If you are lucky and have an (external) CD drive you can burn one of the ISO images provided on the Samsung SSD page. However as I bought the SSD (a 840 non-pro) for my netbook and had already installed the SSD and didn't want to remove it again I didn't have this option.

After some trial and error I succeeded by extracting a part of the ISO image and putting it on the FreeDOS stick that I created using UNetbootin. Neither using the executable for Windows on FreeDOS nor creating a USB Stick using UNetbootin and the ISO image worked for me.

I read that under Windows you can create a bootable USB stick using Magican (can be found on the same download page). I didn't know this before and haven't tried it but if you have a Windows somewhere this might be a safer option than what I suggest here.

For those of you who don't want to repeat the trial and error, here is what worked for me. Updating the firmware is a dangerous procedure, your SSD could be damaged irreparably if the update fails. If you follow these instructions you do that at your own risk.

I have a Samsung 840 (non-pro) SSD but I could imagine that this could work for other Samsung SSDs, too.

You need the samsung directory from the isolinux/btdsk.img image inside the ISO, copy it on the USB stick. Once you have booted the stick, change the directory to C:\samsung\DSRD\ directory and execute DSRDGUIO.exe.

1. Use UNetbootin to install FreeDOS on the USB stick
2. Download the ISO image. I assume it is in /tmp/Samsung_SSD_840_DXT07B0Q.iso
3. Mount the ISO image. I've create a directory /mnt/test for this purpose:

   mount -o loop /tmp/Samsung_SSD_840_DXT07B0Q.iso /mnt/test

4. Copy /mnt/test/isolinux/btdsk.img to /tmp.
5. Unmount the ISO image: umount /mnt/test
6. Mount btdsk.img: mount -o loop /tmp/btdsk.img /mnt/test
7. Copy /mnt/test/samsung on the USB stick
8. Unmount btdsk.img: umount /mnt/test
9. Reboot from the USB stick
10. Select one of the live versions of FreeDOS
11. In FreeDOS execute:

    C:\
    cd samsung\dsrd\
    DSRDGUIO.exe

12. Follow the instructions that appear

Feel free to comment if it worked for you or if it didn't so other people can learn from your experiences.

I got tagged by foosel, so I have to:

1. blog a list with your favorite destktop Linux software (as many or few you want)
2. add links to the software project's websites
3. post these rules
4. tag three other Linux using bloggers

As I read that only apps with GUIs are allowed (that means non-cli-GUIs ;)) you will miss some programs, but anyway, here is the rest:

• Firefox - the software I use most and like because of its features but don't really like because of it's memory consummation
• Thunderbird - same problem as with Firefox, needs a large amount of memory
• Pidgin - my favorite instant messaging client although I am not satisfied with its support of Jabber
• urxvt - the ultimate terminal
• Inkscape - at the moment not used that much, but one of the best programs I know and when I upgrade I always see some new, really great features
• PCMan File Manager - fast and simple, some features are missing but nevertheless a great app
• gThumb - a image viewer that is also able to print photos nicely (but apparently not on small photo paper)
• GIMP - an image editor that I don't use that often but that is nevertheless noteworthy
• LightZone - unfortunately there is no free Linux-version anymore (the Linux-version is supported officially now and costs 135 €) but it is one of the best tools I've ever seen to manipulate light and color of photos
• LyX - a LaTeX - a GUI I often use when I have to write texts
• OpenOffice.org - when there is no other text processor that is suitable and easy to use, OpenOffice.org is my choice
• (G)Vim - my favorite text editor
• Eclipse - for more complex programming I sometimes need Eclipse (for Java a must-have ;) ), although I don't really like it
• VLC and MPlayer to play some music and videos
• gPlanarity - a game I sometimes play

Some software that actually kind of belongs to my “desktop” but is still standalone-software and noteworthy as it is not that common:

• stalonetray - a simple but nice (e.g. completely (peudo-)transparent background is supported) systray
• tint2 - a simple and nice taskbar

I hope I haven't forgotten too many, but anyway here are the three bloggers that may continue:

• laxu
• foxx
• PenPen

Gestern (16. Juli 2005) war ich auf dem Pforzheimer Linux-Info-Tag. Morgens um 10 Uhr ging es los, ich war gleich vom Anfang an dabei. Ich war das erste Mal auf solch einer größeren Linux-Veranstaltung und ich fand es auf jeden Fall super! Beim Inkscape - Workshop, den ich gleich am Anfang (von 10 bis 13 Uhr) besuchte, wurde ich wirklich gut in die Benutzung von Inkscape eingeführt. Den Rest des Tages (bis 19 Uhr) habe ich in der Ausstellung verbracht, dort konnte ich mich gut unterhalten und habe auch viele gute Tipps und neue Informationen bekommen. Den Abschluss bildete der doch sehr leere Vortrag über Pingos, JuniorPinogs und SelfLinux, der einen Einblick in das Projekt gab. Hätte ich mit jedem so lange geredet wie mit manchen, hätte ich bestimmt noch einige weitere Tage in der Ausstellung verbringen können, ohne mich zu langweilen. Aber irgendwann muss man ja auch die gewonnen Erkenntnisse in die Praxis umsetzen. Es war auch schön, diejenigen, die man sonst immer nur im IRC “sieht” mal real zu erleben. Ich hatte bei dem Stand von LinuxPaten auch ein Plakat von meinem Jugend-Forum hängen.

Was auch interessant war, war Wardriving… Die fahren oder laufen durch die Gegend und spüren Wlan -Netze auf und analysieren diese. Einfach so als Hobby und noch mehr (und als “Grund” zum Bewegen)…

Ich habe auch einige Bilder gemacht, diese sind auf der offiziellen Website zu finden.