interesting article, for all those who think Ubuntu is already easy

[Derek Broughton]

Alexander Jacob Tsykin wrote:

> already possible, but is it that important? Anyway, this has not  so much
> to do with udev, and everything to do with your desktop manager. They
> assign the name you see on the desktop, they just link it to the label
> udev assigns.

Which has everything to do with udev.

>> And in that case it _is_ using the disk labels, but consider the case of
>> using one PC to synchronize to Palms or iPods...  We'd like to have each
>> one always be recognizable.
>>
> in my experience both always are

How can they be?  When I plugged in my USB stick, it named it something
like "removable device".  I renamed it, so I don't recall what it actually
used.  Now it always shows as "Dell Memory stick", as opposed to other
memory sticks I might have.

>> > The "naming of the device node in /dev" is entirely irrelevant to
>> > anybody with a UI.  For those people without UI, they can use udev
>> > TODAY to assign a persistent name to that device; dapper ships with
>> > this already -- e.g. I can use /dev/disk/by-id/ata-LITE-ON-COMBO* to
>> > access the CD-RW/DVD-ROM etc.
>>
>> Apparently not.  /dev/disk/by-id/ only contains my HD partitions, not my
>> CD/DVD.
>>
> you can configure udev for it to contain whatever you want (I think, never
> tried it myself, never had the need)

Sure you can.  But no non-technical end-user is going to do so.  The
statement was made that it was already being done - but in fact it only
happens for _some_ devices.

>> Yes and No :-)  When you have multiple devices that appear similar (eg,
>> block devices with identical file system types on USB) then you need to
>> have a way for the _user_ to identify them.  It's almost all there in
>> kubuntu - if I connect a usb storage device, it'll show up in /media (and
>> possibly on my desktop).  If it has a label, it will use the label as the
>> icon name.  I'm not sure how it chooses names otherwise, but I can give
>> it any name I want just by renaming it - next time I connect it, it will
>> use the name I set.
> 
> Just give your device a label when you format it. 

Again, that's NOT something you can ask of non-technical end-users, and as
Alan said, udev and hal are entirely capable of making it unnecessary. 
(and, for the above mentioned memory stick - it was a _really_ bad idea.  I
ended up having to use a proprietary HP program to fix it after I tried
formatting it).
-- 
derek