Tails no longer recommending balenaEtcher
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On Windows, Rufus is just as easy to use tho. And on Linux, there is Gnome Disks.
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If you need a FOSS, cross platform GUI for bootable USB sticks, Raspberry Pi Imager is a really good solution.
It is mainly used to flash SD cards for RPIs, but also you can burn any ISO on any support with it. -
balenaEtcher never worked for me. No image that I flashed has been usable to boot. The RPi imager has been working flawlessly
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I"m horrible with names of programs and mess with a lot of junk comps switching out OS's and just tinkering around so I'm always using crazy utility programs. BalenaEtcher is used in a lot of tutorials or guides for installations, I think recently both Elementary OS and even Ubuntu had instructions pointing towards BalenaEtcher.
I never thought it was a great program, it was finicky to use and errors out quickly multiple times. Looking back I saw the signs, weird new program being promoted above other "well established" burn programs, ads, and now scrolling down their webpage it's just a bunch of promotional subscription bullshit. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit looking at the "balenacloud" and "balenasense", like if they're collecting your data through etcher then all of that shit is probably compromised. Another fucking google wannabe corp.
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Ah, a
doasuser, I see! -
The MX Linux live USB maker should work well on Debian based distros.
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Rufus.
And who cares if there's spyware on windows, you're already using windows so there is, it's windows. At that point you may as well just use etcher, but I'd use Rufus anyway because let's be real it's just better. The only reason not to use Rufus is because it's windows exclusive, but if you're using windows that probably doesn't bother you, so...
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use rufus.
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use rufus.
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that's correct. on windows, rufus is a better tool, and on linux or mac it's just a built-in command with a manual packed in.
also, ubuntu ships with startup image creator, and gnome disks ships as a flatpak, if those are more your speed.
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i've never needed to set a single flag with dd. i just do
if=the_iso of=the_disk. what flags? -
have they tried also tracking for errors, cause it fucks up every second image unlike rufus
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From literally the same thread: https://lemm.ee/comment/14867214
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I mean for privacy things it makes sense to avoid leaking anything. But I fail to understand where the danger is to have anonymous data that says a user installed "Ubuntu-24.04-wappity-whatever.iso" to "KINGSTON DATA TRAVELER 32GB" at some point.
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Honestly if you're using Windows, then you most likely already sent any and all of your secrets to Microsoft. Including that you installed Tails.
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Thank you for pointing it out.
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Don't you need to mark usb disks as bootable if you want to boot from them to install Linux or whatever
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Thanks for the info, I'm on linux mint and after checking these out it isn't immediately apparent from their websites whether or how I could install them. Still think etcher occupies a niche that alternatives don't fill, its website directs you straight to installing it and using it is very easy.
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If anything that seems like worthwhile analytics for the dev team to have access to.
Most software lets you opt out of sending anonymous analytics data though.
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Truth. Etcher is garbage. Rufus is king.
