernel variables (/etc/sysctl.d/10-console-messages.conf)...         Unknown HZ value! (94) Assume 100.
                                                                         [ OK ]
 * Setting kernel variables (/etc/sysctl.d/10-network-security.conf)...         Unknown HZ value! (94) Assume 100.
                                                                         [ OK ]
 * Setting kernel variables (/etc/sysctl.d/10-process-security.conf)...         Unknown HZ value! (94) Assume 100.
                                                                         [ OK ]

The system seems to boot and run fine. I removed the SD card with the root file system and restarted the plug this time telling u-boot to boot from internal flash and those errors disappeared. I did a quick google and saw one user with Gentoo on a plug experiencing something similar but not quite the same (he hasn't solved his problem either). Anyone have any idea what might be causing the errors? The files should be exactly the same on both the flash and the SD card....

Thanks in advance

That did the trick. Much appreciated!

Can I safely assume that I am not crazy and the wiki article here:

http://plugcomputer.org/plugwiki/index.php/Install_Prebuilt_Kernels_From_sheeva.with-linux.com

is no longer correct, given the steps I followed? (new unit out of box re-flashed using alpha installer, and then trying the drop kernel steps)

Thanks very much for the help. This is one of the friendly boards I have ever been on 

Gave that a try, still have a kernel panic (although slightly different):

UBIFS error (pid 1): ubifs_get_sb: cannot open "ubi0:rootfs", error -19
VFS: Cannot open root device "ubi0:rootfs" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
1f00            4096 mtdblock0 (driver?)
1f01          519168 mtdblock1 (driver?)
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
[<c00309c0>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xe0) from [<c003db50>] (panic+0x50/0x120)
[<c003db50>] (panic+0x50/0x120) from [<c0008ec0>] (mount_block_root+0x1d4/0x214)
[<c0008ec0>] (mount_block_root+0x1d4/0x214) from [<c000908c>] (prepare_namespace+0x90/0x1c4)
[<c000908c>] (prepare_namespace+0x90/0x1c4) from [<c0008734>] (kernel_init+0xc0/0xec)
[<c0008734>] (kernel_init+0xc0/0xec) from [<c0040b3c>] (do_exit+0x0/0x6ac)

Apologies in advance for the newbie question...

I just received my plug and have successfully used the alpha installer to bring the device up to kernel 2.6.30-rc6. Everything seemed fine. I then tried to follow the instructions in the wiki to install the 'drop-in' kernels from cbxbiker61. Everything seemed okay except when it came to setting the uboot environment variables. The types of variables mentioned in the wiki did not match what was on my plug (I know the actual content may differ slightly). I did my best to make the required changes, but upon reboot the plug kernel panics. The out put of printenv and the relevant portions of the panic follow. Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Environment size: 1992/131068 bytes
Marvell>>
baudrate=115200
loads_echo=0
ipaddr=10.4.50.165
serverip=10.4.50.5
rootpath=/mnt/ARM_FS/
netmask=255.255.255.0
CASset=min
MALLOC_len=1
ethprime=egiga0
bootargs_end=:::DB88FXX81:eth0:none
image_name=uImage
standalone=fsload 0x2000000 $(image_name);setenv bootargs $(console) root=/dev/mtdblock0 rw ip=$(ipaddr):$(serverip)$(bootargs_end) $(mvPhoneConfig); bootm 0x2000000;
ethmtu=1500
mvPhoneConfig=mv_phone_config=dev0:fxs,dev1:fxs
mvNetConfig=mv_net_config=(00:11:88:0f:62:81,0:1:2:3),mtu=1500
usb0Mode=host
yuk_ethaddr=00:00:00:EE:51:81
nandEcc=1bit
netretry=no
rcvrip=169.254.100.100
loadaddr=0x02000000
autoload=no
ethact=egiga0
mtdpartitions=mtdparts=orion_nand:0x400000@0x100000(uImage),0x1fb00000@0x500000(rootfs)
ethaddr=00:62:81:a0:00:00
real_bootcmd=setenv bootargs $(bootargs_console) $(mtdpartitions) $(bootargs_root); nand read.e 0x00800000 0x00100000 0x00400000; bootm 0x00800000
bootargs_console=console=ttyS0,115200
recover1=setenv mainlineLinux yes; setenv arcNumber 2097; setenv bootcmd run recover2; saveenv; reset
recover2=run recover3; setenv bootcmd $(real_bootcmd); saveenv; setenv bootargs $(bootargs_console) $(mtdpartitions); bootm 0x00800000 0x01100000
recover3=run recover4; nand erase clean 0x00100000 0x00400000; nand write.e 0x00800000 0x00100000 0x00400000
recover4=usb start; fatload usb 0 0x00800000 uImage; fatload usb 0 0x01100000 initrd
filesize=1CAE6D
bootcmd=setenv bootargs $(bootargs_console) $(mtdpartitions) $(bootargs_root); nand read.e 0x00800000 0x00100000 0x00400000; bootm 0x00800000
arcNumber=2097
bootargs_root=bootargs_root=ubi.mtd=1 root=ubi0:rootfs rootfstype=jffs2
console=console=ttyS0,115200 mtdparts=orion_nand:0xc0000@0(uboot)ro,0x1ff00000@0x100000(root)
stdin=serial
stdout=serial
stderr=serial
mainlineLinux=yes
enaMonExt=no
enaCpuStream=no
enaWrAllo=no
pexMode=RC
disL2Cache=no
setL2CacheWT=yes
disL2Prefetch=yes
enaICPref=yes
enaDCPref=yes
sata_dma_mode=yes
netbsd_en=no
vxworks_en=no
bootdelay=3
disaMvPnp=no
enaAutoRecovery=yes


VFS: Cannot open root device "ubi0:rootfs" or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
1f00            4096 mtdblock0 (driver?)
1f01          519168 mtdblock1 (driver?)
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)
[<c00309c0>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xe0) from [<c003db50>] (panic+0x50/0x120)
[<c003db50>] (panic+0x50/0x120) from [<c0008ec0>] (mount_block_root+0x1d4/0x214)
[<c0008ec0>] (mount_block_root+0x1d4/0x214) from [<c000908c>] (prepare_namespace+0x90/0x1c4)
[<c000908c>] (prepare_namespace+0x90/0x1c4) from [<c0008734>] (kernel_init+0xc0/0xec)
[<c0008734>] (kernel_init+0xc0/0xec) from [<c0040b3c>] (do_exit+0x0/0x6ac)

Since I just started playing around with my plug, I just noticed these messages today as well. Can I assume that they are innocuous?

Just wanted to add a note of thanks to fragfutter. Having finally gotten a Sheevaplug last Friday, I immediately tried to update it via the installer and could not figure it why the plug wasn't being detected. This information solved my problem and prevented me from punching a kitten this morning :-) Thanks again.

I don't believe I was clear, although the MIMO monitor solution sounds very interesting.

I want to have the application not only log the data on the plug, but export the HTML that would normally go to another host be exported locally to be displayed by a local webserver. The actual viewing of the content would take place on any other PC on the network with the web browser. I can assume this can be setup, but the screenshots on the site are a little hard to read.

I really like the idea about the MIMO monitor though. Now if I could only get Globalscale to call me back...

I am very interested in this port but have one question...

Looking at the overview slides on your website, meteohub is designed to send data to another server for display. Can it be configured on a plug so that a local webserver can display the data? That way I just need a weather station and the plug to have a complete solution out of the box.

Thanks in advance.