
It's starting to look like the end of an era for Ubuntu users as Canonical mull the creation of an ISO that won't fit onto a CDR. The question is,
does it matter? Canonical owes at least part of its success with Ubuntu Linux to the unique way that it has been distributed. From the start it has been available as a downloadable ISO image and a free CD, posted at no cost to the user. This was great news for people who wanted to install Linux but did not have the luxury of a decent Internet connection. In a sense, installing via a CDR image has always been like a kind of cache, in that you're moving part of the content that you need onto permanent storage rather than pulling it through the network connection
Member since:
2011-08-08
- Download iso, burn iso to CD/DVD is a lot easier than the same process on USB
Five years ago I would agree with you but this is simply not true anymore. As a matter of fact there are tools that completely automate the process, all you have to do is plug a usb stick in and select which OS you want to install on it -- done.
If you're like me, you'll have usb sticks dedicated to OS installs so this is a non-issue. But, if you insist on using a usb stick with data already on it, you can do that too. Again, tools make this process painless these days.
The above problems have been solved for a while, I guess you never got the memo.
As I pointed out, quality 8GB usb sticks can be had for under $10 now. They hold far more data, are more reusable, extremely low power consumption, easily fit in your pocket/very small footprint, are faster, ...need I go on?
I've been installing OSes from usb sticks, and onto usb/sdhc/cf for years now. To see people debating cdr vs. dvd sized isos, posts about dvd drives being $20-$30 plus the cost of media... it's almost as if I've went back in time, when those were good/the only real options available. Hell, some of my boxes aren't much larger than a cd/dvd drive.