[Marketing] USB stick failures. Some observations.

[Thomas C Gilliard]

Caroline:

I have been using the following USB Sticks extensively in my testing and 
have NEVER had a failure with them....: )
*Toshiba (2,4,8,16 GB)- [V fast]
*Lexar firefly (2GB) -[v fast]
*Lexar 2GB (the silver ones with a capacity indicator on the sides) [fast]
*Cruzer micro 2 GB (with the slide out usb plug) [fast]

Most of my testing is for VMware Appliances but I also test standard 
Sugar on a stick USB's about 30% of the time.

I have done over 20-30 reformats on some of them with Ubuntu Partition 
editor and /or
dd install of raw files (openSUSE)

I use a strawberry firefly 2GB (created with the install script) for my 
normal daily access with the EeePC900 to see the F1 Neighborhood wirelessly.

<Are you sure you are using the correct brands for reliability?>

The Toshiba and Lexar firefly models are the best.

I also tried and stopped using a PNY 16G mini attache' which is junk and 
very slow.

I have noticed that some USB Sockets are loose fitting and can cause a 
momentary failure if wiggled. Are your students bumping the sticks while 
using them?

Notes:

1. When you use a VMPlayer USB Appliance, you CAN write to the same USB 
the appliance is on to write from the sugar clipboard to the frame USB 
Icon. This is then accessible from windows or linux after you stop the 
Soas Session. (In strawberry Soas1; NOT available in openSUSE)

 ie: you can then print the saved files or open them in Open Office......

2. With VMPlayer you can install students VM Appliances serially and/or 
simultaneously on the same  PC without rebooting.

Regards;

Tom Gilliard
satellit

+1
>
> My gut feeling is we don't want a LiveUSB, we want a bootable USB with a
> regular install on it. Ideally being installed from a LiveCD, that can
> either directly boot and demo Sugar, install to a USB stick, or install to a
> hard-disk. Once booted we'd want the minimum of file writes to maximise a
> stick lifetime, and reduce the chance of a write landing as a child unplugs.
>
> Regards,
> --Gary
>
>

+1 except I think that we need it sooner not later.
It is the most likely suspect on most of our stick failures. We will have
upset teachers and kids if its not more reliable plus added expense and time
costs.

It is a blocker on:

   - Reading things you've created on your Sugar Stick on a Windows or Mac
   machine.
   - Createing a VM that can switch stick based users without rebooting out
   of the native OS- This will help usability quite a bit on the Mac Laptops
   the GPA will be using next year.

I'm going to try to create a spec and publicize our need for help to my
network. I'd love help with both parts of that.


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