[Wylug-help] usb pendrives

[mikeb at gbdirect.co.uk]

On Sat, Jan 22, 2005 at 07:14:13AM +0000, Roger Greenwood wrote:
> Hi Lee,
>
> I am trying to use the built in systems but am finding myself delving deeper
> and deeper. I have already tried changing /etc/fstab but I will now have
> another go - many thanks for your help.
>
> The drive is recognised as a scsi disc at /dev/sda or /sda1 or /sdc1 or /sdc2
> etc depending which way the wind is blowing (I don't yet fully understand why
> it differs).

This is part of the (mis-)design of the usb & scsi subsystems - unfortunately
usb mass storage devices are given device numbers (and hence names) starting
with /dev/sda1 from when they are recognised. This means that if you have two
or three of these things and then plug them in in different orders they get
given different names depending on the order you do it.

>
> The frustrating thing is that I am pushing the wonders of Linux to my kids,
> but when they go to school it just works (on windows) and therefore dad is
> thick and linux sucks  (if you are 14).

I'm afraid that in my opinion this IS one place where linux sucks somewhat.
The handling of removable media in windows has always been so much easier
for the end user than in Unix-like systems.

If Microsoft wanted to make users unsettled about Linux, here's a good area.

The solution is non-obvious to me. I'd love to know if there is an easy
way to make it work. Automounters may have cracked it by now and I shall
watch with interest to see if a good end-user solution exists.


Mike