DVD writers are installed on all Linux and Windows workstations in the IAM. Two powerful CD/DVD burning programs with graphical interface, K3b and X-CD-Roast, are installed on the Linux machines, while the purists may want to experiment with command line utilities such as 'mkisofs' and 'cdrecord'. The Gnome desktop provides two low-level disk-burning utilities, the CD/DVD Creator and GnomeBaker. On the Windows workstations, you can use the user-friendly Nero Suite.

For the IAM users, the most important application of the CD/DVD writing software and utilities would probably be to create data CD/DVDs for the purpose of backup or transferring files between different computers. If you want to write a whole disk full of data at once, use the single-session option and the Disk-At-Once (DAO) mode. If you want to transfer data in smaller batches that do not fill the whole disk, use the multisession option and the Track-At-Once (TAO) mode. Multisession means that you will be able to append additional batches of files (sessions) at the expense of losing some of the disk space. Burning of CD/DVD-R (readable) and of CD/DVD-RW (rewritable) disks are very similar, except that the latter is slower and that CD/DVD-RWs allow you to erase either the last session or the whole disk. Unlike with floppies, zip disks, or USB sticks, you cannot selectively erase files on a CD/DVD-RW within one session, and you cannot delete a session other than the last one, so you need to keep track of the contents of each session. The sections below will give you general guidelines on how to burn CD/DVDs on the IAM Linux and Windows workstations, with an emphasis on creating data disks. For additional information on CD/DVD writing in Linux, please consult these web sites:

• YoLinux Tutorial: Burning a CD
• IBM developerWorks: Burning CDs on Linux
• Online X-CD-Roast Manual

WARNING: It is generally not a good idea to run any applications while burning a CD, as this could result in write failure and could waste your CD or DVD.

All IAM Linux workstations are equipped with DVD writers. The maximum write speed of the drives is 16X, equivalent to ~22 MB/s. The recommended writing software is K3b.

1. K3b
   
   K3b is regarded as the most user-friendly CD/DVD burning software for Linux. It has been designed for the KDE desktop, but it works perfectly fine in Gnome, as well. See www.k3b.org for more information.
   
   Starting K3b
   1. From the desktop menu:
      Start Menu / Extras / Sound & Video / K3b or
      Start Menu / Sound & Video / Additional Applications / K3b.
      For easier access, you can drag the K3b item from this menu to the desktop or add it to the desktop panel.
   2. From the shell command line: Simply type k3b & at the shell prompt.
   Notes:
   • When you start K3b for the first time, a box may appear prompting you to run Setup. This is not necessary, and you can check "Don't show this again" to disable this prompt.
   • If a message appears "Verify device speed", choose 52X (or fastest possible).
   • Upon inserting a disk into the drive, the desktop file manager window may appear, offering a low-level burn option. It is best to close it.
   
   Burning Data CDs
   1. Choose Data CD and New Project from the main screen.
   2. Drag your files or directories from the upper panel to the Project panel below.
   3. Click the Burn icon in the menu panel. A pop-up dialog will appear where you can specify the desired options. The recommended settings are as follows:
      • Writing tab – Writing mode: choose Auto. This will automatically select Track-At-Once for a multisession CD or Disk-At-Once for a single-session CD.
      • Writing tab – Writing speed: choose Auto. This will automatically select the highest possible value for the given drive and medium type.
      • Options tab – On-the-fly: leave checked (default).
      • Options tab – Burnfree: leave checked (default).
      • Options tab – Remove Image: leave checked (default).
      • Advanced tab – Allow 103 character Joliet filenames: leave checked.
      • Advanced tab – Allow 31 character filenames: leave checked.
      • Advanced tab – Allow ~ and #: leave checked.
      • Advanced tab – Allow full ASCII charset: leave checked.
      • Advanced tab – Allow leading period: leave checked.
      • Advanced tab – Allow lowercase characters: leave checked.
      • Advanced tab – Allow max length filenames: leave checked.
      • Advanced tab – Allow multiple dots: leave checked.
   4. Additional tips:
      • To erase the last session on a multisession CD-RW: Click on the Erase CD-RW icon in the panel
      • To copy CD to another CD: Click on the Copy CD icon in the panel
      • To create a disk image of the session to be burned later: Under Project/Properties... choose Only Create Image
      • To burn a CD from a saved image: Click Tools/CD–Burn CD Image...
   
   
2. X-CD-Roast
   
   Although its graphical interface may appear less user-friendly, X-CD-Roast is equally powerful as K3b. See www.xcdroast.org/manual/ for an excellent manual to this software.
   
   Starting X-CD-Roast
   1. From the desktop menu: Start Menu / System Tools / X-CD-Roast.
      For easier access, you can drag the X-CD-Roast item from this menu to the desktop or add it to the desktop panel.
   2. From the shell command line: Simply type xcdroast & at the shell prompt.
   Notes:
   • When you start X-CD-Roast for the first time, a hardware scan will be performed.
   • On all workstations, the CD reader device for X-CD-Roast is specified the same as the CD writer. If your workstation has an additional CD-ROM which you would like to use to read tracks or files from, do not change the CD/DVD Reader settings in SETUP / CD Settings / CD/DVD Reader Configuration until you have inserted the source CD into this drive. If you define your CD Reader as the CD-ROM and you start X-CD-Roast with no disk in the drive, it will take a very long time to complete the device scan (1-2 min).
   • Upon inserting a disk into the drive, the desktop file manager window may appear, offering a low-level burn option. It is best to close it.
   
   Burning Data CDs
   1. Choose Create CD and then Master Tracks.
   2. Drag your files or directories from the right-hand-side to the left-hand-side panel. You can check their total size under the Create session/image tab.
   3. Choose the desired session type and write mode under the Create session/image tab. For example, if you are not going to fill up the whole CD in one burn, choose Write as multi session and Write Mode: Track-At-Once.
   4. Make sure that Enable protection from Buffer Underruns is selected.
   5. Verify the writing speed: you can safely choose 52x, unless using a slower CD.
   6. When ready to burn, click on Master and write on-the-fly. If you want to save the session as an image file on hard disk, choose Master to image file instead.
   7. Additional tips:
      • If your default writing speed shown in the Master tracks window is less than 52x, you can change it by entering Setup from the main menu and clicking on the CD Settings tab.
      • To erase the whole CD-RW or the last session on a multisession CD-RW: Go to the Create session/image tab, click on Blank CD-RW and select the desired option.
   
   
3. Command Line Utilities
   
   Using the original command line Linux utilities will give you most control and flexibility in specifying the desired CD writing options. Writing files to a CD, whether done from command line or using a graphical interface program, essentially consists of two steps:
   
   
   1. Creating an image of your CD session as a disk file using the mkisofs command.
      For example,
      
      mkisofs -R -J -l -L -allow-multidot -o /home/henry/session01.cd /home/henry/results
      
      will create an ISO9660 image file /home/henry/session01.cd containing the whole directory /home/henry/results, preserving both Linux- and Windows-specific file name options (-R and -J, resp.), as well as allowing 31-character file names (-l), leading periods (-L) and multiple dots (-allow-multidot) in file names. See the mkisofs manual pages (type man mkisofs in Linux shell) for more information.
   
   
   
   2. Writing the image file to the CD using the cdrecord command.
      For example,
      
      cdrecord -v speed=52 dev=0,0,0 driveropts=burnfree -multi -eject /home/henry/session01.cd
      
      will write the /home/henry/session01.cd image file to a multisession CD (-multi) using buffer underrun protection (burnfree), verbose output (-v) and ejecting the CD when finished. The dev option specifies the number of the CD writing device on the SCSI bus, which is 0,0,0 for all IAM Linux machines. Please note that all Linux CD-RW drives in the IAM are capable of writing at speed 52X (equivalent to 7.8 MB/s for data CDs), so you should only worry about reducing this value when using slower media, including CD-RWs (check the CD label to be sure). See the cdrecord manual pages (type man cdrecord in Linux shell) for more information.
   
   A comprehensive tutorial on CD burning in Linux, including detailed examples of using the command line utilities, can be found at the YoLinux web site.