So you want to write a CD under Linux. Sure, there are tons of frontends but they're all arcane, aren't installed on your system, don't work, or some combination of the three. Don't worry, burning from the command line is easier than you think. You need root privileges to do most of this stuff (check the su command).
ameoba nags me to mention I'm assuming you're using either SCSI discs or IDE SCSI emulation. If you don't know, you probably are.
Before you start you'll want to know what the thing is. Run the command below as root.
cdrecord -scanbus
Simply enough, the number with your CD-R drive next to it is your burner. It's three numbers separated by commas, unspaced. Whenever you see "#,#,#" below, substitute your drive's numbers.
Scenario I: You want to make a 1:1 copy of a CD.
Oh, you picked a fairly easy one. First we have to make an image of it. Run the command below to do that. The name can be anything, my choice was arbitrary.
dd if=/dev/scd0 of=~/DELETETHISLATER.iso
If that worked, you can skip this paragraph. But listen, if /dev/scd0 doesn't exist, then your CD drive may be at /dev/scd1 (if you have two) or maybe at /dev/cdrom0. If you're really stumped, but you can read CDs in the drive, check /etc/fstab with a text reader. It ought to say.
Great, now we've got an image of the disc. And we want to write it. Run the command below as root.
cdrecord dev=#,#,# speed=(your drive's speed) ~/DELETETHISLATER.iso
Happily, your CD is ready. If you really want to go for the gusto you can get it out using the eject command. Or just press the button on the drive. Whatever. You're now free to delete DELETETHISLATER.iso in your homedir.
Scenario II: You want to make a music CD
So your hard drive is full of MP3s. I won't ask questions, because I don't want to know, Blackbeard. You'll need to make sure you have LAME installed.
You're going to enter the directory where the MP3s are using the cd command (stands for "change directory"). Now, lame would want you to do each file one at a time, but that's a pain in the ass. Instead, issue the command below.
find *mp3 -exec lame --decode '{}' \;
Quicker than you know it, you have a directory full of WAVs! Now, su to root and run this command:
cdrecord dev=#,#,# speed=(your drive's speed) -audio *wav
Yeah, you can individually specify the files if you want a certain order, but you won't want to. At any rate, you can delete all those gargantuan WAV files once it's done.
Scenario III: You want to back up some files
In only two easy steps! First we'll run mkisofs like so.
mkisofs -J -o ~/DELETETHISLATER.iso /home/directorywhereyourstuffis
There can be as many directories as you want, but mkisofs just dumps all the files into the CD's root directory (though it respects subdirectories). You can fix this using graft points, but that's a little complicated for this node; check the manpage if you need to get that fancy. Then issue the following command to burn the ISO image:
cdrecord -multi dev=#,#,# speed=(your drive's speed) DELETETHISLATER.iso
The multi switch will make a multi-session CD (Allowing you to add more files later)
Scenario IV: You want to burn an image you downloaded from the Internet
Well, your luck depends on the format.
ISO images
Aren't you lucky! If it's just an ISO, check Scenario I, and skip the making the image part.
If there are MP3s too (Saturn games often come this way, or so I hear), you need to decode them (check Scenario II), then you can run this nifty mixed-mode command:
cdrecord dev=#,#,# speed=(your drive's speed) -data datatrack.iso -audio *wav
BIN/CUE images
Mercifully, this isn't as hard as it used to be. Get cdrdao if you don't have it. Make sure the bin and cue files are named the same thing and then run this command.
cdrdao write --device #,#,# --speed (your drive's speed) filename.cue
Like magic!
Rename the .img file to .bin and use the BIN/CUE method above. This "sometimes" (i.e., usually) works.
CDI images
Haha, good luck, you'll need it. Try cdirip and the cdrecord hack. If you can get it to work you're greater than I.
NRG images
I've never done it, but people claim nrg2iso works. Look into that.
Impress your friends and frighten your enemies with your new knowledge of Linux CD burning!