Got a circuit city n800 for christmas...love it!
I updated to 2008 right off the bat and have been learning all I can.

Recently I had been trying to use a usb keyboard and cf card reader. I tried to go into host mode as well as trying to build a cable that autoswitches. i swear I did a good job on the cable and it should work, but it doesnt. Also, i cannot get past sudo gainroot and the busybox message, when i try to echo host i do not get any message, error or otherwise in response to the input.

Also, the tablet is not recognized when i plug it into my pc. Is this normal? I thought that it would show up in my computer like an external drive or something. I have just gotten an 8gb sd and want to transfer files.

I have tried multiple cables, as well as testing everything on other computers to make sure everything works correctly.

I have rebooted all devices and have taken the battery out of the tablet and rebooted.

I did the first step of updating the os to see if the little usb icon would show up. It did, but I do not know if that really tells me anything.

Still nothing.

Any ideas?

I had trouble with cut/paste in xterm. Check the commands again, that could explain the lack of confirmation. Second check that the mode file still exists. After that I would backup and reflash. I'm no expert though

I use everyday a usb keyboard with my n800... you could check if the cable is done correctly and if there are no short-circuits. If the cable was manufactured wrong, then it may be no way to use the fried usb port. If not you could try to set the tablet to host mode.
To put the n800 in host or otg mode you have to be root. In order to be root you have to put the tablet in R&D mode using flasher 3.0.
After getting root with "sudo gainroot" try this:
"echo host> /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc/mode"
and to put it back to otg (to connect it to PC):
"echo otg> /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc/mode"

If this doesnt work reflash it, and try again.

Good Luck

LE: by the way, you dont get any message after echoing.