Creating a bootable USB drive

I'm trying to create a USB bootable drive to install Ubuntu on Wistria's eeepc.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EeePC

This seemingly simple operation lead to me wiping out my OS on my laptop.

Here are the steps as I remember.

1. I went to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick and followed the directions
2. I downloaded the iso from http://www.ubuntu-eee.com/
3. I ran:

sudo apt-get install syslinux mtools
wget http://www.startx.ro/sugar/isotostick.sh
chmod +x isotostick.sh
sudo ./isotostick.sh ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso /dev/sdX1

4. There was an issue with having spaces in the directory that contained the iso file which the script did not report. To fix this, I replaced spaces with underscores.
5. I reran isotostick.sh and to /dev/sda1.
6. The files were loaded on the usb drive. Wistaria attempted to boot the eeepc from the usb drive but the eeepc booted from its hard drive.
7. I attempted to make the usb drive bootable by running syslinux -s /dev/sda1
8. I got notification that sda1was not a fat 32 drive
9. I attempted to format sda1 to be a fat 32 drive
10. I received an error saying that the device was mounted and that I need to unmount it
11. I tried umount /dev/sda1 and received an error that the device was in use and to use lsof or another program to see what processes were using it
12. I couldn't find out what devices, so I searched online and found somebody tried umount /dev/sda1 -l
13. I tried the command and the computer froze
14. I did a hard restart and got a ubuntu livecd boot from my hard drive

Apparently I managed to blow away my entire install. There are major usability issues with the task of creating a bootable usb device. I should have spent more time looking into what sda1 meant, but I was already frustrated that a simple task was already very difficult. I dug myself deeper into a hole.

In retrospect, I think the entire process of creating a bootable usb drive needs to be much simpler. I don't want to think about what sdX is pointing to. I would rather just copy the files to /devices/usb_drive (this did not seem to work).

So now I'm downloading the CD for Ubuntu 8.10. Hopefully next time, it will work.

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days

I just watched a powerful movie about Sophie Scholl named Sophie Scholl: The Final Days. Sophie Scholl was a member of the White Rose non-violent resistance movement in Nazi Germany. She is indeed a hero who gave her life for the cause of freedom, peace, justice, and humanity.

As I watched the movie, the charges ("treason", "demoralizing the troops", and "aiding the enemy"), against her reminded me of the same rhetoric that the Bush administration and Iraq war hawks used against people who did not support the war.

It is disturbing that the same rhetoric that the Nazis used to persecute the White Rose movement is being used today in America.

It is not accurate to say that America == Nazi Germany. However, it is sad and shameful to see our decision makers acting like Nazis.