ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Benjamin Tegge <benjaminosm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Am Donnerstag, den 26.11.2015, 22:33 +0100 schrieb Max Kristen:
> Hi,
> Is there a way to emulate some functionality of "DriveDroid" on the
> Ubuntu Phone?
> 
> DriveDroid is a program where you can drop Distros in a folder on your
> phone, and it emulates a bootable USB-Stick/Usb-Cdrom, wich is awesome,
> so that you don't have to rewrite USB sticks or Burn USBs all the time.
> Can I emulate something like that... It makes it really easy to install
> Linux for people ;)
> 
> With Regards
> 
> Max
> 

Hello,

I don't understand why so many people make a big problem out of booting
an operating system from removable media. CDs booting several operating
systems like Windows PE and Linux based Acronis solutions was solved
over 10 years ago and it only got easier with in size shrinking USB
storage devices and increasing capacities. I don't see why carrying an
additional +16GB micro SD card in a not much bigger OTG card reader and
editing text files to add another ISO is such a big problem for today’s
selfproclaimed tech-savvy people but it's deeply concerning to see. The
wheel has probably been reinvented too many times, too many 3rd party
clickbait ad-selling blogposts have been written and existing projects
with good documentation are ignored.

That being said it is certainly a nice hack, but "really easy" is a bit
misleading when you read the prerequisites:

http://softwarebakery.com/projects/drivedroid
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.softwarebakery.drivedroid

- DriveDroid requires a rooted Android system (or Ubuntu Phone in this
case)
- DriveDroid requires support for USB mass storage on your phone.
- Do NOT use DriveDroid while your SD card is mounted (being used on
your PC). This can cause loss of data.

As far as I know all Ubuntu devices allow you to gain root access and
you are free to shoot yourself in the foot. Many users have done so
already by treating their phone like a desktop, sometimes bricking it.
Being able to use UMS and MTP at the same time is a very bad design
because many users will not notice this warning, but you suggested to
them that it is an "essential" tool that apparently makes installing
operating systems easier. It does not and using a +100 USD or EUR
smartphone to piggyback an ISO on precious smartphone storage space
doesn't look smart.

Sadly not many users install operating systems and even fewer have to
juggle multiple ISOs. Teaching these people that they don't have to rely
on one particular, apparently closed source solution, should be
priority. (I remember seeing the SARDU acronym back in the days:
http://superuser.com/q/267385/252532)

I don't know if the module that provides UMS is already/still included
in Ubuntu phone and I don't have time to check. If it is, one would just
need to look at what DriveDroid does and reimplement it on Ubuntu phone.


Best Regards,
Benjamin