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Re: udev - easy setup ?



Apparently, _Nate Bargmann_, on 05/08/05 13:15,typed:
> * H. S. <greatexcalibur@yahoo.com> [2005 Aug 05 10:54 -0500]:
> 
>>You are not supposed to yant it like that, neither in Windows not in
>>Linux. In Windows, you "Safely Remove" a USB device and in Linux you
>>umount that device prior to removing.
> 
> 
> :)
> 
> But, what did I do that an average computer user doesn't do?  There was
> no prompt telling me to safely remove it, so I yanked it.  Actually, I
> received this computer as part of a training course and I'm trying to
> drop my expertise level so I can see what happens and learn from there.

True, this may not be obvious at first to an average user. I also agree
that most Windows users do not "safely remove" the USB device by right
clicking on the devic's icon in the system tray (lower right corner of
the scree) and choosing "Remove device safely". Most just yank it out
(not recommended at all). Most are lucky because I guess the way those
devices are mounted is that data transfer is done right away on any
operation (instead of flushing data at some suitable time later). So
chances are you will be okay most of the times, but you can loose data
if you are unlucky.

Now, I believe an Windows average user does not read documentation that
comes either with the OS or with the USB device. This ignorance is quite
pronounced in Windows world where reading documentation by an average
user is more or less unheard of ;)  In Linux it is of course different.
I can estimate that almost all Linux users with at least a few months's
experience realize they they should read at least some kind of
documentation. So this unmounting of devices prior to their
disconnection is sort of an alien concept in Windows world (for average
user) and quite familiar with Linux users.

In Linux, I guess the default options of mounting USB device are to
flush data with each write or read so data transfer is not deferred till
later (at least I set it up like that when I made rules for USB disks or
CF cards). So yanking out should work just as well as it should in
Windows (or better). However, the proper method is to umount the device
first and then remove it (or "Remove device safely" in Windows).



<SNIP>

>>unmounted, again all automatically. I asked my wife to try this. She
>>found it no different than in Windows in terms of ease of use. And
>>regarding digital cameras, they are also auto-detected using digikam or
>>gtkam with libgphoto2.
> 
> 
> Good!  I'm glad to see things are coming along.  I don't regularly use
> either of the DEs and just use IceWM, so I haven't seen this
> progression first hand.

Hmm ... If something like this comes along in IceWM, it would be really
great. I have an old computer setup as a router in my home. I am running
IceWM on it and have to manually mount stuff like this the odd times I
have needed to.

->HS


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