Elive needs to be recorded with the correct tools - usb's unbootable

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1

Today I received an email from someone saying that he was unable to boot elive on his computer and so he switched to linux mint which "works good for him"

After to ask him which tools he used to record the USB he said unetbootin and rufus, I told him both of them are incompatible and so you cannot boot Elive from them, and showed him the link to the FAQ page which (IMHO) explains correctly which tools to use: Tools to record Elive Linux in an USB drive - Elive Linux

But the problem is, why people don't see that? its very important that the people strictly uses the correct / suggested tools, so there's other ones which don't work and this is very bad for elive (elive works good and boots good on your computer, but using the incorrect tools leads to unbootable systems, just like what would happen if your download is broken)

So this thread is about: how to improve the communication / UX related to communicate to the user that needs to use the correct tools

  • how the website can be improved for that?
  • on which steps of the user-experience can be stated / said
  • how to improve the emails saying to use the correct tools? (its already made I think, but apparently not enough clear with big flashing arrows)
  • other UX aspects on the procedure / experience that leads to the download of elive
2

I would consider adding the text to the message that appears when the download link is confirmed as well as to the e-mail message.
Do that with big letters so it cannot be missed, explaining -- no: emphasizing our hybrid-iso is different/special....as well as an obvious link.

The issue is that when people do a google search on how to create a bootable USB, they generally fall into the Ubuntu forums/solutions trap.....so they need to see our solutions.
That could also be done by adding the usb-bootable-elive script (as standalone) to the download.

That will, I realize leave those that have downloaded from other places than the Elive site, out in the cold but ...... those cannot be helped.

3

emphasized the sentence from the email with the download

suggestions of more places to improve welcome

4

Maybe it's also an idea to offer tar archive (or compressed directory) that includes a Howto PDF next to the .iso .
Currently we solely offer up the iso as a single downloadable file.
If an Install-Howto is included there shouldnt be any need to do a web-search on how to create a bootable USB disk. :thinking:

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