Write to a USB

Good Evening All,

I am currently in an introduction to UNIX class and am having an issue getting started with an assignment. The assignment calls for booting to Knoppix (I am using version 5.5.1) and creating directories on external media using the command prompt rather than the GUI.

All is well until I try to create directories on my flash drive (I have tried many, all formatted FAT) (I also ensured that the drive is plugged in pre-boot)

I get an error that says that the drive is read only whenever I do a mkdir foldername

The directory is as such
Root - Media - sdb

I checked the permissions at Root/Media/ and sbd (flash drive) folders and they all suggest write access.

Any thoughts or guidance would be appreciated.

Thank You

Found it... Right click on sdb icon and select Change Read/Write options... DUH.

or you could do

Code:

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sudo  mount -t vfat /dev/pendrive /mnt/pendrive -o rw,users

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Replace pendrive with whatever fits your situation (sdb in this case) .

to be successfull you should do this when the disk is NOT YET MOUNTED!
that is plug it in AFTER boot and do NOT touch any icons...
or even better start knoppix in runlevel 2 ( knoppix 2 ,at bootprompt) which is console only, then mount it manually.
just remember unmounting it befre removing it and wait untill it is fully unmounted before removing it, otherwise it can be damaged.

Code:

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umount /mnt/pendrive

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by the way runlevels 2, 3, and 4 are all text only, runlevel 0 is halt, runlevel 6 =reboot and runlevel 1 is single user admin mode.
you can change runlevel with init or telinit.

same goes for may other linux distributions, runlevels 0 and 6 are more or less set in stone, and 95% on runlevel 1, but not all have any non gui mode.

by the way, here you have a very short intensive course in textode linux if you want to try, http://floppix.com/labs.html
in my popinion it is hard to beat for short and to the point learning, true it is somewhat outdated in few areas, but not too bad.