mkusb version 8.3 is uploaded to Phill's server

[Nio Wiklund]

Dear fellow Lubuntu users,


I have uploaded mkusb version 8.3 to Phill's server. I think it is ready
to be used by several more people now. I think it is a good alternative
to the Startup Disk Creator and Unetbootin in order to create USB boot
drives. It is fast and reliable, and I hope it will be easy to use.

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The following information is extracted from this wiki page

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb
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*mkusb version 8.3*


The new version of the mkusb tool, version 8.3, is still only a bash script.

Previous versions have been running in crude text mode, but people want
eye candy, so I've made menus with 'dialog' (big brother of 'whiptail'
used by for example the installers of Ubuntu mini.iso and Lubuntu's
alternate iso file). File selection uses 'zenity' in desktop
environments and 'dialog' in text screens.

The identification of devices is also improved (replaced calling 'parted
-ls' with a home-made bash function) based on the bash string found by
the command

grep by-id mkusb


*Improvements and new features*

 * Improved identification of devices

 * Cloning from uncompressed image files, 'file.img' (new feature,
earlier only from compressed image files)

 * Menu shell with menus to

  * find and select input file alias source in the cloning process
    'source file --> target drive'

  * select wipe the first megabyte (actually mibibyte MiB)

  * find and select target device (typically but now always a USB drive)

  * help double-check selecting the correct device (check-points and
    warnings)

  * start the cloning process 'source file --> target drive'

  * select file with menus, not only via command line parameter

    * with 'zenity' in DEs is introduced in version 8.2
    * with 'dialog' in text screens and whenever zenity does not work

  * select file debugged and improved in version 8.3


*Text screen and graphical desktop environments*

mkusb still runs in text screens and terminal windows, so it works in
the Ubuntu desktop flavours as well as in Ubuntu Server and text mode
mini systems.

A zenity file selector is used if a test window can be lauched in the
current environment. Otherwise a dialog file selector is used. The other
menus are dialog menus.

zenity --info --text="test" --timeout=1 2> /dev/null


When you login remotely from a graphical desktop environment and it can
be used at both ends, mkusb wants to use zenity, so you should enable X.

ssh -X nio at server
...
sudo ./mkusb           # to select source file via menus
sudo ./mkusb file.iso  # to select source file via the command line is
still possible


*Help selecting the correct target device*

The crucial task of mkusb was and is to help selecting the correct
device and avoid overwriting other devices.

*Downloading information*

The file mkusb is uploaded to

http://phillw.net/isos/linux-tools/mkusb/

Check it with the corresponding signed md5sum file.

-rwxrwxr-x. 1 nio nio 38331 30 jul 18.48 mkusb
-rw-rw-r--. 1 nio nio   851 30 jul 19.25 md5sum.txt.asc
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There is still a chance for you to help testing that the new mkusb
version works also for you. Maybe you will find a bug. In that case I'll
be happy to squash it ;-)


Best regards
Nio