Help Manual Suggestion

[Jerry]

There are usually several 'arrows' to choose from in any software category. As torreydale has alluded to, there's no one size fits all solution. For existing linux users, we provide the most reliable, the dd command, for Windows users again, we provide one of the most reliable, Win32diskimager. Once Etcher has hit the Ubuntu repositories permanently, we'll more than like promote that as the bests cross platform solution. Out of all the iso burn options available, it's never missed a beat for me. By being point and click, whilst also automatically selecting your USB drive and the option to verify the iso, it's impressive.

[torreydale]

@Oobuntus,

I have used dd, UNetbootin, Disks (gnome-disk-utility), and Etcher.  I haven't had 100% success with any of them, so for me it has been good to have several arrows in the quiver. 

I think the reason dd is in the Help Manual is for the person who is already using Linux or OSX.  It's typically already installed in Linux distros.  In terms of having something graphical as a Linux Lite offering (besides Disks, which already comes with Linux Lite), I think the development team is partial towards considering Etcher for a future Linux Lite release.  It's so easy to use.  I have had more success with it, but not 100%. 

I wouldn't be surprised if one day the Win32DiskImager reference in the Help Manual is complemented by or replaced with Etcher.  Replacing dd in the manual?  Probably not.  Linux and OSX users already have it installed.  But I can see the Linux Lite project adding language on how to install and/or use Etcher to make a bootable USB in Linux and OSX.

I'll keep the UNetbootin "leaves the USB stick completely writable" tip in mind going forward.  So thanks for that.

[Oobuntus]

The Help Manual provides instruction for using dd to 'burn' the Linux Lite ISO to a USB stick. I think, perhaps, that most folks reading this in the manual are already using Linux Lite. But, irregardless, I submit that using UNetbootin to accomplish this is better.

Why?

When UNetbootin is used to burn the ISO, it leaves the USB stick completely writable.

This is very advantageous.

For example, such a stick allows me to not only carry my installer wherever I go, but also carry a large media collection, a bunch of ISOs, VM appliances, and my encrypted personal files, email and bookmarks with me as well!  With it, I can not only install an OS on a new computer but also conveniently restore onto it all of my 'baggage'. I use backup scripts to keep this content on the stick updated at regular intervals.

And whenever I want to update the stick with a new version of the OS, I don't have to re-format it. That is because I created on it a few folders into which I copied all of my baggage. So all I have to do is delete everything on the stick EXCEPT those folders. I can then use UNetbootin to burn a newer ISO onto the stick. I've been doing this now for quite some time without problem.

UNetbootin requires that the stick be prepared with standard FAT formatting. But this need be done only once.

The only thing that annoys me about the app is that the post-burn boot menu title is UNetbootin. However, due to the writability, this is easily rectified by editing the third line of syslinux.cfg on the stick to change 'UNetbootin' to something like 'Welcome to Linux Lite 3.2 64bit'. I have a item in my menu that does this for me, but it isn't much trouble to do it manually via leafpad in Thunar.

Consequently, it is not a waste of USB stick real estate to burn an ISO to a very large USB stick.

I have seen nothing about this use case on the Internet. I suggest that it might benefit some Help Manual readers to know about the advantages of UNetbootin used as an alternative to the dd method. And perhaps they should also know that this use case does not provide persistence for the installable OS.