Have you been running away from the default Linux USB writers while searching for one that is not CLI-based? Well, today is your lucky day because there is a new USB writer app in development and it has at least one more feature than Etcher.
Read Also: 3 Best GUI-Enabled USB Image Writer Tools on Linux
ISO Image Writer is a utility tool with which you can write ISO images to USB drives and SD cards while making bootable and automatically checking the ISO’s digital signatures (checksum) for authenticity.
It is developed by a pre-eminent KDE developer and project lead of the KDE Neon software stack, Jonathan Riddell, based on Qt5 ROSA Image Writer, an older and more renowned cross-platform USB image writer.
The two feature highlights of ISO Writer are its ability to run its main UI without root privileges and to automatically check the authenticity of ISO images.
Features in ISO Image Writer
- FOSS – ISO Image Writer is free to use and open-source so you can contribute to its code on GitHub.
- Simple and Neat Design – ISO Image Writer sports a GUI that is nice-looking, intuitive, and customizable with system themes.
- Digital Signature Validation – ISO Image Writer automatically checks the checksum of ISO files to test their authenticity.
- Root Not Need – ISO Image Writer works without the need for root privileges (except when required) thanks to its implementation of KAuth.
Jonathan Riddell plans on adding AppImage, Windows and macOS install functions in a future update.
At the moment, there is an Alpha build of ISO Image Writer for installation but only on KDE Neon Developer Edition. Find and install it using the app installer of your choice.
I hope the project is made readily available for other Linux distros in the near future.
I imagine KDE Neon Developer users are happy about this development. What do you think about it? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.
