I've never had any luck with k3b i.e. with previous distros I've not managed to make it burn any disc successfully.

The version that is installed with this SuSE 9.3 seems to be an even bigger nuisance i.e. Not only does it not want to burn any discs, but it also seems to be making the system hang/jam up so that I have to hit the reset button on the front of the PC.

I know that I could probably burn a disc from command line, but I don't "do" CLI as I get lost enough amongst GUI apps, without the myriad of commands and their possible variations!

Sorry to sound so negative, but I'm having a real "linux is s**t" experience at the moment i.e. things that are supposed to be simple are turning into a real nightmare and when I try to do something to get away from the nightmare, they seem to be turning into even bigger horror stories! (and I'm not alluding to anything complicated, just stuff like trying to install some of the Gimp extensions and/or burning a CD or two to get install discs for when I really loose patience with this SuSE 9.3 that I've currently got installed).

Any suggestions like where I might find errors from k3b or stuff like that would be much appreciated.

regards

John

my first experiance with k3b was rather sorrid too. what i learned was to run it the very first time as root, not open it in a user GUI, then try to give the root p/w as that always failed.

open the root GUI, open and run k3b 1 time. close the root GUI, log back in as user, and you should be golden.

I am sorry to hear about your problems...

I used to use Xcdroast but switched to k3b about 6 months ago and I have never had a problem. If you include a bit more info about how it is failing then perhaps someone could help you out better. At a bare minimum I would grep your system logs for lines that contain either "k3b" or the device which represents your burner (ie: /dev/hdc).
If nothing, at least be more descriptive than "Not only does it not want to burn any discs, but it also seems to be making the system hang/jam up"

If the system is hanging I tend to think it is likely a kernel/hardware issue, rather than k3b itself. Can you burn successfully with any other software?

Good luck...and hang in there.

What works for me:

su

then invoke k3b.

"Is K3B always such a PITA ???"

No, not always.

My own experiences with K3B have been very positive. With Knoppix and Mepis, it just plain works for me out-of-box. With true Debian, I find that I need to install it and also whatever program it actually uses to burn DVDs, but other than that it just plain works.

Well, one of the last things that I tried before killing the SuSE 9.3 install, was to check out the DVDRW that I scrounged off my Aunt about a fortnight/3 weeks ago.

Yeah I know that I can burn CD's as well as DVD's with it, but you know how it is, you're so used to using a specific piece of hardware for specific jobs, that you often don't think of alternatives.

So anyway, on the off chance, I fired up K3B without any other apps running, told it to use the DVD drive instead, didn't tell it anything other that which ISO file to try and hit burn. B****r me sideways with the rough end of a pineapple if it didn't work. Firstly, I tried the Kanotix that I'd downloaded, as I wanted to see what that was like (I didn't realise it's a live CD version - well that was the version that I got), and it booted first time, with no problems at all.

I then proceeded to burn the 2 ISO's for gentoo. They've also worked very well.

So I'm starting to wonder if it's got something to do with the crappy generic/unnamed CDRW device. I've had reports before about music discs that I've burned being temperamental, but just put it down to rubbish players and the like.

Hum? I think I might investigate a new one - I think I can get my hands on one for about the £20 mark!

Ha! just thought, with all that in mind, I wonder whats gonna happen when I try to burn a disc now I've got this Gentoo installed?

regards

John