Running Fedora’s liveusb-creator on Ubuntu

One of the things I find most annoying about Linux distributions is that when it comes to distribution-oriented tools, they tend to make other distributions feel like second-class citizens even when compared to Windows. One such example is the Ubuntu One service which had a Windows client released recently and will soon see a Mac client while it is yet to be unsupported on any other distro besides Ubuntu. Another such, albeit smaller, example is the Fedora liveusb-creator tool.

The Fedora liveusb-creator tool is used when one wants to install Fedora while using a USB stick rather then a CD-ROM. While Ubuntu does include a comparable tool called “Startup Disk Creator”, that tool only supports creation of bootable USB sticks for Debian-derivative distributions.

Installation of the  liveusb-creator tool is of course extremely easy on Fedora where it is accessible directly from the distribution’s repositories, the tool’s website also provides a Windows installer, but when it comes to other distributions the site resorts to providing a source archive without even including instructions as to what packages might be needed to run it.

Fortunately for users of other distributions, the Fedora liveusb-creator tool is written in Python, therefore running it on other distributions is a rather simple task, following are 3 simple steps required to use the liveusb-creator on Ubuntu, similar steps may apply to other Debian-derived distributions as well.

Configuring Aviem PRO2100 UPS on Debian 6.0 (Stable/Squeeze)

The Aviem PRO2100 is a SOHO Line-Interactive Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) unit that sells at a very compelling price/performance point. The PRO2100 is a 1000VA unit that sells at a price which is only slightly above that of other manufacturers` 650VA units, whereas comparable strength units typically sell for twice as much. What this means is that you can use if to power two computers for the price typically paid to power one.

That being said, the Aviem`s weak point is it`s Linux support (I cannot vouch for Windows support since I did not attempt to connect it to a Windows machine). While The UPS does ship with a CD that includes Linux software, it suffers from several shortcomings that are unfortunately all too common even for enterprise-level Linux supporting hardware:

1. The CD only contains precompiled 32bit X86 binaries without any source code or any pointers to where the source code may be found.
2. No pointers are given as to where updated software versions be be found, what seems to be the product name, “PowerD”, also doesn’t yield anything useful in a Google search.
3. The software relies on an installation shell-script rather being packaged for use with the system`s package manager (E.g. RPM or DPKG) or at least something like Autopackage. The installation script also seems to assume all Linux systems are roughly built and behave like RedHat and would generally make a mess of your system regardless of the distribution (For example, the script tries to place binaries in “/etc” and set insecure file permissions such as “777”).

This particular software CD has another strange problem to it as the included “Readme.txt” file seems to be completely unreadable gibberish as well as resist being converted to anything readable with “iconv”.

All in all the software on the CD has a very strong abandon-ware feel to it and it is nothing I would be willing to install on my systems.