Also if one creates a partition on some device, say /dev/sda becomes /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2 /dev/sda3 after partitioning (which can be done with gnome disk utility, or gparted, or from the command line, and I forget the exact commands now probably "parted mkpart") then "dd if=isofilename.iso of=/dev/sda1" is an instance of placing iso file onto a device that I use. Someone one the list recommended additional options " dd if=isofilename of=devicename obs=4M status=progress oflag=sync" so that the writing process occurs at the right speed (obs option) and it displays progress status, and I am not sure about the last option oflag=sync. but even without these options the writing works. And if anyone has additional comments to this, please enlighten us.