MX Linux Forum

When you burn CDs/DVDs with K3b, you have the option of having the burn verified, and this is why I insist on using K3b to burn optical media. Xfburn does not provide this, and I'm surprised given that the optical media burning programs in Puppy Linux do provide that verification feature.

I know that K3b takes up more space than Xfburn, but keeping the ISO file small enough to fit onto a CD is not an issue for MX Linux as it is for antiX.

You can always install K3b yourself from the repositories.

For me, since I'm more about ripping than burning CDs, I find Asunder is lighter, has a much clearer/simpler interface and works better than K3b for ripping as it gives better choices for what music format you wish to burn to and at what level of fidelity. For instance, I can choose to rip to mp3 using variable encoding at a higher bps rate than K3b's highest. I can also rip to mp3, ogg and flac formats all in one go.

I did in fact install K3b in MX14 but after using both this and Asunder, I stuck with Asunder. K3b is more multi-purpose than Asunder, but because of that, it is more ponderous and may have options a user will never need.

Choice of what programs are included by default is always a difficult one as various considerations and preferences will need to be balanced.

We could discuss (argue?) this choice all day long, and be sure to get others joining in. I have a preference for K3b, probably only because I had used it many times while Kubuntu was my OS. In this case , there is no is real need to replace Asunder. K3b does drag in several KDE dependencies, which would make the MX download larger, and perhaps less popular. K3b, Okular and other KDE applications are there in the repository ready for a simple installation. If you wish to use them, and have the necessary disk space, then just download/install with Synaptic Package Manager.

As they are provided, both Mx-Linux and antiX have all the essential bells and whistles. Some of us may wish to play other tunes with different instruments. No problem, most of the alternatives are ready in the repos. We should leave them there, ready for users to pick,choose, and download/install as they wish.

MX is generous like that, allowing you to adapt it to your personal tastes with ease. MX-15 KDE versions were popular with some users, although I see other DEs and modifications from time to time.

One of the difficulties developers have is to put there own personal preferences aside, and choose applications that will best suit the majority of the 'target audience'. One of the core values of MX-Linux is simple configuration, and Xfburn satisfies that. A user new to Linux may be overwhelmed with the options in K3b. Xfburn will also meet the needs of most users.

I would also respectfully point out that the time to make suggestions about what software should be included is during development, not three weeks after final release. If you have such suggestions you would like to submit for consideration, keep an eye out for announcements about the next MX release, perhaps nearer the end of this year.

Chris

Thumbs up for Asunder. It works, does not require a specific desktop environment, it small, lightweight, fast enough and easy to use.

Ogis wrote:Thumbs up for Asunder. It works, does not require a specific desktop environment, it small, lightweight, fast enough and easy to use.

+1

Let's get back to disk burning rather than CD ripping.

The question is, if not K3b or xfburn for burning CD/DVDs, what other disk burning programs can be recommended that are small, fast, easy to use, doesn't import tons of dependencies, and has the burn verification feature that xfburn lacks?

I don't know since I haven't burnt a disc in ages.

asqwerth wrote:Let's get back to disk burning rather than CD ripping.

The question is, if not K3b or xfburn for burning CD/DVDs, what other disk burning programs can be recommended that are small, fast, easy to use, doesn't import tons of dependencies, and has the burn verification feature that xfburn lacks?

I don't know since I haven't burnt a disc in ages.

antiX ships with cdw, which is my pick. I know I know its a terminal app. But is a pretty dang nice one.

I think of default apps are not that important, cdw for example takes seconds to install. If you really want to have it only your Live media you can do a remaster or snapshot with the tools you prefer.

While cdw could potentially be added to the official image because is so small (153 kB) k3b however brings a lot of KDE dependencies, it's probably not a good candidate for a Xfce distro, but again for people who prefer it it's easy to install and remaster, or take a snapshot, then you have your own custom MX Live environment with whatever programs you like.

I agree with asqwerth and others,

I prefer k3b. I like the md5 auto calculation. It drags in a bunch of KDE dependencies. But I have enough disk space.

So, I think it should not be a default application, but rather one that any user can install with synaptic in a minute.

I'd also suggest leaving xfburn as the default burning app, and also installed K3B from the repos. Seems likely that fewer folks are burning CD's and DVD's these days, but for those that do, its great to have the option of installing K3B.

+1 for choice

What about Brasero? It should verify a burn by default (the Image Checksum plugin is enabled by default), and only needs to download about 6MB of dependencies that expand to take about 20MB of disk space, far less than the KDE runtime libraries required by K3b.

Basero has a history of "bugginess". I've used it sparingly given prior poor experiences and it still works rather sporadically for me. Your mileage may vary.