[Bio-linux-dev] USB-stick checksum failures

[Tim Booth]

In fact, I bought the sticks from a reputable supplier:
> 
>   http://www.bespokeusb.com/
>

I've started using Flashbay, and have had zero failures with their
sticks.  And they assure me they use a single supplier so the quality
shouldn't fluctuate from batch to batch.  Based on experience so far I'd
definitely recommend them.

Anyway, I'll look into disabling kernel updates for the next ISO
release.

TIM

On Mon, 2015-03-09 at 13:09 +0000, Tony Travis wrote:
> On 09/03/15 12:07, Tim Booth wrote:
> > [...]
> > So I guess the bug here is that the md5sums file isn't being updated.  I
> > could probably submit this as a simple bug report/patch to Ubuntu.  On
> > the other hand, I might well look into disabling this feature on the
> > Bio-Linux sticks, because it seems to me that even if the md5sums file
> > is fixed it's liable to cause more problems than it fixes modifying
> > these files.  What do you think?
> 
> Hi, Tim.
> 
> I agree about disabling this feature, because I think the /cdrom
> filesystem on the 'live' USB-stick should be read-only. I think you
> might be right that some of the problems we had at the workshop in
> Jorhat were because of changes to the initramfs. At the time, some
> people thought it might be dodgy Minke Informatics USB-sticks :-)
> 
> In fact, I bought the sticks from a reputable supplier:
> 
>   http://www.bespokeusb.com/
> 
> However, the sticks were physically vulnerable in a crowded classroom
> and some got bent or were simply knocked out by people walking by. We
> didn't have desks, we just had 'tablet-arm' chairs instead - not good!
> 
> I did ask the participants to install "gdebi" and use it to install
> RStudio, but I expected all the changes to occur in /casper-rw. We were
> giving them experience of downloading and installing the software, then
> using it to learn about programming in R...
> 
> Got good feedback from the AAU B4GD workshop despite these problems!
> 
> Bye,
> 
>   Tony.
> 

-- 
Tim Booth <tbooth at ceh.ac.uk>
NERC Environmental Bioinformatics Centre 

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Maclean Bldg, Benson Lane
Crowmarsh Gifford
Wallingford, England
OX10 8BB 

http://environmentalomics.org/bio-linux
+44 1491 69 2297