Failed converting attempt story

[grizzly]

well I carry, or rather used to carry a kubuntu cd till a person pointed out, why I am wasting my time.

He put in a cd to just test , browsed to the cd folder which wan't very intuitive, and doh, no files! coz the cd needs mouting everytime!! I showed him how one can click on the desktop icon, but then he pointede, than opeing the cdrom in a file manager is not the only thing he wants to do. The wordt was when it came to ejecting time, it won't coz it needs unmounting.
One could argue that its possible to rightclick on the desktop then unmount and eject from there. But its still a needlessly tedious task. If I am using amarok, I don't want to perform this extra action everytime! just hit the eject button, remove and replace the cd, and let things go on.
Floppies are evn worse, ppl are left totally clueless, not even a desktop icon. the only way to mount is from a command.


After that evening ,whenever I showed anyone kubuntu I showed then exactly how they will have to handle removeable stuff, after which they have no more interest in linux :(

Inshort: all this mounting/unmounting business absolutely puts ppl off. they just want their cds/floppies/pen drives to just work seamlessly, which linux is far from doing.

To be frank I can't believe how linux can not be only for geeks since it even can't handle removeable media seamlessly, or atleast not by deafault.

and notice the whole mounting/unmounting businees is not just about being different from windows, its simply a highly irritating and tedious task.
Hoping the devs can see why this needs a solution most urgently.

[beniwtv]

It is not that mounting/unmounting is bad. It has it's reasons why linux does behave like this.

Imagine a floppy: Sometimes, I have to edit a large odt (OpenOffice) file on a floppy. If I mount it in Linux, I can work with it at great speeds, since the Linux kernel doesn't write inmediately the contents to disk. Then, when unmounting, it writes down all the changes.

Same happens with Removable pen drives or the like. People just have to get used to it. For example, I insert a pen drive, it mounts automatically. It isn't to bad right-cliking on the icon or clicking the icon in the disk mounter to unmount it.

I got used to it (after loosing some data... :(). Other will do too.

But hey, I see your point. It can be really confusing for people comming from Windoze. (In MAC OSX, you also have to unmount).

[grizzly]

Imagine a floppy: Sometimes, I have to edit a large odt (OpenOffice) file on a floppy. If I mount it in Linux, I can work with it at great speeds, since the Linux kernel doesn't write inmediately the contents to disk. Then, when unmounting, it writes down all the changes.

well you have to mount it. right?
Then why not let the pc do it for you?
Ok maybe automounting has some disadvantages, but why not have it automount whenever an attempt to 'cd' to it. whether from console or an gui app.

isn't to bad right-cliking on the icon or clicking the icon in the disk mounter to unmount it. not once, but if you have to just want to have a look into a cd, or remove a forgotten cd , or do the same thing several times, it adds up.

[hellmet]

this is just one of the reasons why I don't make newbies
handle Linux..I install things for them..and then explain
all intricacies of the OS..and then leave

[beniwtv]

well you have to mount it. right?
Then why not let the pc do it for you?
Ok maybe automounting has some disadvantages, but why not have it automount whenever an attempt to 'cd' to it. whether from console or an gui app.

Ubuntu automounts everything except floppies, which is, impossible (because the floppy drive has no support for this). So mounting should not be a problem. You can even mount ISO files easily (although not included by default in Ubuntu).


not once, but if you have to just want to have a look into a cd, or remove a forgotten cd , or do the same thing several times, it adds up.

I agree that Ubuntu could eject a CD when pressing the button of the drive (if the CD is currently not used). Since on CD, we can't write. I think there are distros that do this.

[anaconda]

I agree that Ubuntu could eject a CD when pressing the button of the drive (if the CD is currently not used). Since on CD, we can't write. I think there are distros that do this.

Hmm..
I dont remember how I set it up (automatix?), but my ubuntu ejects CD/DVD when I press the eject button.. and ofcourse automounts them when I close the CD-tray.

Imagine a floppy: Sometimes, I have to edit a large odt (OpenOffice) file on a floppy. If I mount it in Linux, I can work with it at great speeds, since the Linux kernel doesn't write inmediately the contents to disk. Then, when unmounting, it writes down all the changes.

This feature can be disabled for removable devices. Then it would write everything immediately, so that user has to wait until it is ready.

And for floppies there is always the dostools, which uses floppies jus like DOS used to (same way than windows..)

[3rdalbum]

Huh?

I'm sorry, I don't know what operating system you're using. I can eject CDs by pressing the button on the drive. Everything mounts automatically, even when running KDE. Having to unmount a removable drive is a GOOD IDEA to prevent losing your data, and besides you still have to do it on Windows ("Safely Remove Hardware"). Well, I suppose you don't HAVE to do it on Windows, but if you don't you're a drongo.

I also believe you can add a Floppy icon to your desktop in KDE, through the KDE Control Panel or whatever it's called.

However, I'll admit that I'm using Ubuntu with an aftermarket KDE, so maybe my system behaves differently to yours. I haven't tried ejecting CDs with the button on KDE. But, as everything works well on Gnome, why not consider switching?

[Tomosaur]

Wait....Are you running from the LiveCD EVERY time?

[grizzly]

[/Well, I suppose you don't HAVE to do it on Windows, but if you don't you're a drongo.QUOTE] Why? I have been ignoring that safely remove thing for over a year now. Hell I didn't even knew there existed such a warning, as I don't use a shell in windows.

[QUOTE] Having to unmount a removable drive is a GOOD IDEA to prevent losing your data
well yes, with something like an external hard-drive its excellent idea to unmount. But not a cd.
owever, I'll admit that I'm using Ubuntu with an aftermarket KDE, so maybe my system behaves differently to yours Yup I think so too, kubuntu is a lil buggy a scomapred to ubuntu with kde.

[grizzly]

[/Well, I suppose you don't HAVE to do it on Windows, but if you don't you're a drongo.QUOTE] Why? I have been ignoring that safely remove thing for over a year now. Hell I didn't even knew there existed such a warning, as I don't use a shell in windows.

[QUOTE] Having to unmount a removable drive is a GOOD IDEA to prevent losing your data
well yes, with something like an external hard-drive its excellent idea to unmount. But not a cd.
owever, I'll admit that I'm using Ubuntu with an aftermarket KDE, so maybe my system behaves differently to yours Yup I think so too, kubuntu is a lil buggy a scomapred to ubuntu with kde.

As an alternate solution how about using the power of khotkeys to solve this problem?
with those cool modifier keyboard shortcuts this becomes a breeze.
Ex: Win+M,U == umount /dev/hdc && eject ; works great!
I am prety sure more such keyboard shortcuts can be made to handle everything. They just need to be more standardized and default methods.

[orb9220]

Well I had problems understanding what the problem is.

Then it struck me yes you have to manually mount cd's in liveCD. But if it is the liveCD you can not eject it because it is the OS in a liveCD session.

The cdrom drive behaves just like windows when you have installed ubuntu to hardrive.

And it will not eject when burning if the app is written proper and locks the drive until the burn is complete.

[DoctorMO]

the problem I find is not so much the floppy disk mounting it's self but the lack of consistancy.

I know how to mount a floppy disk and when you go into gedit and go file > open you will see the floppy drive on the left.

But now go into open office or firefox. whops! no left pane and no floppy drive. according to my charges the floppy drive doesn't work because they can't find it.