Using and Abusing Devices and Media

With increasingly cheap prices of hardware and media, typical computer users are burning more and more CDs, using more USB sticks, and rarely reverting to the old floppy disks that have dogged computing for so long. The lack of floppy drives in modern computers has really symbolized the death of the rather limited, slow, and restrictive floppy disk.

Using these kinds of devices in Ubuntu is simple and intuitive. In many cases you just plug them in and work. Each device needs to be mounted before it can be used, but Ubuntu automatically mounts it for you. The main point to remember is to always unmount the device before you remove it. Even floppy disks should be properly unmounted before they are removed. Unmounting a device ensures all data has been copied to it before you pull it out.

Tip: Problems Unmounting

If you have problems unmounting a device, make sure that you are not currently using it. As an example, if you have a file manager window open looking at the files on the device, it is currently being used and, as such, cannot be unmounted. As a general rule, just make sure you close everything down from the device and everything will be fine.

If at any time you are unsure which devices are plugged into your computer, click Places > Computer to see a list of the drives available.

Using USB Key Rings

In the last few years, USB key rings, pens, and sticks have taken over as the commonplace solution for moving files between different computers. These cheap and often high-capacity little devices offer a simple and efficient way of carrying your files around with you. Although these USB storage devices come in many different shapes and forms, they all basically work the same way in Ubuntu.

Using USB storage devices in Ubuntu is a piece of cake. Just plug them in, and an icon to the device appears on your desktop. A file manager window to display the contents of the device also appears. You can interact with the device and the files as you would with the files on your hard disk.

When you have finished using your USB device, right-click the device icon that appeared on your desktop and select Unmount. When the icon disappears from your desktop you can safely remove it from the USB port.

Tip: Copy Your Files to the Hard Disk

USB comes in two major forms: USB1 and USB2, with the latter being far quicker. If you have a multimedia file such as an audio or video clip or another large file, you may want to copy it to a hard disk before you load it. Hard disks provide far faster load times than these other media.

Burning CDs

Burning files is simple in Ubuntu with its built-in support for CD writers. Simply pop a writable CD into the drive and an icon appears on the desktop. Double-click the icon, and an empty file manager window appears. Now drag the files to be burned into this window. When you are ready to burn the CD, click File > Write to Disk.

A dialog box appears, and you can configure a few items before the disk is burned. Enter a name for the disk in the Disk Name box and use the Write Speed combo box to select the best write speed for your drive. If you have an old or unreliable CD writer, you may want to select a slower speed to prevent a burn error. Finally, click the Write Disk button to start the burn.

Tip: Quick Tip

You can also access the burner by clicking Places > CD/DVD Burner.

Creating Audio CDs

Creating an audio CD from a number of audio files on your computer is simple with Serpentine. Load Serpentine by clicking Applications > Sound and Video > Serpentine Audio-CD Creator.

When the application loads, click Add, and navigate to your Music folder and click on the file(s) that you want to burn to the CD. To select multiple files, hold down the Shift or Ctrl keys while selecting.

With your songs added, click the Write to Disk button to burn the CD.

Burning a CD from an Image

With more and more people downloading Open Source software, installation disks are often released as downloadable .iso files. When you burn these files to a CD the files from the disk image are restored and the resulting CD just looks like a normal CD.

To burn an .iso file to a CD, simply right-click it and select Write to Disk.

Tip: More Complex Burning

If you are looking for a complete application to cater to virtually all CD burning needs, install the GNOME Baker application using Synaptic.

Using Floppy Disks

To use a floppy disk in Ubuntu insert the disk in the drive and then select Places > Computer. Now double-click on your floppy drive to mount it and display the files. When you have finished using the disk right-click the floppy drive and select Unmount.

Using Digital Cameras

When you plug a digital camera into your computer, a device icon automatically appears on your desktop and Ubuntu pops up a window asking if you want to view the photos from your camera. You can then view the photos and drag them from the photo viewer window over to a file manager window to save the photo.

Always remember that the majority of digital cameras are just USB devices, and you can access the photos like any other USB device from within the file manager.

Tip: Ubuntu and Digital Photography

Ubuntu is a fantastic platform for digital photography and photo manipulation. It is recommended you use Applications > Add/Remove to install the F-Spot tool. This provides a complete solution for managing your photo collection.

For photo manipulation, The GIMP provides a comprehensive tool and is preinstalled. Load it by clicking Applications > Graphics > GIMP Image Editor.