Unlike with MS Windows, by default, GNU/Linux comes with excellent built in tools for optical disc burning, such as Brasero or GnomeBaker if you use Ubuntu. But if you’re a power user then you’d be disappointed by them both because they don’t let us change advanced options such as disk buffer size, over burning, create bootable disks etc.
If you’re willing to pay few bucks and okay with using a proprietary software, then the famous Nero has a version of its own for GNU/Linux which is worth trying. In recent years Nero has become a complete disk burning suite plus it also requires a lot of your system resources too.
But luckily the GNU/Linux version is not so “advanced” as the Windows version and perhaps because of that, it doesn’t require a lot of system resources to run. That being said, all the disk burning features that one would require are available in the Nero for Linux version nonetheless.
Few main features …
*. Supports burning CDs, DVDs (single and dual layer) and even Blu-Ray disks!.
*. Erase re-writables.
*. More advanced burning features such as CD/DVD and Blu-Ray bootable disk creation (supports creating both Windows and GNU/Linux cds).
*. Audio CD burning (with CDDB online audio data fetching support), including MP3, Ogg Vorbis, AAC etc codes support and other advanced features such as adding “pauses” between tracks, add copyright information are also available.
*. A separate audio encoder that supports WAV, Ogg Vorbis, MP3, Nero Digital, Flac and Aiff file formats.
*. Create and burn disc images (formats supported: ISO, NRG and Cue).
*. Create DVD-Video and Mini DVDs.
*. Comes in both “Nero Express” and “Burning ROM” modes.
*. Advanced disk file systems compatibility support (UDS 1.0 to 2.6): Xbox emulation, Virtual or Physical UDF creation etc.
*. Adjust other tweaks such as disk buffer size, change volume creation dates, determine max burning speed for optimum compatibility, finalize, verify written data, Blu-Ray disk data defect management and a lot more.
You can install Nero in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot, 11.04 Natty Narwhal, 10.10 and 10.04 (some older versions should also be supported) by first downloading the “.deb” package (has both 32/64-bit versions) from this official Nero for GNU/Linux download page (by default the page selects the “.rpm” packages. So make sure to choose the “.deb” file).
I used the 4.0 version which was the latest at the time of writing this post.
And when the downloading completes double click on it and Ubuntu Software Center should install it for you.
If however when I was trying, USC’s “install” button was disabled which I think was because I lost my Internet connection at that time. But if this is some sort of a bug (highly unlikely) then you can use the “Gdebi” install to install the “.deb” file manually with ease.
For that, just make sure you’ve installed it first. For that just put the below command to install Gdebi in Ubuntu (if it’s already installed then you’ll be notified).
sudo apt-get install gdebi
Then simply go to the downloaded file’s location and right click on it. From the menu choose “Open with Gdebi package installer” (as in below screenshot) and from the next window click on “Install”. That’s it.
So as an ending note; if you’re looking for a features rich optical disc burning suite that can be used in Ubuntu, and willing to pay few bucks, then Nero certainly looks very impressive.
2 Comments
How about capturing? My primary purpose other than email and reading the news is working with video from my camcorder. Ubuntu seems to be without a good video capture program. Another point I really would appreciate is using my magic jack with Ubuntu. I have just received the latest version, Ubuntu 12.10
Hi ‘edgar’,
I don’t have a camcorder to test this, but the one called ‘OpenShot’ might be what you need. It used to come with Ubuntu by default, but sometime ago it was removed from the disc image. Nevertheless, you can easily install it by simply entering the below command in the terminal window.
Then search for it in the Unity desktop’s Dash.
The other one is called ‘Kino’, and you can use the below command in the Terminal window to install that too.
Again, once installed, search for it in the Unity desktop’s Dash. Good luck.