Is there a quick and easy guide to burning CDs and DVDs under Linux?
I've tried looking at the CD-Writing-HOWTO and it's pretty daunting.
Plus, 2.6 doesn't seem to be ready for prime time; when I run
cdrecord -scanbus I get the following:

Cdrecord-Clone 2.01 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2004 Jörg Schilling
cdrecord: Warning: Running on Linux-2.6.13
cdrecord: There are unsettled issues with Linux-2.5 and newer.
cdrecord: If you have unexpected problems, please try Linux-2.4 or Solaris.
Linux sg driver version: 3.5.33
Using libscg version 'schily-0.8'.
scsibus0:
0,0,0 0) 'ATA ' 'WDC WD2000JS-00M' '02.0' Disk
0,1,0 1) *
0,2,0 2) *
0,3,0 3) *
0,4,0 4) *
0,5,0 5) *
0,6,0 6) *
0,7,0 7) *
scsibus2:
2,0,0 200) 'Generic ' ' CF' '1.6E' Removable Disk
2,1,0 201) *
2,2,0 202) *
2,3,0 203) *
2,4,0 204) *
2,5,0 205) *
2,6,0 206) *
2,7,0 207) *

The first entry is the 200GB SATA drive I use for /usr/local and /home.
I'm not sure just what's appearing under the "scsibus2" heading -
on my IDE interface is a 4GB hard drive as primary master (boot, swap,
and /), and a DVD-ROM and DVD writer as secondary master and slave.
The CD/DVD drives can be mounted and read as /dev/hdc and /dev/hdd -
in fact, by typing "mplayer dvd://1" as root I can view a DVD even
without mounting it. So I don't think there's anything wrong with
my hardware.

Is it just because I'm stubbornly insisting on trying to use a version
of Linux that doesn't have all the bugs out yet? Or are there other
problems that have yet to be resolved? For now, if I want to burn a
CD or DVD, I FTP the files over to a Windows box, where burning CDs
and DVDs is as easy as dragging and dropping files. But it seems a
shame to have that shiny new dual-layer DVD burner sitting there in
my Linux box doing nothing.

Unless I'm missing someething obvious, the state of CD burning under
Linux is about where X configuration was five years ago. And that's
too bad, because it means that I can't yet sell Linux to Windows
vict^H^H^H^Husers who want to burn CDs.

--
/~\ cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855.
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On 06 Mar 06 09:41:56 -0800, Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote:


>Is there a quick and easy guide to burning CDs and DVDs under Linux?
>I've tried looking at the CD-Writing-HOWTO and it's pretty daunting.
>Plus, 2.6 doesn't seem to be ready for prime time; when I run
>cdrecord -scanbus I get the following:

If you're a dummy, then go with a gui cd burning program such as
k3b.

Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote:
> Unless I'm missing someething obvious, the state of CD burning under
> Linux is about where X configuration was five years ago. And that's
> too bad, because it means that I can't yet sell Linux to Windows
> vict^H^H^H^Husers who want to burn CDs.

I just pop an empty cd in my cd-burner and gnome asks what I want to do
with it. If I choose to make a data cd, a file manager window appears
and I drag the files I want to burn into that windows. When I have
composed the cd, I press "Write to disc".

If I have downloaded a cd image, I open my "home folder" in the file
manager (nautilus). I navigate to find the iso file, right clicks on it
and selects "write to disc".

I see where this is very hard and almost like configuring X 5 hears
ago. NOT!

If you want a more nero like approach, you can use k3b or any other cd
burning application.

--
Rolf-Arne Schulze
Min Weblog: http://rolfas.net/

"Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote in
news:2474.291T2849T5816342@kltpzyxm.invalid:

> snip

> scsibus2:
> 2,0,0 200) 'Generic ' ' CF' '1.6E' Removable
> Disk 2,1,0 201) *
> 2,2,0 202) *
> 2,3,0 203) *
> 2,4,0 204) *
> 2,5,0 205) *
> 2,6,0 206) *
> 2,7,0 207) *

So what do your boot messages say? Is that removable disk how your CD/DVD
drive(s) are id'ed? Or is it something on another interface, like usb?

> The first entry is the 200GB SATA drive I use for /usr/local and
> /home. I'm not sure just what's appearing under the "scsibus2" heading
> - on my IDE interface is a 4GB hard drive as primary master (boot,
> swap, and /), and a DVD-ROM and DVD writer as secondary master and
> slave. The CD/DVD drives can be mounted and read as /dev/hdc and
> /dev/hdd - in fact, by typing "mplayer dvd://1" as root I can view a
> DVD even without mounting it. So I don't think there's anything wrong
> with my hardware.

Oh well. I could easily _anything_ I hooked up under 2.4.x as a normal
optical drive. If this were under 2.4 I'd say you hadn't set up the ide-
scsi module to use that drive. Quick googling shows that we would
definitly need the ide-cd module...but you're using the drive(s) as ro, so
we should be good....

> Is it just because I'm stubbornly insisting on trying to use a version
> of Linux that doesn't have all the bugs out yet? Or are there other
> problems that have yet to be resolved? For now, if I want to burn a
> CD or DVD, I FTP the files over to a Windows box, where burning CDs
> and DVDs is as easy as dragging and dropping files. But it seems a
> shame to have that shiny new dual-layer DVD burner sitting there in
> my Linux box doing nothing.
>
> Unless I'm missing someething obvious, the state of CD burning under
> Linux is about where X configuration was five years ago. And that's
> too bad, because it means that I can't yet sell Linux to Windows
> vict^H^H^H^Husers who want to burn CDs.

I call bullshit. Sorry. The same quick googling that informs me that Mr.
Schilling (who as I recall isn't a x86 user unless he has one of those
newer opteron boxes from Sun) doesn't exactly like the newer, 2.6ish method
of dealing with ATAPI burners showed me the relevant module and had another
forum article that said straight out that you can use your regular device
name (say /dev/hdc for the SM on the ide channel...) instead of the older
dev=<bus>,<device>,<lun>. So all that has changed is how you refer to some
devices.

If you'd like, here is the relevant article I found
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=161
Only daunting thing I can see in that article is figuring what the device
name is for my burner...

As for the gui approach, use it if you have a phobia against the command
line, however cdrecord & growisofs are quite enough. I forgive Mr.
Schilling for his opinion, fill in the gaps it leaves, and go on.









--
There is nothing life threatening about man pages.
IRS forms, however, are a different story.

On 2006-03-06, Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote:
> The CD/DVD drives can be mounted and read as /dev/hdc and /dev/hdd -

You can actually burn using these names instead, though you'll get a
nasty warning. It's never caused me any problems:

# cdrecord dev=/dev/hdc ...

jakob

In article <slrne0p0p7.uat.aznomad@ip70-176-155-130.ph.ph.cox.net>,
aznomad@PmunOgeBOX.com (AZ Nomad) writes:

> On 06 Mar 06 09:41:56 -0800, Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>> Is there a quick and easy guide to burning CDs and DVDs under Linux?
>> I've tried looking at the CD-Writing-HOWTO and it's pretty daunting.
>> Plus, 2.6 doesn't seem to be ready for prime time; when I run
>> cdrecord -scanbus I get the following:
>
> If you're a dummy, then go with a gui cd burning program such as
> k3b.

I figured there had to be an application out there - there is for
just about everything else. Download, build, drag & drop, burn -
works like a charm. Thanks for the pointer.

--
/~\ cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855.
/ \ HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!

Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid>:
> Is there a quick and easy guide to burning CDs and DVDs under Linux?
> I've tried looking at the CD-Writing-HOWTO and it's pretty daunting.
> Plus, 2.6 doesn't seem to be ready for prime time; when I run
> cdrecord -scanbus I get the following:
>
> Cdrecord-Clone 2.01 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2004 Jörg Schilling
> cdrecord: Warning: Running on Linux-2.6.13

This is good. 2.6.x kernels don't need the scsi module hacks. You
can burn directly to /dev/hdN

[Note, Jorg and Linux kernel developers have been engaging in somewhat
of a vendetta for some time.]

(0) infidel [root] /root_ mkisofs -o /scratch/iso/track_01.img \
-pad -allow-leading-dots -max-iso9660-filenames \
-r -relaxed-filenames /scratch/afio

(0) infidel /home/keeling_ cdrecord speed=8 dev=/dev/hdc -eject \
-tao -data /scratch/iso/track_01.img


--
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(*) http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling Linux Counter #80292
- - Spammers! http://www.spots.ab.ca/~keeling/emails.html
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1855.txt

In article <rKGdndSUF4v8I5HZnZ2dnUVZ_sadnZ2d@giganews.com>, matachin-
INVALID@bellsouth.net (S.Brown) writes:

> If you'd like, here is the relevant article I found
> http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=161
> Only daunting thing I can see in that article is figuring what the
> device name is for my burner...

Thanks for that reference. It clears up a lot. I think where the
"daunting" part comes in is because I've never seen a CD-burning
procedure that's anything more than selecting some files and telling
the program to burn them. I've never seen under the hood, and all
of a sudden I find myself in a world of .iso files (which I still
don't understand) and multiple steps to manually do what I've always
seen done automatically. I've been thinking in terms of just another
filesystem, but I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto.

> As for the gui approach, use it if you have a phobia against the
> command line, however cdrecord & growisofs are quite enough. I
> forgive Mr. Schilling for his opinion, fill in the gaps it leaves,
> and go on.

I'm no GUI fanatic, and I _definitely_ don't have a command-line
phobia. In fact, I recently replaced QuickPAR and WinRAR on my
Windows box with par2verify/par2repair and unrar under Linux,
and I find it much easier.

As for burning CDs, a drag-and-drop interface is awfully seductive,
at least in my present state of ignorance. I _like_ to know what's
going on inside - but I found my initial probes into man pages and
Google to be rather intimidating. Which is why I'm posting here.
Once I understand the nuts and bolts, I'll probably be happily
burning CDs from a command line like the rest of you. But not yet -
it seems it'll take some study, and more time than I have available
at the moment.

In any event, thanks, everyone, for your help. If someone could
point me to a description of the basics of the CD-burning process,
what ISO files are all about, etc., that should be enough to set
me on the road to enlightenment.

--
/~\ cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ / I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
X Top-posted messages will probably be ignored. See RFC1855.
/ \ HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored. Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!

"Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote in message
news:2248.291T2127T12295740@kltpzyxm.invalid...
> In article <rKGdndSUF4v8I5HZnZ2dnUVZ_sadnZ2d@giganews.com>, matachin-
> INVALID@bellsouth.net (S.Brown) writes:
>
>> If you'd like, here is the relevant article I found
>> http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=161
>> Only daunting thing I can see in that article is figuring what the
>> device name is for my burner...
>
> Thanks for that reference. It clears up a lot. I think where the
> "daunting" part comes in is because I've never seen a CD-burning
> procedure that's anything more than selecting some files and telling
> the program to burn them. I've never seen under the hood, and all
> of a sudden I find myself in a world of .iso files (which I still
> don't understand) and multiple steps to manually do what I've always
> seen done automatically. I've been thinking in terms of just another
> filesystem, but I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto.
>
>> As for the gui approach, use it if you have a phobia against the
>> command line, however cdrecord & growisofs are quite enough. I
>> forgive Mr. Schilling for his opinion, fill in the gaps it leaves,
>> and go on.
>
> I'm no GUI fanatic, and I _definitely_ don't have a command-line
> phobia. In fact, I recently replaced QuickPAR and WinRAR on my
> Windows box with par2verify/par2repair and unrar under Linux,
> and I find it much easier.
>
> As for burning CDs, a drag-and-drop interface is awfully seductive,
> at least in my present state of ignorance. I _like_ to know what's
> going on inside - but I found my initial probes into man pages and
> Google to be rather intimidating. Which is why I'm posting here.
> Once I understand the nuts and bolts, I'll probably be happily
> burning CDs from a command line like the rest of you. But not yet -
> it seems it'll take some study, and more time than I have available
> at the moment.
>
> In any event, thanks, everyone, for your help. If someone could
> point me to a description of the basics of the CD-burning process,
> what ISO files are all about, etc., that should be enough to set
> me on the road to enlightenment.

Much of it is in the "cdrecord" program, which is what the GUI's in Linux
actually use to burn CD's, and the "mkisofs" program, that can actually make
ISO images from bundles of files.

Remember that the various CD formats are built by committees from different
industries: they picked certain features to make things easy for their own
purposes, but people have tweaked them since to provide better handling of
long filenames, the ability to read the CD's on older operating systems,
etc. But there are still things that will never work will due to the
built-in limitations: I dare you to try to make an ISO from a Maildir
directory without bundling it up into a tarball first.

Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote:
> In article <rKGdndSUF4v8I5HZnZ2dnUVZ_sadnZ2d@giganews.com>, matachin-
> INVALID@bellsouth.net (S.Brown) writes:
>
>> If you'd like, here is the relevant article I found
>> http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=161
>> Only daunting thing I can see in that article is figuring what the
>> device name is for my burner...
>
> Thanks for that reference. It clears up a lot. I think where the
> "daunting" part comes in is because I've never seen a CD-burning
> procedure that's anything more than selecting some files and telling
> the program to burn them. I've never seen under the hood, and all
> of a sudden I find myself in a world of .iso files (which I still
> don't understand) and multiple steps to manually do what I've always
> seen done automatically. I've been thinking in terms of just another
> filesystem, but I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto.

Unix-ey people like modular functionality, for lots of reasons. But
your answer basically is k3b -- plus awareness of the fact that ATAPI
addressing for CD/DVD-writing purposes has historically been a small
mess on Linux, made somewhat worse by cdrecord author Jorg Schilling
having a somewhat hostile attitude. (Some people like certain other X11
front-ends other than k3b, notably Nautilus and gCombust. Me, I'm a
dinosaur and prefer mkisofs/cdrecord.)

Personally, some years ago made almost all of this go away by going SCSI
with my CD burner (a lovely old Plextor). Which apparently won't be an
option with DVD burners, alas. That world's rapidly going SATA.

Here, this page is a little antique, but you might find it useful:
http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/Lin...ialCDBurn.html

--
Cheers,
Rick Moen Support your local medical examiner: Die strangely.
rick@linuxmafia.com