Text 8547, 56 rader
Skriven 2006-12-21 20:22:54 av Maurice Kinal (1:261/38.9)
   Kommentar till text 8545 av JIM HOLSONBACK (1:123/140)
Ärende: Flash Drive
===================
Hey JIM!

Dec 20 23:08 06, JIM HOLSONBACK wrote to MAURICE KINAL:

 MK>> Piece of cake.  :-)

 JH> Good to hear it.

For sure.  I put quite a bit of work into the compactflash ones over the years
and now that they're easier to come by and cheaper I am quite happy about the
whole situation especially considering the standard Linux disk tools work fine
with them without any special alterations.  The only past problem with the usb
ones was with the usb-storage module in some of the earlier kernels but as of a
few years ago all seems excellent.  Cannot say the same for all usb hubs other
then you get what you pay for which isn't restricted to just usb hubs and
controllers.  Cannot say which is best but so far all the ones I have here seem
to have no issues, not even with the +G sized ones, as well as with backwards
usb1.1 compatibilty.

 JH> That makes the 2GB USB flash drive I had mentioned 
 JH> as
 JH> on sale for $8.95 after rebate, w/free shipping the best bargain out
 JH> there right now for Linux users as well as the Winders types.

You have to be careful with formatting them on Windows as it can and does screw
them up.  I've had to repair many so I know.  Probably why they now supply
special software for Windows.  Also heard there are usb driver issues with
earlier versions of Windows.  If formatting them is an issue I'd check that out
before doing that in Windows.  As for reading/writing them from Windows I
haven't noticed any problems but formatting might be.  For Linux you'll need
dosfstool for formatting if compatibilty with Windows and the usual embedded
devices (eg digital cameras) is an issue.  I have yet to try compiling that on
a 64-bit system but it did work in 32-bit land so it hasn't become an issue to
me personally.

 JH> Sorry if such deals aren't available to those in CDN

To be honest I don't know.  Haven't been following it lately as I've had what
I've needed for ages now.  It's only been recently that the bios caught up as
to proper bootability of usb flash drives and I had what I needed long ago and
was only using them for playing with archiving ideas.  They sure are handy, far
moreso now that the bios has caught up on newer systems.

As for booting flash disks I've been doing that for ages on ide interfaces so
that never was an issue wrt compactflash disks.  I see they are coming out with
new flash disks that can use different interfaces now rather then just ide
adapters so that is sort of interesting to see.  However I have yet to see them
advertised at any of the usual retailers for these types of products, and
definetly no rebates.  Also they are just as expensive, maybe even moreso in
some cases, in the US as in Canada.

Life is good,
Maurice

--- Msged/LNX 6.2.0
 * Origin: The Pointy Stick Society XXVI - Dazed and confused (1:261/38.9)