Page Text: Computers: CD Burning
Computers: Hardware
Tomshardware.com – The consumer reports of computer hardware asks: "how much of a geek are you?" if you don't know it, you have not fully developed your inner geek.
HardwareGuys.com – These are the authors of PC Hardware in a Nutshellfrom our friends at O'Reilly Press . These guys know what they're talking about, let's leave it at that.
AcesHardware.com – Collect reviews, see what people are saying about your hardware.
Sharkeyextreme.com – More hardware stuff, if you haven't had enough.
Anandtech.com – Always good to have many opinions, check these guys out too if you haven't already. But of course tomshardware.com is the main source we use for tech info.
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Computers: Software & Scripts
Kurt Grigg's Javascript Pages – Amazing stuff, you never knew that Javascript could do so many weird little things! And it works on most browsers. Check out the silly clock, that's especially funny.
DHTMLCentral.com – Good place to pick up free javascripts if you can't make them yourselves. We haven't checked it out much but the stuff we saw up on the web worked in IE, NS 4.x, and NN 6.x which is better than most people manage, so it seems trustworthy, just requires a note in your code that gives the source of the code and its copyright info.
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Computers: Open Source {Linux, PHP etc.}
Firefox Browser – Finally managed to create a better AND popular browser. Better and safer. Forced Microsoft to finally update their rapidly aging, fundamentally unsafe, and bug filled, Internet Explorer to better support modern web technologies. Do yourself a favor, download it now.
And besided, this site looks much better in Firefox... really, it does, try it and see...
Adblock – This product is so great it's hard to explain. It's a Firefox browser extension. It's free. Download it. Almost no more ads on websites, if everyone used it, the internet would go bankrupt.. oh wait, most of the internet did go bankrupt... it works. We've used it ever since we first heard of it. With a careful use of wildcards in the block list, you can get rid of almost any ads out there, including those pesky fake in content text links some sites put up. You can get a reasonably workable list of adblocks here .
OpenOffice.org – Check out the new open source office suite built around Sun Microsystem's Star Office Suite, it's basic, but it works, it's a good start anyway, for a 1.0 version.
PHP.net – Home of PHP open source web scripting language. Forget ASP and Microsoft, this stuff is cool.
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Computers: CD Burning
CDFreaks.com – Learn all the ins and outs of CD Burning, including how to overcome the new copy protections schemes. This is a great geek site, although sometimes we wonder about the technical competence of some of the contributors, to be honest
Ahead's Nero – This is really great burning software, from the Germans, nice to see them do something worthwhile, I've burnt hundreds of CD's with no failures with this stuff. Just make sure you read the directions, and have a decent computer and burner, especially make sure you never try to run 2 different burning softwares on the same machine unless you know what you're doing, that means uninstall your old stuff (adaptec for example) before popping this on.
The site has very good FAQ and supported hardware sections. Nero Burning Rom is recommended by PC Hardware in a Nutshellfrom our friends at O'Reilly Press [whose books prove that not all computer writers are functional idiots], which is all we need to know. This software is worth its price, which is unusual in a world where most stuff is a ripoff.
Alcohol 120% – This is supposed to be the latest and greatest, best software to rip copy-protected CD's (we can't vouch for this personally, but we have read enough testimonials to believe it). For serious 'data backup' primarily; if you are just wanting to burn normal cd's, use Nero .
Once we see it in action we'll have more to say on this one.
CloneCD – From the Swiss [what is it about CD burning software that fits so well with the Germanic soul?]. It's worth reprinting the homepage warning, since it says it all:
IMPORTANT:
THIS SOFTWARE IS NOT DESIGNED FOR THE ILLEGAL AND UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIALS. THE AUTHOR REMINDS YOU THAT UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL IS LIABLE TO CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. IF YOU ARE NOT SURE OF YOUR RIGHTS, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL LEGAL ADVISOR.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS". THE USER IS STRICTLY LIABLE FOR USING IT AND SHALL FACE ALL CONSEQUENCES THAT MAY RESULT OF AUTHORIZED OR UNAUTHORIZED USE.
CloneCD 4 by Elaborate Bytes is the ideal CD copy program to make backups of your Music and Data CDs. It writes in RAW mode, allowing full control of the written data. CloneCD 4 produces real 1:1 copies of your CDs. CloneCD 4 works with almost all CD Writers, is rock-solid and very fast. CloneCD 4 does not need an ASPI driver.