Formatting SD Memory Cards

[Graham Todd]

I have a Panasonic LUMIX DMC-FZ10 camera that takes SD memory cards,
and won't work at all without one.

I have three 4 gig cards, any and all of which gives a "Memory Card
error" message when inserted into the camera an turned on. According to
the manual troubleshooting info., this could be to the card being not
recognised by the camera and it suggests getting the card formatted by
the camera once more.

However, I can't raise the Menu in order to get the card Formatted; it
is simply stuck on "Memory card error".  I have tried to use Gnome
Format (to see if it makes any difference) but I'm not getting anywhere.

Does anyone know of any software that runs under Ubuntu 12.04 that
formats the SD memory cards *efficiently* for use with the Panasonic
LUMIX DMC-FZ10 range of cameras?

--Graham Todd