K3b Mini Howto
for linux. (I am using ubuntu 7.10 and KDE) :-)
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This is a very short version, and if you want to know more, go to the Internet etc.
This howto is without any guarantee, and you may use it on your own responsibility only.
There may be errors, but I do not want to use too much time to write this minihowto.
To check specific words or items you may try to Search in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page/ or http://www.google.com/
Index Of Page:
The
short version
To burn an iso file
The md5 checksum
To burn files onto a cd disc
To copy a cd onto an empty cd disc
Clone copy
To
burn audio files
An overview of the various burning options
K3b
is a cd -and dvd burning KDE linux program, which is very easy to
use.
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You can copy cd's and dvd's, burn cd -and dvd iso files, data files, audio files and some types of multimedia files etc.
You can also use it for back-up of files, as you can keep adding (burning) files to the same cd -or dvd until it is full.
Best to use "CD-R" or "single sided DVD-R" discs.
The
short version: Open k3b, insert a cd -or dvd disc into the cd slot,
choose burning option etc, click the "Burn" button, wait until the
burning is finished, close
k3b and the cd slot will automatically open (music is played).
Below
I will show some examples from my computer (your computer will look
differently) - the examples are what I use most myself.
To burn an iso file open k3b -> K-menu - Multimedia - k3b - "Enter" (see below)

Do
not change the settings unless you know what you are doing - k3b is
from start set up to work best with the default
settings. Back to the Index
For
this exercise I have downloaded
"ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-3.01-seamonkey.iso"
which is a Linux Puppy iso file.
Besides this I have downloaded the
file with the md5 checksum
"ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-3.01-seamonkey.iso.md5.txt"
which
contains the following checksum text
"1aacaf2c0d2620617c7aa10a12635bba puppy-3.01-seamonkey.iso" - the md5
checksum guarantees (to a high degree) that
the file has not been fiddled with.
Normally the checksum file can be downloaded from the same place where the iso file itself is downloaded.
Then
I insert an empty cd disc into the cd writer and can choose k3b -
Device - Media info to see what kind of cd disc is inserted (see below)

and I see the following (see below) - just for my information if I am unsure of what kind of cd disc is inserted

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Then I click on the "Burn CD Image" button
and choose the "puppy-3.01-seamonkey.iso" in the /home/user1/downloads/puppy directory (see
below)

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To choose another iso file, you have to click on the "Open File Dialog" icon
(see above) and choose another iso file - and a file manager dialog opens (see
below)

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When a new iso file is selected, k3b automatically calculates its md5 checksum (see above 2nd image)
I
use to check that the last 6 figures of the md5 checksum (here "635bba"
shown above) are identical with the figures from md5 file from the
download site.
Then click on the "Start" button
and the iso burning is starting (see below)

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After
some time, the iso burning is finished (music is played and the cd slot
is automatically opened) - see result dialog below (green "Success")

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Take
the cd out, close the cd slot, and then close the k3b
program (Close - File - Quit), and you have just burnt an iso
file into a puppy
installation cd.
To burn files onto a cd disc, open k3b and click on the "New Data CD project"
and a select files dialog window opens (see below)

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Select
the files to be burnt in the upper right window (see below), and drag
them with the left mouse cursor to the lower window - please note, that
you can
select whole directories in the upper left window and
if a directory contains subdirectoires you can click on the
directory in the upper left window to open it, so
you can see the contents (drag the vertical slider down to see more of the contents).
You
can select whole directories (upper left window) by left clicking with
the mouse cursor and drag them to the lower left window, one at at
time.
You will always see the contents of a directory which is
selected in the upper left window (blue color), in the upper right
window.
You can select single files (upper right window) by
"ctrl + clicking" with the left mouse cursor, one file at a time,
and then drag the selected (blue) files to the
lower right window (see below)

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A
directory called "downloads" and two files named "index.html" and
"october 07 030.jpg" are selected and dragged down into the lower
windows, to be burnt.
You can right click on a directory
or files and select the "Remove" option to remove the items

Then click on the "Burn" button
(see above) and a dialog opens and ask you to insert an empty cd disc (see below)
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Insert the disc, close the cd slot and then click on the burn button
(the button which is greyed out above) and the burning starts (see below)
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After a while the burning is finished, the cd slot opens (Success - and music plays) see below
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Take out the cd and close the cd slot - always treat your cd discs with care and do not touch the surface.
Do
not change the k3b settings unless you know what you are doing - they
are from start set up to work best with the default settings.
You can continue to burn more directories/files data onto the same cd disc, using above procedure, until the cd disc is full.
To burn dvd's is almost the same procedure (I haven't tried it yet) - of course you have to use the dvd options.
To copy a cd onto an empty cd disc, open k3b and choose the "Copy cd" option
and follow the dialogs (see below".
You
can both make an "Normal copy" and a "Clone copy" (bit by bit
copy without caring about what content is being copied - exact copy.
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To get help about the various options, click on the "?" in top right corner
and the mouse cursor changes into a "question" mark which can be clicked on the
various options, to get a pop up window with some help text - this option also exist on some of the other k3b dialog windows.
To
burn audio files (to be played directly when inserting the disc into
the cd slot) click on the "New Audio CD Project" button
and
follow the dialog (you will have to experiment yourself, as I have not tried everything).
You can see an overview of the various burning options, by clicking on the "Further actions" button 
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12/2007