On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 10:43 AM, Mark Knecht <markkne...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 7:38 AM, Paul Hartman > <paul.hartman+gen...@gmail.com> wrote: >> On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 2:25 PM, Mark Knecht <markkne...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> Hi, >>> My 5-year old gentoo-AMD64 machine when up in smoke this week so I'm >>> building a new machine. Most parts are on order but one big change >>> these days is the motherboards I want to purchase no longer support >>> EIDE/ATAPI interfaces so I'll have to get a new CD-R/DVD-R drive to >>> get the OS loaded and for writing mostly audio discs using >>> cdda2wav/cdrecord. While I understand firmware is often a problem on >>> these drives I'm wondering what drive manufacturers folks would >>> recommend these days as having the best results with cdrecord? >> >> I have a cheap Sony Optiarc (formerly NEC?) and it has worked fine for >> me for ripping and burning audio CDs, DVD+/-R (single and dual layer). >> It cost around $25 USD. I don't know if it is better or worse than any >> other brand but it seems to work for me anyway. >> > > I just ordered an OptiArc 7240S from NewEgg this morning on a similar > recommendation from the cdrtools list. > > Just curious - have you attempted any firmware upgrades from within > Linux? Have you tried (or do you know about) the Liggy and Dee > firmware?
I've got AW-G170S and cannot remember if I've done a firmware update on it. I think Sony only release a Windows-based firmware installer but I'm not sure how the third-party ones work. I have read about the modified firmwares to change burn strategy, enable bitsetting (make a DVD-R look like a DVD-ROM to fool devices that refuse to play burned discs) etc but I haven't personally had a need to use it.
