24.2 Mobile Hardware

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop supports the automatic detection of mobile storage devices over firewire (IEEE 1394) or USB. The term mobile storage device applies to any kind of firewire or USB hard disk, USB flash drive, or digital camera. These devices are automatically detected and configured as soon as they are connected with the system over the corresponding interface. The file managers of both GNOME and KDE offer flexible handling of mobile hardware items. To unmount any of these media safely, use the Eject feature of either file manager. These are described in more detail in the GNOME User Guide and KDE User Guide.

External Hard Disks (USB and Firewire)

As soon as an external hard disk has been correctly recognized by the system, its icon appears in My Computer (KDE) or Computer (GNOME) in the list of mounted drives. Clicking the icon displays the contents of the drive. It is possible to create folders and files here and edit or delete them. To rename a hard disk from the name it had been given by the system, select the corresponding menu item from the menu that opens when the icon is right-clicked. This name change is limited to display in the file manager. The descriptor by which the device is mounted in /media remains unaffected by this.

USB Flash Drives

These devices are handled by the system just like external hard disks. It is similarly possible to rename the entries in the file manager.

Digital Cameras (USB and Firewire)

Digital cameras recognized by the system also appear as external drives in the overview of the file manager. KDE allows reading and accessing the pictures at the URL camera:/. The images can then be processed using Digikam or The GIMP. When using GNOME, Nautilus displays the pictures in their own folder. A simple image processing and management utility is f-spot. Do advanced photo processing with The GIMP. For more details on digital cameras and image management, refer to “Using Digital Cameras with Linux” (↑KDE User Guide).