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

Alexander Jacob Tsykin stsykin at gmail.com
Mon May 29 08:30:06 BST 2006


On Saturday 27 May 2006 11:16, Derek Broughton wrote:
> >> 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.
>
In my experience, and I have both an ipod and a palm (quite an old one), it 
does work.
> >> > 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.
>
Actually he said that HE can use it, not that its automatically available, ah, 
the value of precision
> >> 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).

User friendliness is a different issue, but you said earlier that udev did not 
have the capability, it does (please correct me if I misinterpretted you). 
When it comes to make it user friendly and giving it a nice GUI, I agree with 
you entirely, there is still work to be done.

Sasha



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