How to Write a DVD with K3b

Background

1. Cdrecord (http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/utils/schilling/cdrecord/ProDVD) is most likely the command line application installed on your linux system that you will use to burn a CD or DVD
   
   
2. K3b (http://www.k3b.org) is a graphical frontend to cdrecord, among other CD / DVD burning programs for Linux (you will need cdrecord installed to make use of K3b)
   
   
3. To burn DVDs, you will need a non-freeware version of cdrecord installed (don't worry, this only means that you will need to obtain a free license key from the cdrecord website)
   
   
4. K3b / cdrecord will need access to the license key when the DVD burn process is started (without the free license key, you will be able to burn a maximum amount of data equal to 1 GB to a DVD. This would be quite a waste considering DVD disks hold 4.7 GB of data...)

Armed with these four facts, we can begin our journey of Burning a DVD with K3b

This document assumes you have the following programs installed on your Linux system:

1. K3b
2. cdrecord
3. cdrdao
4. mkisofs

Upgrading cdrecord to cdrecord-ProDVD

It is necessary for cdrecord to be upgraded to cdrecord-ProDVD before you can effectively write DVDs. Visit the website http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/utils/schilling/cdrecord/ProDVD/ and get the newest cdrecord binary for your system (probably something like "cdrecord-prodvd-2.01a27-i686-pc-linux-gnu" for Linux systems).

While you are at the cdrecord-ProDVD download site, you will also need the free-for-personal-use cdrecord-ProDVD license key contained in the "README" file (http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/utils/schilling/cdrecord/ProDVD/README. Please read through this file, as it contains a great deal of important information and your free license key, which will appear as something like:

CDR_SECURITY=8:dvd,clone:sparc-sun-solaris2
,i386-pc-solaris2,i586-pc-linux,powerpc-apple,
hppa,powerpc-ibm-aix,i386-unknown-freebsd,i386-unknown-openbsd
,i386-unknown-netbsd,powerpc-apple-netbsd,i386-pc-bsdi,mips-sgi-irix
,i386-pc-sco:1.11::1093000000:::private/research/
educational_non-commercial_use:9vl2T2kP6w6O4h.
bXuet8hP1Z3perm3qWmxhbcr.fHvuN8ZJbhQUWBzjAc

To actually perform the cdrecord upgrade, browse (via the command line) to the directory where you downloaded the cdrecord-ProDVD file to.
First back up the original cdrecord binary (just in case).

cp /usr/bin/cdrecord /usr/bin/cdrecord.orig

Note: This is the directory where I found cdrecord on my Slackware system. The location of cdrecord on your system can be found by issuing the command "whereis cdrecord"

Next, copy the newly downloaded cdrecord-ProDVD binary to the original cdrecord binary (effectively replacing the original cdrecord binary)

cp cdrecord-prodvd-2.01a27-i686-pc-linux-gnu /usr/bin/cdrecord

Remember, the location of your cdrecord binary, and the location stated in the example above may be different. Also the name of the cdrecord-ProDVD download file above will quickly become outdated as newer versions of cdrecord-ProDVD are released

K3b "1 GB in demo mode" Error

Without the license, (while burning over 1 GB of data) K3b will give the error:

Cdrecord returned an unknown error! (code 255)
Unknown error 255
Please send me an email with the last output.

If you Click the "Show Debugging Output" button, you will be presented with a debugging error, which contains text similar to the following:

/usr/bin/cdrecord: This version of cdrecord limits DVD-R/DVD-RW support to -dummy or 1 GB real.
/usr/bin/cdrecord: If you need full DVD-R/DVD-RW support, ask the Author for cdrecord-ProDVD.
/usr/bin/cdrecord: Free test versions and free keys for personal use are at ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/cdrecord/ProDVD/
/usr/bin/cdrecord: Disk image size too large (max. 1 GB in demo mode).

To correct this error, you will need to allow cdrecord / K3b access to the license information that you obtained from the http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/utils/schilling/cdrecord/ProDVD/ file.

Set the cdrecord-ProDVD License Key as an Environment Variable

The cdrecord-ProDVD license must be set as an environment variable. Environment variables can be set globally for a user by implementing a .profile file.

Create the .profile file

In your home directory (that's where the .profile file must reside), create a file named ".profile". The "." at the beginning of the file makes it a "hidden" file. Because of this, you may need to set your window manager to allow hidden files to be viewed.

In the ".profile" file, enter the text:

CDR_SECURITY=8:dvd,clone:sparc-sun-solaris2
,i386-pc-solaris2,i586-pc-linux,powerpc-apple,hppa,
powerpc-ibm-aix,i386-unknown-freebsd,i386-unknown-openbsd,i386-unk
nown-netbsd,powerpc-apple-netbsd,i386-pc-bsdi
,mips-sgi-irix,i386-pc-sco:1.11::1093000000:::
private/research/educational_non-commercial_use:9vl2T2kP6w6O4h.bXuet8
hP1Z3perm3qWmxhbcr.fHvuN8ZJbhQUWBzjAc
export CDR_SECURITY

Note: you will have to obtain your own license key, as license keys expire on a regular basis. By the time you read this, the key in the example above will probably have expired.

The two parts of this script are the "CDR_SECURITY=..." portion (which sets the environment variable equal to the key), and the "export CDR_SECURITY" portion (which exports the environment variable to be used by the system).

Save and close the file. You will now need to make the ".profile" file executable.

chmod 755 .profile
(sets the permissions to read, write and execute for you; and read and execute for others in your group and everyone else in the world)

For the environment variable to be used, it must be set. To be set, the .profile file must be executed at login. This means that you will need to log out of all sessions, then log back in (or just reboot your computer).

K3b Will Now Burn a DVD

Now, because you created a ".profile" file which executed the the command necessary to export the cdrecord-ProDVD license key variable; because the license is available as an environment variable to cdrecord (actually, cdrecord-ProDVD); because cdrecord-ProDVD is available to K3b as the binary "cdrecord"; K3b will no long give the "Disk image size too large (max. 1 GB in demo mode)" error.

Sure, the ankle bone's connected to the shin bone... the shin bone's connected to the knee bone... the knee bone's connected to the....

...But you can now enjoy burning a DVD with K3b!