Burning CD-ROM's
The CD drives in the CS lab computers can be used as "CD burners" for creating CD-ROM's. The KDE desktop includes an easy-to-use application named k3b for buring CD-ROM disks. You will find it listed under "Multimedia"/"CD/DVD Burning" in the KDE Start menu. You can also start it from the command line by typing in k3b as a command.
The first time you start k3b, it will ask you to verify that it has correctly identified the settings for the CD drive. You can just accept the settings that it has found.
The most likely things that you might like to do with the CD Burner are: (1) Make a backup copy of your home directory or other files; and (2) Make a Linux demo or installation disk from a master copy that is already stored on the computer. Both of these are pretty easy with k3b.
(1) Make a backup of your home directory onto a CD: Log onto any of the CS lab computers. Place a blank CD-R disk into the CD burner. Start up the k3b program (if it does not start automatically). Click on "New Data CD Project" in the lower half of the window. You can then simply drag your home directory from the upper left panel of the window to the lower left -- the one that has "k3b data project" at the top. (You can drag other files and directories in the same way.) Now hit the "Burn" button. You will see another window where you can set various options, but most of the defaults are OK. You might want to change the "Volume Name" under the "Volume Desc" tab; this will become the name of the CD. If you want to use the CD under Windows, go to the "FileSystem" tab and turn on the option "Generate Joliet Extensions"; this allows file names on the CD to show up properly under Windows. When you have set any options that you want, click the "Burn" button at the top right corner of the window. The process of burning a CD takes a little while. When the process is finished, k3b will eject the disk. It's a good idea to re-insert it and check that its contents are OK.
(2) Make a Linux demo or installation disk: You will find several Linux demo and installation disk images in the directory named /iso on the lab computers. The available disk images include a Kubuntu linux "live" and installer disk, and a KNOPPIX Linux "live" disk. (You can boot your computer from a "live" disk and within a few minutes be using a version of Linux that runs without touching your hard drive!) It is easiest to use k3b to burn such ISO images onto CD-R disks. Note that creating a CD from an iso is a specialized operation and is not the same as simply copying the iso file onto the disk! After inserting your blank CD-R disk, start up the k3b program if it does not start automatically. Go to the "Tools" menu, then to the "CD" submenu, and select "Burn CD ISO Image." A window will pop up where you can select the "Image to Burn". Click the small folder icon next to the input box to open a file-browser window where you can browse for the iso file. Navigate to the /linuxiso directory and select the iso file that you want to burn onto the CD. After selecting the file, hit the "Start" button in the Burn window. It will take a few minutes for the process to complete. The computer will eject the disk when it has finished.
If you want to create other types of CD-ROM, you can use the k3b program, which is very easy to use. It's actually possible to use the CD burner to create both audio CD's and data CD's. K3b can be used for either purpose. K3b let's you create a project consisting of all the files that you want to burn to the CD. Just click on "Create Audio CD" or "Create Data CD" in the bottom part of the window after k3b starts up, drag the files that you want to the bottom half of the window, and click the "Burn" button at the bottom of the window. K3B also has an easy-to-use command for copying a CD.
The computers in the lab, by the way, can read DVD disks, but cannot burn DVD's
Professor Orr has some CD-R disks, which he is willing to give to people who want to try Linux.