So I tried localdev with USB drives (camera, to be exact).. and the experience 
was less than pleasurable. So I was wondering if anybody had any experiences 
to share?

The problems:
- Worst was that I couldn't unplug the camera and then have it worked when I 
plugged it back in.. I had to reload the usb-storage module (ie "modprobe -r 
usb-storage; modprobe usb-storage"). I did try a quick fix with ssh-ing to 
the client and do that, but that's less than ideal to put it mildly. I guess 
this one is the top priority for me.

- The /dev/sd?1-scheme with ? counting upwards really irritates me. Yes, I can 
see the use for it, but for removable USB drives, as opposed to fixed ones, 
it's not good. How to fix? I'm thinking along the lines of either a) find a 
kernel patch, or b) somehow listen to USB kernel messages in a daemon and 
maintain symlinks that is set when plugging in the USB device (this event 
listening could ideally update a list of available devices on the server).

- I have USB ports on all the clients. Like it is now, you just have to try in 
automount and see if it's the right port (ie, dev/sda1, or was it sdb1...) 
Setting up static allocation of these means the users will have a hard time 
finding their way, potentially trying all ports (and before that nautilus is 
hung). And in my case they don't even really care which client they are on.

Ideally, there would be a folder /var/media or just /media which would at any 
point contain symlinks to the currently attached devices on the whole network 
(sorted in a folder per client, which could also be dynamic). Yes, it's a 
high goal, but thinking about it can at least set the course.

- Nautilus keeps chrashing now and then, when accessing my automount -> smb -> 
automount -> usb setup (as documented in localdev.txt). I guess it doesn't 
handle the lack of response that setup has. Granted, nautilus is not a 
problem LTSP is concerned with, but it might give a hint that something is 
wrong (perhaps the chain of filesystems is just too complex to work well, 
with three or four timeouts sitting there working at once).

So, while I appriciate the effort done in the localdev area, I would like to 
see if it was possible to find a solution more tailored for USB pens. Perhaps 
using network block devices and keep filesystem logic on the server only?

I would appriciate to hear any thoughts on this matter.

// Dag Sverre



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