Introduction

GnomeBaker is a simple CD/DVD burning application that is designed for systems running on GNOME. It is an alternative to Brasero, which comes preinstalled with Ubuntu by default. This article will give an overview on how to install and use the program.

Before continuing, it is recommended you read and understand the article on ISOs. ISO images are an important part of disc authoring software like GnomeBaker and allow users to store copies of CDs and DVDs for use later. It is also useful to know the different types of recordable media, such as CD-R, DVD-R, CD-RW, and DVD-RW. Formats ending in R can only be written to once, where as RW formats are rewritable.

GnomeBaker

Installation

The program GnomeBaker does not come installed by default and is no longer available in official repositories. You must first add the gnomebaker PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnomebaker/stable
sudo apt-get update

Then install the following packages: gnomebaker.

General Use

Once installed, GnomeBaker can be found in main applications menu, specifically Applications -> Sound & Video -> GnomeBaker CD/DVD Writer.

Below is the main window you'll see on first start up, from it you can initiate all the operations.

GBaker4.png

The following list will cover most of the basic functions.

  • The New button allows you to start a new project. In this case, a project is how the program tracks what files are to be burnt to the media. Burning is the term used to refer to the actual writing of data to the CD or DVD. Three different types of projects are available in GnomeBaker.

    • Data DVD - Allows you to create a DVD filled with files and folders of your choosing.

    • Data CD - Allows the creation of a CD containing whatever files or folders you wihs.

    • Audio CD - Used to create an Audio CD from music files on the computer to be played in any standard device.

  • Open and Save - These two buttons are used to manage your projects. Save allows you to preserve a project to use at a later time. Open allows you to open a saved project to burn.

Just below the project management buttons you will notice the area to manage your files. The current directory your working in is listed at the top (in the example, /etc). In addition, the Places and Files panes are found on the left and right respectively. This is a standard embedded nautilus browser. You can use it to navigate to the folders that hold the files you wish to put on the disc.

After selecting a project, simply drag the files you want to put on the disc from the file manager pane to the project pane. For example, here is a sample Data DVD project.

Burning

This section covers the process where you'll transfer the project onto the disc, referred to as "Burning". For the purposes, we have made a sample project. A Data DVD where we added several files we'd like to backup from our system.

GBaker1.png

A few features stand out here and are worth mentioning.

  • Notice the bottom bar of this new project shows how much of a disc (in this case DVD) is full and free. If you go over the limit, it will turn red. Yellow indicates approaching the end of a normal disc.
  • Notice that you can organize data into subfolders viewable at the left under the named disc project.
  • In this instance, the name of the disc was changed to a date indicating when it was made. This will be displayed when accessed in future.
  • Burn - Button to be pressed when ready to write the project to disc.

GBaker2.png This is the burn menu, options affect how the disc is created by your Writer.

  • Writer - Select which optical drive to write with, some computers have more than one.

  • Speed - Select the speed to write at. A higher speed means shorter wait time, however, it increases chance of errors during write process. For burning important data, lower speed is suggested.

  • Type - There are several different writing types, most users should simply use auto. Those who want more information, see this page.

  • Burn the disc - These are options to burn the disc. Eject disc will do as you imagine. Finalize will prevent any future writing to the disc. Dummy write will simulate a writing operation.

  • Only Create Image - Will create a standard ISO file at the specified location, useful for storage of projects or backup of media.

Advanced Features

Most of the advanced features of GnomeBaker are located in the Tools menu shown below.

GBaker5.png

A quick summary is provided below. In following sections, a more detailed explanation will be given of each groups function.

  • Blank CD-RW - Will remove all data on a CD-RW disc is in the tray. To be done before using one to write new data.

  • Format DVD-RW - Same as previous except with DVDs of the right type. The options for both of the new windows used for formatting are self-explanatory.

  • Copy Data CD - Opens a new window that allows a computer with two useable CD Writing drives and appropriate media to copy the data from one to the next. One drive must hold a disc with the data to be copied, other should hold a blank disc.

  • Copy DVD and Copy Audio CD - Same as previous, except with minor variations to be explained below.

  • Burn CD Image - Allows a user to burn an ISO image to a CD.

  • Burn DVD Image - Allows a user to burn an ISO image to a DVD.

    • Note: ISOs MUST be burned specifically by this means (or comparably via different disc authoring software). They cannot be burned like Data CD/DVDs or else they are rendered useless. The software must know to read inside the ISO to burn the data itself and not the container. A similar analogy can be made to the fact that you wouldn't read a zip file, but rather the files inside. The zip is just a container for easy transport.

Preferences

GBaker6.png

  • Temporary Directory - This is where temporary files will be written during operations. Ensure that the option clean temporary directory on exit is enabled, else this directory will store needless files. You can change the directory with browse if you find the default location insufficient.

  • Other - Stores a few extra options, they are self-explanatory.

  • Devices - This tab will list all devices capable of writing CD/DVDs, some computers may have more than one. You can manage the devices and see what they are capable of by reading columns. CD Writers for instance won't write or read DVDs.

Links

GnomeBaker's Sourceforge Project Page

GnomeBaker (last edited 2017-09-06 19:01:31 by ckimes)