this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025
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I am shocked by this - the quote in below is very concerning:

"However, in 2024, the situation changed: balenaEtcher started sharing the file name of the image and the model of the USB stick with the Balena company and possibly with third parties."

Can't see myself using this software anymore...

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[–] filister@lemmy.world 21 points 3 days ago (4 children)
[–] warmaster@lemmy.world 28 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Good luck with the binary blob!

[–] BlastboomStrice@mander.xyz 20 points 3 days ago (2 children)

For some more context:

https://lemmy.one/post/19193506

💀💀 seems like dd commands and gnome's MultiWriter might be the only ways to flash stuff on linux

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 17 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Fedora Writer is another one (also works on Windows and maybe Mac), and there's also GLIM for multiboot, similar to Ventoy.

[–] riscwarez@feddit.online 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

There's also Popsicle which is made by the folks over at System76.

[–] RVGamer06@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Gonna look into GLIM, thanks

[–] SatyrSack@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The linked article lists Raspberry Pi Imager as an option for writing Tails from macOS, and that is also available on Linux and Windows.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/

Though the site only shows how to install on Ubuntu, the GitHub repo for the tool does have an AppImage that should work on any distro.

https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-imager/releases

[–] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 16 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I thought the binary blob thing was explained?

Basically UEFI booting requires shims and those need to be signed so the Ventoy author is re-using the ones from Fedora and OpenSUSE. This can be verified by comparing hashes, which the author of that comment shows how to do.

This whole thing seems to come down to people freaking the F out because they don't understand how the software works and the Author of the software is currently PO'd off at the community and stopped answering questions.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago

The price of doing business with UEFI. There are ways around it but it works so fucking smooth. I'm down with it.

[–] jaxxed@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

A reason was given but no source was provided, and their response to the question was very slow. I don't trust it.

[–] SatyrSack@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago

Completely aside from the blob issue mentioned, the Tails team has recommended against using a multiboot utility like Ventoy to install Tails. Ventoy works fine for basically any other operating system (again, aside from the blob issue), just not Tails, which is what this post is about.

[–] CarbonBasedNPU@lemm.ee 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

My luck with Ventoy has been very poor. The isos will work a few times and then something breaks and I need to re download all my isos and format and try again.

[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 8 points 3 days ago

That's..... Interesting. I've been using Ventoy professionally for like... 2-3 years now and I've not once had an issue with daily use. Unironically like 2500-3000 uses without issue.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This has been my experience as well. Some people love it, but I'm not gonna rely on it for critical backup or recovery tools (also, there's that whole binary blob thing, besides).

[–] ObsidianZed@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

I have had no complaints about it, but with that said, I absolutely would not use it for any vital backup your recovery tools.

It was fantastic however, to use to load up with handfuls of different live distro ISOs to play around with.