howto use cdrecord on tim's samsung laptop
$ cdrecord -v -pad speed=1 dev=ATAPI:0,1,0 tmp/memtest86+-1.65.iso
this will write memtest.iso to a cd. the silly ATAPI:x,x,x is needed, cdrecord cant find out for itself and it is picky about ATAPI != atapi...
To find out what device you should use on your laptop try
$ cdrecord -scanbus
Cdrecord-ProDVD-Clone 2.01.01a25 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2006 Jörg Schilling
Linux sg driver version: 3.5.27
Using libscg version 'schily-0.9'.
scsibus1000:
1000,0,0 100000) *
1000,1,0 100001) 'TSSTcorp' 'CD/DVDW TS-L632B' 'TM31' Removable CD-ROM
1000,2,0 100002) *
1000,3,0 100003) *
1000,4,0 100004) *
1000,5,0 100005) *
1000,6,0 100006) *
1000,7,0 100007) *This is the output on my laptop, so the only cd like drive I have is what needs passing to dev=. I do not know how the first zero in ATAPI:0,1,0 comes about.
In order to write a dvd use growisofs it is part of dvd+rw-tools on gentoo.
$ growisofs -Z /dev/dvdrw /path/to/files
it is as simple as this. Only problem is that you have to prepare the directory structure beforehand. My dvd writer also does not seem to support multiple sessions with a DVD+-R.