It started with Nero Linux  4 Trial. Nero would have been our first choice if it would have been Windows. But since neither the Windows is free nor Nero, we have been looking for a software that could take over Nero role for burning CDs and DVDs efficiently.

We didn’t find one that good but came out with some wares that can do what they are really better than that. But still we found some of them worth satisfying.

Heres the list:-

1) Brasero Disc Burner.

2) K3B Cd and DVD Kreator.

3) Gnome Baker.

4) XfBurn.

5) Nautilus Cd/Dvd Creator.

Brasero CD/DVD Burner

Brasero was developed by Philippe Rouquier & Luis Medinas. Brasero is an application to burn CD/DVD for the Gnome Desktop. It is designed to be as simple as possible and has some unique features to enable users to create their discs easily and quickly. It is licenced under GNU-GPL & is a free software. It is available in Add/Remove and Ubuntu Software Center for installation in just 1 click.

Features:

• Supports multiple backends: cdrtools, growisofs and libburn

Data CD/DVD:

• supports edition of discs contents (remove/move/rename files inside directories)
• can burn data CD/DVD
• automatic filtering for unwanted files
• supports multisession
• can write the image to the hard drive
• can check disc file integrity

Audio CD:

• write CD-TEXT information
• supports the edition of CD-TEXT information
• can burn audio CD on the fly
• can search for audio files inside dropped folders
• full edition of silences between tracks

CD/DVD copy:

• can copy a CD/DVD to the hard drive
• can copy CD and DVD on the fly
• supports single-session data DVD
• supports any kind of CD

Others:

• erase CD/DVD
• can save/load projects
• can burn CD/DVD images
• song, image and video previewer
• device detection
• file change notification
• a customisable GUI
• supports Drag and Drop
• can search for files
• can display a playlist and its contents
• all disc IO is done asynchronously to prevent the application from blocking

K3B:  Cd/Dvd Kreator

The KDE tool for CD/DVD creation is called K3B aka KDE Burn Baby Burn! It is a free software CD and DVD authoring application for GNU/Linux operating systems designed for KDE. It provides a graphical user interface to perform most CD/DVD burning tasks such as creating an Audio CD from a set of audio files or copying a CD/DVD, as well as more advanced tasks such as burning eMoviX CD/DVDs. It can also perform direct disc-to-disc copies. The program has many settings which can be customized by advanced users. The actual disc recording in K3b is handled by the command line utilities cdrecord or wodim, cdrdao, and growisofs.

To install K3b open your Ubuntu Software Center (Applications->Ubuntu Software Center) and type k3b in the search field. Double click the search result and select the Install button. When installed close your Ubuntu Software Center and K3b can be found in your Sound  & Video list (Applications->Sound & Video)

Features:

• Data Cd/Dvd burning.
• Audio CD burning.
• CD tect support.
• Built in CD/DVD Rip.
• eMovix CD/DVD .
• Mixed mode CD (Audio and Data in one).
• Multisession CD.
• Disc to Disc CD /DVD copy.
• ISO image support.
• Erase CDs/DVDs
• Ripping Audio CDs/DVDs , Video CDs/DVDs.
• Video CD/DVD authoring.
• CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW  support.
• K3B can also burn data CDs that support Linux/Unix based OS, Windows, DOS file systems.

GNOME Baker: The Gnome Weapon

GNOME Baker is a free CD/DVD authoring application build for GNU-Linux operating systems. This application has been built for the GNOME Desktop Environment. It requires a recent tools for the burning process like cdrecord, readcd , mkiofs etc. For DVD burning ,it requires gravisofs. It needs gstreamer 0.8 for audio processing. Goto Ubuntu Software Center or Add/Remove programs to install Gnome Baker.

Features:

• Create Data Cds/Dvds.
• RW Disks.
• Burn CDs/DVDs.
• Copy Data CDs/DVDs.
• Copy Audio CDs.
• Support Multisession Burning.
• Record-to & Burn ISO image to CDs/DVDs (including Bootables).
• Supports Drag ‘n’ Drop feature.
• Create Audio CDs from existing WAV, FLAC,MP3 Files.
• Gconf integrated for Storage of Application Settings.
• Can burn Cue/Bin files.
• Format  DVDs.

Xf-Burn

XfBurn is a simple CD/DVD burning tool based on libburnia libraries. It was developed to be the default burning application for the Xfce Desktop Environment. It can erase CD/DVD-RW, burn and create ISO images, audio CDs, data CD/DVDs. It has a simple GUI, drag n drop / copy – paste feature enabled. It is a freeware and is licenced under GNU -GPL for Linux based operating systems basically for the Xfce Desktops. It is available in Ubuntu Software Center or Add/Remove programs for the  installation.

Features:

• Blank CDs/DVDs.
• Burning Data CDs/DVDs.
• Create ISO images.
• Burn ISO CDs /DVDs.
• Audio CDs.
• Simple GUI.
• Copy n Paste feature .

Note : It a stable release but is undergoing constant development so keep an eye on the updates for more features.

Nautilus Cd/Dvd Creator

The Nautilus CD Burner package provides an easy method to write files to a CD or DVD burner through GNOME – by just drag-and-dropping files using the GNOME file manager aka Nautilus.

Features:

• Create Data Cds/Dvds.
• Burning .ISO images.
• Nautilus File manager Integration.
• Drag n Drop support.
• CD-RW & DVD-RW support.
• Duplicate CD/DVD

Enjoy!

Unlike Windows, when you install Ubuntu (& many other Linux distributions), a lot of Office and other Basic applications also get installed. You don’t have to spend time installing applications after you’ve installed the OS (that’s another reason why Linux is preferred for Live Distributions).

Here is some info about the applications which you’ll be using:

1. OpenOffice.org: It is a free and complete Office Suite. It contains the following applications as a part of it:
   • Writer - a word processing software
   • Calc - a spreadsheet software
   • Impress – a presentation software
   • Base – a database management program
   • Draw – a vector graphics editor
   • Math – a tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae

You’ll really be surprise to see that OpenOffice.org has almost everything inspite of being free which it’s counterpart Microsoft Office 2003 had. We’ll not compare the Microsoft Office 2007 with OpenOffice.org 3.0 because of a different interface.

Most OO.o applications can be accessed in the Application —> Office menu

2. GIMP: GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is almost as powerful as Photoshop, but Photoshop users might find it’s interface a bit awkward.

GIMP can be accessed in the Application —> Graphics menu.

3. Brasero Disc Burner: As the name suggests, it’s a complete and simple Disc Burning software.

Brasero can be accessed in the Application —> Sound & Video menu.

4. Transmission: Transmission is a BitTorrent client which can be used to download torrents.

Transmission can be accessed in the Application —> Internet menu.

But but but, we’ll highly recommend installing Deluge as we feel, it is better than Transmission and gives you a ‘uTorrent-ish’feel.

Deluge can be installed by the following command: sudo apt-get install deluge-torrent or alternatively from the Synaptic Application Manager.

5. Pidgin: Pidgin is an All-in-one Instant Messaging client. It supports, Gmail/Jabber, Yahoo, MSN/Live, AIM, ICQ, IRC and everything right under one free program.

Pidgin can be accessed in the Application —> Internet menu.

6. Ekiga: Ekiga Softphone is a free VoIP and video conferencing client for GNOME and Windows.

Ekiga can be accessed in the Application —> Internet menu.