Nylex angrily wrote the following:

For God's sake, how long have you been using Linux? Device as in /dev/*.
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I have not done any formatting of floppy drives or USB drives for more than 10 years.

Though I have been using Linux for more than 10 years, I must confess that there are thousands of things to learn. I consider it is impossible to know everything.


More than 10 years ago, I used Linux for the first time. It was SuSE Linux 6.0 or 6.2. I always mount the floppy drive and the CD drive in the good old days.

I bought the program/package from a shop. Today we download it freely. I still have the manuals/books in the cellar. The package includes about 5 or 6 manuals/books.

As far as I remember it was not necessary to format a floppy disk with the help of the command line.

There was a program to format floppy disks. I didn't use USB modules those days. USB modules are not commonplace in the good old days.

By the way today's Linux distros are loaded with all the printer drivers. You could buy any printer from a shop; your Linux has a driver for it. Those days it was hell to configure a printer driver. There was a lot of manual work on the command line.



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linux-lcqj:/home/nis # mkfs -t ext2 /dev/sdb1
mke2fs 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
Warning: 256-byte inodes not usable on older systems
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
125952 inodes, 503804 blocks
25190 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=515899392
16 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
7872 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912

Writing inode tables: done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 39 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
linux-lcqj:/home/ni #

Have I done it correctly?

If it is fine I will go ahead with the rest of the task which is the creation of gpg keys.

Mount the pendrive and create the hidden directory on the pendrive first.
Then create the symbolic link from your home page to the pendrive.

Now any file created in ~/.gnupg will actually exist in the pendrive.

Look at the output of "ln --help" and/or "man ln". The target comes before the link name.

Thanks jschiwal

I got a strange result while trying to mount the pendrive.

I just inserted it.

I tried invain the command.

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ni@linux-lcqj:~> su root
Password:
linux-lcqj:/home/ni # mount /media/KINGSTON
mount: can't find /media/KINGSTON in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
linux-lcqj:/home/ni #


linux-lcqj:/home/ni # mount /dev/media/KINGSTON
mount: can't find /media/KINGSTON in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
linux-lcqj:/home/ni #


linux-lcqj:/home/ni # mount /dev/KINGSTON
mount: can't find /media/KINGSTON in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
linux-lcqj:/home/ni #


--------------------------------------------------------------------

Then I tried in vain the 'umount' command

linux-lcqj:/home/ni # umount /media/KINGSTON
umount: /media/KINGSTON: not found
linux-lcqj:/home/ni #

If you read one of the previous post, you will notice the command 'umount' worked.

I don't know the problem.

I think mounting of the USB module is necessary before making a link using the 'ln' command.

Run "ls /dev/sd*" before and fter inserting the pendrive and seeing which device is used. You can examine details on a device with the command:
udevinfo -q env -n /dev/sdN
where N is the device number.

An easy way to mount a pendrive in SuSE is to run:
halmount /dev/sdN

It should be mounted in a directory in /media then.

In SuSE, if you created an /etc/fstab entry for the pendrive, it won't be mounted automatically by hal.

You can also try monitoring the /var/log/messages file as you insert the pendrive:
sudo tail -f /var/log/messages
This may tell you whether a device is assigned or not.

Make sure that the usb port supplies enough power for the drive. Some extenders such as off a keyboard may be able to power a mouse but not a pendrive or external usb drive. I've had this situation occur at work. The usb keyboard has a USB plug on the left hand side but pendrives don't work.

Thanks jschiwal for taking time to reply me.
I do appreciate your help.

I tried the commands you suggested.

............................................................

ni@linux-lcqj:~> su root
Password:
linux-lcqj:/home/ni # ls /dev/sd*
/dev/sda /dev/sda10 /dev/sda12 /dev/sda14 /dev/sda3 /dev/sda5 /dev/sda7 /dev/sda9
/dev/sda1 /dev/sda11 /dev/sda13 /dev/sda2 /dev/sda4 /dev/sda6 /dev/sda8
linux-lcqj:/home/ni #
[ Before inserting the USB module]

.....................

linux-lcqj:/home/ni # ls /dev/sd*
/dev/sda /dev/sda10 /dev/sda12 /dev/sda14 /dev/sda3 /dev/sda5 /dev/sda7 /dev/sda9 /dev/sdb1
/dev/sda1 /dev/sda11 /dev/sda13 /dev/sda2 /dev/sda4 /dev/sda6 /dev/sda8 /dev/sdb
linux-lcqj:/home/ni #
[ After inserting the USB module]
..........................................
linux-lcqj:/home/ni # udevinfo -q env -n /dev/sdb1
ID_VENDOR=Kingston
ID_MODEL=DataTraveler_2.0
ID_REVISION=PMAP
ID_SERIAL=Kingston_DataTraveler_2.0_5B691281BB7A-0:0
ID_SERIAL_SHORT=5B691281BB7A
ID_TYPE=disk
ID_INSTANCE=0:0
ID_BUS=usb
ID_PATH=pci-0000:00:10.4-usb-0:6:1.0-scsi-0:0:0:0
ID_FS_USAGE=filesystem
ID_FS_TYPE=ext2
ID_FS_VERSION=1.0
ID_FS_UUID=16c7aa02-71fb-499c-8122-cc26b100109b
ID_FS_UUID_ENC=16c7aa02-71fb-499c-8122-cc26b100109b
ID_FS_LABEL=
ID_FS_LABEL_ENC=
ID_FS_LABEL_SAFE=
linux-lcqj:/home/ni #



The command 'halmount' doesn't work.
linux-lcqj:/home/ni # halmount /dev/sdb1
bash: halmount: command not found
linux-lcqj:/home/ni #


As you read the above, after inserting the USB module if found the folders 'sdb' and 'sdb1'. This 'sdb1' is the USB module.

If you want I can remove open SUSE 11.0 and reinstall again. I am not going to lose any data. Because this particular computer is for testing and experimenting purposes. I bought it recently. I have not connected the computer the Internet, as yet.

Please reply me when possible.

I made an error and posted it on the wrong place