Unetbootin
It appears that I can' install Unetbootin from the Trisquel repo (even it is in the 'shop'). I then found this thread: https://trisquel.info/en/forum/unetbootin-fork?page=1
Still - forgive my ignorance - I'm confused whether I can install a free version or not?
UNetbootin is free software. However it proposes the installation of nonfree GNU/Linux distributions: https://www.gnu.org/distros/common-distros.html
Be aware of that. If you want to the latest version of UNetbootin, you can use this PPA: https://launchpad.net/~gezakovacs/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
And then comes the question: Can I trust that PPA as I trust Trisquels?
The "creator" and maintainer of UNetbootin administrates the PPA, which only proposes this package. It is always possible that UNetbootin becomes proprietary, that the PPA will propose additional proprietary packages in dependency of UNetbootin, etc. I would say it is is highly unlikely though.
I am a translator!
It could be that I was luckless, but in my experience unetbootin is terrible, and a huge source of time waste and back pain. Of the 5 or 6 times I used it, it failed half the time. Then I learned a simple terminal command and that one has never failed me: dd.
Assuming the usb stick is indeed sdb (run lsblk to find out)
dd if=YOURADORBLEGNU.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M; sync
Indeed. https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/how-create-liveusb lists graphical solutions too (other than UNetbootin).
Unetbootin has three advantages from my point of view:
1) I'm familiar with it
2) Using it, one can create space in order to use the usb stick as a portable, i.e. I can save files on the stick for later use
3) It's quite straightforward and stable (not 100% though)
It seems that the 'Startup Disk Creator' of Trisquel allows for additional space up to 1 GB (according to https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/how-create-liveusb)
Does the dd-way create extra space?
In the guide for installing Libreboot only the dd-way is mentioned. Would it make a difference to the success of the installation whether I use Unetbootin or dd?
I **guess** it does, specially since GNU `dd` is specialized in copying
things verbatim.
Some years ago, I made an experiment comparing the behavior of Trisquel
live USB when copying using "Disk Creator", and after tests, copying
using GNU `dd`. Using the later results in more speed and **can**
prevent problems when installing the GRUB boot loader during the
installation of the whole system.
That is interesting. I wonder if there is a large scale experiment on that? And if there is an explanation?