1st time user needs help with terminal

[vsixs]

hello all..
appologies if im in the wrong part of the forum.. ive already posted in another part of the forum but not the right place i dont think..soz.
ex windows user and new mint 14 convert trying to understand the terminal and its usage..very unnerving for a first time user..basically im trying to copy an image of the file hakiu-anyboot.image from my desktop to a usb flash drive..(not sure if its supposed to be dev/sdc or dev/sdc1)
i found this script on the mint forums somewhere i think, looked so many places i cant remember..brain burn.
dd if=path/to/haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sd[x] bs=1M
i then modified it as to what i think is the right path, though probually isnt..actually theres no doubt its wrong..
dd if= home/paul/desktop/haiku-anyboot.image/to/haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sdc bs=1M
and i get
dd: unrecognised operand error message and it advises to see dd help which i tried but couldnt make heads or tails of it..
if anyone could please put a first time user out of his misery i would appreciaate it.
it probualy seems like such a simple thing to other users..
tried getting me feet wet but forgot me wellies..
thanks
paul

[passerby]

dd if= home/paul/desktop/haiku-anyboot.image/to/haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sdc bs=1M

Remove the space between "if" and "home".

[vsixs]

hi passerby
thanks for the quick response..just tried removing the space and get an error message-no such file or directory..but there must be because i managed to burn a copy using kb3, so the file must exsist there?

[wayne128]

if your file haiku-anyboot.image is in the directory /home/paul/desktop
then the full path is /home/paul/desktop/haiku-anyboot.image



so, you need to change this:

dd if= home/paul/desktop/haiku-anyboot.image/to/haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sdc bs=1M

to this

Code: Select all

dd if= /home/paul/desktop/haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sdc bs=1M

actually the / is important

a word of caution, usually the directory Desktop is with capital letter D, check carefully, if that is Capital D, you will need to use this

Code: Select all

dd if=/home/paul/Desktop/haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sdc bs=1M

sometime, it is faster to just cd to the correct directory, saving all sorts of typing error on 'full path'.. especially when the directory name had space, something like Land of Happiness, in which case, in linux, you type Land\ of\ Happiness, and it is somewhat troublesome to use back slash with a space for 'space' and prone to typo error..

then, do this when you start, usually you start on /home/paul because you login there

Code: Select all

cd Desktop
dd if=haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sdc bs=1M

or simply

Code: Select all

dd if=haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sdc

[vsixs]

thanks wayne for your reply..
i tried using cd desktop and got there then dd if=haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sdc but got
dd: opening `/dev/sdc': Permission denied
i remember trying to use dos when a wee nipper, didnt learn much of that and thought id have a twiddle again but still no easier...yet..
i have also got the file in downloads folder, would that be conflicting somehow?..ive never used the terminal before so forgive my daft questions

[wayne128]

thanks wayne for your reply..
i tried using cd desktop and got there then dd if=haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sdc but got
dd: opening `/dev/sdc': Permission denied
i remember trying to use dos when a wee nipper, didnt learn much of that and thought id have a twiddle again but still no easier...yet..
i have also got the file in downloads folder, would that be conflicting somehow?..ive never used the terminal before so forgive my daft questions

may be you are not 'root'?

then try it with sudo infront of your command and key in password when asked.

Code: Select all

sudo dd if=haiku-anyboot.image of=/dev/sdc

[vsixs]

thankyou wayne
wasnt sudo afterall..i thought that the ~$ meant you were sudo..wrong again..well it appears to be coying something to the usb tried it on difeerent drives one sdc and sdc1..1st didnt appear to have anything on it but terminal said 728mb copied..its a boot disk for a o/s called haiku..saw it and thought id see what its like, its not linux based so haiku people say..prob more complicated than linux..well im off to see if these boot up but will be sticking with mint.. thankyou very much for taking the time to help..i appreciate it..i owe you a big cuppa..
thanks

[vsixs]

thanks again for your help..hakiu copied to usb and booted up..hakiu not like windoze or linux quite a bit different..still in development..too much for me..just ordered a free linux help guide so hopefully ill learna bit more..

[xenopeek]

Introduction to the Command Line is a friendly and useful introduction to, erm, the command line Read it here, or download, or purchase as book: http://en.flossmanuals.net/command-line/

[EmpireITtech]

I read over this when I first came to Mint, it was pretty good.
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/100

Also helped me see the benefit to using Mint's awesome Community site for ideas/help/tutorials. Love the support I've gathered there.

[FireSoul]

Hello.
I think it's not good idea if 1st time user go to terminal,new linux mint is so easy use other way.
As using terminal,can get bad errors if don't know how use.Like commands what overwrite files,drivers,maybe your operating systems.

Look what EmpireITtech wrote and show with link. http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/100

You can delete files in place it is,load files from packages and if installed DVD-version many things ready.
Drivers,codecs and useful programs.

[vsixs]

thanks again fopr everyones help and comments..i think ill read up and learna bit more about using the terminal before idabble to deeply, dont wanna mess up my system..been lucky so far me thinks..this is the 2nd install of mint as the first one somehow i destroyed my broadband connection, but luckily didnt lose any info etc..its good to know theres help out there from far more experienced users and it is appreciated for the time you give to help newbies..
paul

[EmpireITtech]

That's the best thing about Linux Mint imo, the instant support and active community is 2nd (maybe) only to Ubuntu....but the good thing is, almost all help the Ubuntu support gives you works in Mint bc they are so similar