newbie usb

Hi to everybody.
I run knoppix 3.4 on my hd but noticed one problem really important. I run it
on
my laptop so some devices are external with usb cable.
These devices are: cdrw and dvdrw.
Although knoppix doesn't fail by recognizing my usb printer and my usb stick or
the usb hd, i won't get through by mounting and using the other two.
Any suggestion?
And again: i would like to use only the 2.6.5 kernel. Is there something I can
do to make it the default kernel to boot?

Thank you all in advance

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