CD Duplication using Linux

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Mon, Mar 27, 2006 at 05:18:25PM -0500, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> According to
>   http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=272&page=Intro
> the PX-740A is "based loosely on the BenQ DW1640".  People say it looks
> the same.  The BenQ 1640 is highly thought of (I have no personal
> opinion -- remember, I claim that too much of this is superstition).

They may still have different firmware.  Not sure.

> I bring this up now because there is what appears to be a good deal on
> the PX-740UF at Tiger Direct right now.  This is the external model,
> with USB-2.0 and Firewire interfaces.  $154.97 with two rebates (C$50
> and US$40).  Here's a review of this model
>   http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=281
> 
> I expect that Linux can handle this either with USB or Firewire.  Is
> there an advantage to either one of these?  I've heard it suggested
> that the firewire protocol is more efficient in some way.  I suspect
> both use SCSI commands but with a different transport layer.

Both should work, although I suspect the firewire is the more reliable,
and certainly faster/more efficient one.

> I'm tempted but all my new machines seem to come with DVD writers.
> 
> Software features don't interest me since they are generally tied to
> MS Windows.  The review does not call out any hardware feature
> differences between the Plextor 740a and the BenQ 1640.  In fact, they
> seemed to go out of their way to not compare the 740 with the BenQ,
> almost as if a bit embarrassed.

There are utilities being worked on to use the special features of the
plextor drives.  Certainly things like gigarec and such are supported
under linux already.  qcheck is being worked on.

Len Sorensen
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