CD Burning

Abstract

In this section we will discuss the configuration of X-CD-Roast. We will then show you how to burn:

  • a CD from an ISO image;

  • a set of files to a CD;

  • an audio CD (CD-DA);

as well as how to erase re-writable media.

Getting Started

Under Mandrake Linux you can burn CDs using either a SCSI or an ATAPI CD-R(W) drive. It is assumed that your CD-R(W) drive was already configured properly at installation time, we will not speak about configuring a CD-R(W) drive under Linux but how to put your CD-R(W) drive to use.

All CD recording software treat CD-R(W) drives as SCSI, but ATAPI drives make use of a feature called “SCSI emulation” which is automatically configured during system installation.

Usually, you need root privileges to access the CD burner. With X-CD-Roast this is not true anymore since it provides a secure way to give non-privileged users access to the CD burner. However, the initial configuration must be done as root. Hence become root and start X-CD-Roast. The very first window that appears is similar to the one shown in Figure 10.10.

Figure 10.10. Allow Non-Root Access to the CD Burner?

Allow Non-Root Access to the CD Burner?

If you want to allow non-privileged users access to the CD burner, then click on the Activate Non-Root-Mode button and click on OK. Then, Launch X-CD-Roast and press the Setup button. Your CD-R(W) drive will automatically be detected as shown in Figure 10.11.

Figure 10.11. CD-R(W) Drive Detection under X-CD-Roast

CD-R(W) Drive Detection under X-CD-Roast

In the CD Settings tab, select the CD Writer Speed and the Audio Read Speed (used for digital audio extraction or “ripping”) according to your CD-R(W) drive, as shown in Figure 10.12.

Figure 10.12. Setting CD Reader and Writer Parameters

Setting CD Reader and Writer Parameters

Tip

Activating the Use paranoia mode for audio option will let you read scratched or other “difficult” to read audio CDs. Using this feature you might be able to recover your favorite somehow damaged songs.

Next, you need to set up a temporary directory for CD images (/tmp, or /home/peter/tmp/, for example). Click on the HD Settings tab and type a directory name in the Path field (or click on the Browse button and select the desired directory) and click on Add, as shown in Figure 10.13.

Note

To store a CD image, you need at least 650-700 MB of available space in this directory. You can check the amount of available space by pressing the Update button after you have added paths.

Figure 10.13. Setting up Temp Space on Disk

Setting up Temp Space on Disk

Next, you need to tell X-CD-Roast which users will be able to burn CDs by clicking on the Users tab. Leaving the settings in their defaults will allow all users from all hosts full control of the software and the CD burner parameters.

If you want them to only be able to burn CDs, change the settings so they resemble the ones shown in Figure 10.14.

Figure 10.14. Setting up Users Allowed to Use the CD Burner

Setting up Users Allowed to Use the CD Burner

Click on the Change Non-Root Configuration button if you want to disable/enable non-root access for X-CD-Roast.

Once you are satisfied with the settings, click on the Save Configuration button, accept the dialog that pops up, then click on the OK button and then on the Exit button. Now X-CD-Roast is configured and almost ready to be used.

To finish the configuration, every user allowed to use the CD burning software must make a little additional configuration step. When such a user runs X-CD-Roast for the first time, he has to hit the Setup button and accept (or further customize) the settings, and save them. X-CD-Roast is now ready to burn CDs!

Burning CDs

Burning from an ISO Image

Let's assume you downloaded a CD-ROM ISO image from the Internet and you want to burn it on a CD. The ISO image is in the /tmp/ directory (the one set up earlier).

Press the Create CD button, then press the Write Tracks button. In the Layout tracks tab select the ISO image you want to burn to a CD and then click on the Add button. Once you have clicked on the Accept track layout button to confirm the CD layout, you will get something similar to what is shown in Figure 10.15.

Figure 10.15. Selecting the ISO Image to Write to CD

Selecting the ISO Image to Write to CD

You can change Write parameters or just accept the defaults and then click on the Write Tracks button to burn your CD. The Advanced options button gives you access to options like “overburn”, which is needed by some old CD recorders in order to record on 80 minutes (or 700 MB) media.

Burning a Set of Files or Directories

If you want to build your own CD, or to back up some files to a CD, you also need to press the Create CD button in the main menu, but this time you will need to press on Master Tracks in order to be able to select the set of files or directories to include on the CD. In the Master source tab, you can select files/directories to include on the CD.

By default only directories are shown. Removing the mark from the Display directories only check box will let you select individual files as well. Select the directory/file you want to include and click on the Add button to add it to the CD. See Figure 10.16.

Note

Whenever you add a directory or file, you are asked where you want to put it on the CD. Usually you will just accept the default location (Add with last path component ("some_path")).

Tip

You can also exclude files or sub-directories part of an already selected directory by selecting them and then clicking on the Excludebutton.

Figure 10.16. Selecting Files/Directories to Include on the CD

Selecting Files/Directories to Include on the CD

Once you are satisfied with the set of files and directories to include, check the session size in the Create session/Image tab to make sure the contents will fit into your recordable medium you plan to use. Then you have two choices: writing an ISO image of the CD (handy if you want to make multiple copies or want to burn the CD later), clicking on the Master to image file button; or Master and write on-the-fly if you do not want to make an ISO image and burn the CD right away.

If you chose to make an ISO image first, then you need to proceed as explained in Section , “Burning from an ISO Image” in order to burn the CD. If you chose to master and write on-the-fly, just put a blank CD-R(W) et voilà!

Going Further

Burning Audio CDs

CD recording is not limited to data CDs, you can also record audio CDs. By audio CDs, we mean CDs that you can play in your car or home stereo equipment, not data CDs with OGG, MP3 or any other digital audio format files on them.

Note

Please note that data/audio CD copying is often forbidden by copyright law. The examples provided here are informational only and are not intended to make a CD pirate out of you. It is assumed that if you want to duplicate copyrighted material, it is because you have the right to do so.

To record an audio CD, you first need to have your audio tracks digitized in the wave format (*.wav)[13]. To digitize tracks from an audio CD, click on the Create CD button, then on the Read Tracks button; select the tracks you want to digitize, or click on the Select all button, and then click on the Read selected tracks button to digitize selected/all tracks. Once you have the audio tracks in the directory defined in the 3rd configuration step, all you need to do is to proceed as described in Section , “Burning from an ISO Image” to write them to CD.

Erasing CD-RW media

If your drive is a CD-RW (re-writable) one and you use CD-RW media, you might want to format your CD-RW media in order to re-write it with different data. To do so, click on the Create CD button, then on the Write Tracks button, put a CD-RW medium in the drive, and click on the Blank CD-RW button.

In the window that pops up select the type of blanking operation from the Blank Mode pull-down list and click on the Blank CD-RW button to start erasing the medium. Please have in mind that a full CD blanking can take up to 90 minutes and a “minimalCD blanking only takes up to 3 minutes.

Final Notes

As you can see, CD recording under Mandrake Linux is well supported with GUI programs. This section was kind of mini-HOWTO of CD recording for the most common tasks you might want to do. However, CD recording uses are not limited to things described here. Please refer to the FAQ on the X-CD-Roast web site for more information.



[13] At the moment of this writing, OGG and MP3 compressed audio support was in the works for X-CD-Roast.