OK, I’m still trying to run Fedora 8 on my XP Pro machine. I’ve managed (FINALLY!) to get the iso image, checksum, and rescue CD iso and want to write them to a DVD on my machine. I have the LG suite of dvd writing software but that does not seem appropriate. The options I get all have to do with either copying a DVD or writing other movies out to the disk.
Does anyone know what I need to do next?
My system is running Win XP Pro SP2 and the DVD writer is an LG.
Thanks and regards
Testy
There are a lot of cheap and free programs that’ll let you burn ISOs. This article explains how to do it step by step in multiple programs. You don’t have to do anything special to make the ISO bootable; just burn it according to the guide like a regular, non-bootable ISO.
Neutron Star
Thanks for this. The problem is that the iso I want to burn is about 3.2Gb so I need instructions for DVDs instead of CDs. It’s taken me 3 days to D/L the Fedora OS and I really want this to work.
Thanks again
Testy
The method is the same for CDs and DVDs. I’ve burned plenty of different Linux distro ISOs onto DVD. Every one worked fine.
Just make sure to check your BIOS settings to ensure that your computer is set to boot from the optical drive The BIOS may list this as “CD-ROM” instead of explicitly calling it a DVD drive, but it doesn’t matter - it will still work.
Neutron Star
OK, I’ve got the ISO recorder loaded but the DVDs supplied with the writer seem to be crap. I’ll give this a try when I get back from a shopping trip to buy some more DVDs. :smack:
Thanks again
Testy
[n]Neutron Star**
Well, I’ve bought a couple of boxes of DVD+R disks. Strangely, the software won’t use them. It just says non-usable disk and gives me the option of quitting. The DVD+R disks are the ones that came with the drive so I’m reasonably sure the drive uses them. I bought the Imation disks with the individual jewel boxes so they are reasonably good quality. Any ideas?
Thanks again
Testy
Huh. Between that and the old discs that didn’t work, I wonder if your burner is defective. Have you ever been able to burn a DVD at all?
Neutron Star
The drive seems to be working in at least a basic manner. I can write data to it and then read it back without troubles. I’ve watched a couple of commercial DVDs on it as well. I just can’t seem to write a bootable DVD. Admittedly, there may be some user-ignorance problems here, it wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened. :smack:
I suspect some kind of software problem but can’t locate it.
Regards and thanks
Testy
Check to make sure that your software isn’t in CD-ROM mode, when it ought to be in DVD-ROM mode.
Neutron Star & GuanoLad
OK, I finally beat this thing and I’ll try to stop whining in GQ for a while. (well . . .maybe 
)
I found a very small (less than 1MB) ap called ISOBURN that did the trick. I went through Nero, Roxio, Honestsoft(something like that) and the little ap that Fedora & Neutron Star recommended. There were two actual problems:
a) The Fedora ap seemed stuck on CDs for some reason, very likely ignorance on my part. It would recognize that there was media in the drive but said “Blank, Unusable.”
b) The size of the file (3.18GB) also made for some problems. To write a file over 2GB I needed to use the UDF file format and the applications seemed hard-coded to assume the file was a video if it was that large. They would write the file in UDF format but would also change some format parameter so it was no longer bootable. When I explicitly told them I wanted a bootable DVD they would choke on the file size. And 'round and 'round we went.
Anyway, the isoburn worked and I’m writing on Fedora Core 8. I’ve gotten rid of Bill Gates’ stuff, Norton Internet Security, and that damnable insistence that I download the Microsoft Genuine Advantage piece of spyware or whatever it was.
I feel like a Christian that’s just renounced Satan or something.
Thanks again and all the best to you both.
Testy