Linux Format forums

[Deke]

A little bug, not much larger than a pinhead, found its way into my CD drive and shot it to pieces (Sacrificing one CD and its life in the process. RIP), so I figure if I have to replace it I might as well go for a DVD recorder while I'm at it.

Any recommendations? I'm not looking for the latest, fastest tech., I'm looking for something that runs reliably and with no compatibility problems with Linux, so if you want to recommend something that's slow and two years old but just plugs in and works, go ahead.

I'm currently using Mandrake 9.1, if that makes a difference. Come to think of it, I have the discs all ready to update to 2005LE when it's installed if that also makes a difference and... I'm not planning on downloading pirate movies, far more likely to just use it for backups and making the occasional CD from my (Legit. Really!) Mp3 collection.

[Nigel]

My system has an NEC ND-3500AG which works well with SuSE 9.2
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Hope this helps,

Nigel.

[hairymunky]

I'm using an optorite 8x (edit) its a D405 I think (edit) from ebuyer, works sweet with k3b and fedora
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Linux powered Astronomy

[nordle]

Cant really go wrong with LG GSA4163 (I've got the slower 8x GSA-4081B) £35 for DVD+R, DVD-R and DVD-RAM
http://tinyurl.com/5685b

Realistically though, you should be fine with 99% of drives of your system is up to date with packages and kernel. If not, then unless someone is running mdk 9.1 as yourself, its difficult to say what it will accept.

[nelz]

I've used Pioneer and NEC drives without and compatibility problems, although two of the Pioneers died prematurely. Just about any drive should work though.
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Unix is user-friendly. It's just very selective about who it's friends are.

[Nobber]

[tomdeb]

I have a NEC 3520A buning at 16X under Ubuntu 5.04
I noticed that the burning speed wasn't the same whether i was using the i686 or the K7 kernel on my Athlon XP.
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TomDeb
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"The urge to destroy is a creative urge."
Mikhail Bakunin

[skecs]

I have been using an LG SuperMulti DVD+/-RW & DVD-RAM drive (GSA4082B) for over 12 months with Redhat and Suse Linux with no worries at all. It burns at various speeds up to the specified maximum (according to k3b) speed for DVDs and CDs. I also have an older AOpen 40x12x48 CD-Burner in the same system and that has been the same - no hassles burning up to maximum speeds.

A lot of it also depends on the media - it may sound like a good deal but when 20% of the cheap discs are coasters you've lost your savings. I use TDK, Verbatim with no problems and occassionally Imation which I have had problems with. Stay away from the cheap, no name, discount store discs, they just aren't worth the hassle.
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[Ram]

I've got a Lite-on 8x +/- all write. works with SuSE 8.0 up over. no coasters in 11 mths using all media.

Ram
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Ubuntu LXDE 12.04 running on AMD Phenom II*4; ASUS Crosshair III Formula MB; 4 GB Ram.....

[richie]

Fine with a NEC ND-3500AG, using v2.C8 special edition firmware, with Mandrake 10.1 .

Rich

[Flea]

Well, I'm using a cheapy no-name dvd burner and it works great. Would definitely recommend upgrading to a 2.6 kernel if you haven't already as it does away with the ide-scsi requirement.
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The question is, what is a mahnamahna?
The question is, who cares?

[Guest]

I've got two DVD burners, an internal one Single Sided DVD-/+RW made by NEC, and an external one, Gericom, which acutually is a USB2 interface built around a Samsung Double Sided DVD-/+RW.

Both work!

I think the interface is pretty standard these days and it would be harder to name one that didn't work than one that does!

One thing to watch, K3B is a front-end for several programs, and sometimes there are DVD and non-DVD enabled versions of these programs, so you may need to upgrade a few of them.

The other thing is that Mandrake 9.1 uses a 2.4.13 kernel, and this could cause problems. Maybe. I never had a DVD burner when I was using a kernel that old. So if it doesn't work, treat yourself to a shiny new distro as well.

Mandrake 10.1 OE or CE, Mandriva 2005LE and PCLinuxOS should all be logical updates of what you have.

[nelz]

DVD burning works fine in Mandrake 9.1 (and older) although you may need to use ide-scsi emulation.
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Unix is user-friendly. It's just very selective about who it's friends are.

[davecs]

Many apologies for "guest" post 2 above, I didn't realise I wasn't logged in!
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Asus Asus M2N32 WS Pro+Athlon AM2/4200+ — GeForce 7600GT — 2Gb Cosair VS RAM — 500Gb WD5000AAKS SATA Drive — PCLinuxOS

[Deke]

Just thought I'd log on and thank you for the recommendations. I would have done so sooner but the site took it upon itself to banish me for a couple of weeks, then today I find myself logged in again.

There are strange forces at work...

...and I don't just mean Linux.
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I am not a PC, I am a free man!