In my four years of using Linux, getting USB drives, memory cards, CD-ROMs, and Windows shares in a state where I could actually use them has been one of my most frustrating problems. Printing, by comparison, has been far easier. I was frustrated even that I had to use the "mount" command, not to mention all the issues with getting it to work the way I wanted it to. In my four years of using Linux, it has gotten a lot better about automatically detecting and mounting devices; in particular, I almost never have to mount hard drives or CD-ROMs manually any more. Other devices, however, remain problematic. You may never have to use the mount command in Linux. You may also win the lottery jackpot; I wouldn't bet on either. This article is intended to help new users save a lot of the time and trouble that I have gone through.

I am probably not the only one who is using this fruitful combination for my remote file management and editing jobs, but for those of you who still haven't discovered the benefits of using it here is what the buzz is all about.