[lug] CD R/RW advice

[D. Frye]

D. Stimits wrote:
> A non-linux friend is interested in setting up a linux box with a CD 
> R/RW (and I am kind of curious about a similar thing with DVD R/RW), but 
> I couldn't offer much advice since I've never had a CD burner (the only 
> one I have experience with setting up is an HP on Win 2K that constantly 
> dies from driver problems). Is there any general rule of thumb or 
> specific advice I can pass along to him? For example, "IDE usually 
> works", or a given brand is often good or bad? I think a big point on 
> any advice would be something that doesn't take a lot of painful install 
> steps for (relatively speaking). The friend is rather computer-savvy, 
> but not a programmer and very little knowledge of linux...he understands 
> hardware fairly well.
> 
> D. Stimits, stimits AT attbi DOT com
> 

There was a presentation on bootable Linux CD distributions at the Pikes 
Peak LUG this month. We had a test system that booted Knoppix and found 
the CD-RW with no problems. This also worked with no kernel changes.

I'd recommend to your friend to get something like this and test his 
system for compatibility. Also, if there is any hesitation about jumping 
to linux directly, they can play with linux and not have to worry about 
his hard drive contents.

As a side note, when I finally break down and buy a laptop, you can bet 
I'll be taking a CD like this and seeing that it will boot and what 
parts will be recognized in the store before making that final purchase.

David

-- 

D. Frye
dafr AT peakpeak.com