Making the LiveCD

Note: We consider novice GNU/Linux users as our main audience; however, Windows users who look for an alternative are also potential clients, so we've prepared documentation for GNU/Linux and Windows systems alike.

Checking the ISO file

We offer a MD5 checksum for every official ISO image you can download.

On GNU/Linux

There are several GUI based CD/DVD burning tools in GNU/Linux that offer GUI MD5SUM checking; however, the easiest and speediest way to do this is via the commandline. First, put the ISO and the MD5 file into the same folder (you'll have to explicitly download the latter - it's a text file your browser will simply display otherwise). For this example, we'll assume the folder sits in your home directory and is called downloads. Then open a terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and do:

$ cd downloads
$ md5sum BFX*.iso; cat BFX*.md5
15d68e58c7d6198c0def4472136cf382  BFX-2006.2_final.iso
15d68e58c7d6198c0def4472136cf382 *BFX-2006.2_final.iso
$

Now you're ready to actually burn the ISO file to a CD; if the MD5 checksum of the ISO and the contents of the .md5 file differ, please get rid of the ISO image and attempt another download.

On Windows

Strange though it may seem, Windows doesn't come with a built in integrity checker (after all, it's a basic security feature...); however, there are implementions of the functionality available, the Wikipedia article linked above contains a list of some of them.

But we found md5summer to be the most versatile tool; you can grab it from their site.

Note: Since we're not providing md5summer ourselves, we can't give you any support on how to use it. Read their documentation before using it, and you should be able to make it work without any problems.

Burning the CD

General Note

Since most people know how to handle CD burning, it may be enough to just state the following:

Just make sure you burn the ISO as "CD image" or "ISO image" and not as a common file. You'll end up with a ISO file on a CD and not a usable CD if you don't!

For those who're unfamiliar with using a CD/DVD burning application, we provide a little more detailed information below.

On GNU/Linux

As already stated, there are various CD/DVD burning applications for GNU/Linux; many of them with a comprehensible and comprehensive GUI. Since handling them isn't difficult, but may need some experimenting and experience, we can't cover them all. Since BFX comes with Nautilus CD Burner (a GNOME application), we'll have a short look at the handling of this application:

Note (off topic): These screenshots have been taken using a running LiveCD! The ISO image was loaded to the ramdisk via FTP and used from there! This is actually a nice proof for possible uses!

• First, insert a blank CD into your CD burner.
  Note: In order to get the best results, use a new CD-R of trusted quality - if you don't, don't blame us (or anyone else, for the matter) for any failures!
• Start the Nautilus file manager. In BFX, you can do this by simply going to Places -> Home Folder.
• Locate the ISO file
  
  Navigate to the directory you put the ISO file into
• Right click on the ISO file icon and choose "Write to Disc..."
  Note: This item in the context menu will only be available if the file can actually be burned as a CD image - one thing less to worry about!
• Start the burning process
  
  Write the ISO image to disc
• Finish the burning process by confirming success on completion.
  Note: Of course, ejecting the CD right then is also adviseable - but not mandatory: The BeaFanatIX LiveCD will boot your first hard drive by default, so you won't end up running BFX by accident (this ist true for the GRUB version only, though).

On Windows

Most Windows systems will have some CD/DVD burning application installed, so it's no use trying to give instructions for a specific one.

However, if you don't have one yet, we'd recommend DeepBurner Free; the program is compact and easy to use small, yet sufficiently powerful, and there's even a portable version you can put on your USB storage device - no need for installation.

You may also need to adjust your user rights in order to be able to fully access the CD burner; use Nero BurnRights (or something similar) to achieve this or talk to your system administrator.

Note: While DeepBurner Free and Nero BurnRights are freeware applications, they're not open source and not distributable unconditionally - read the license if you want to be sure what you may and may not do! And since we're not providing those applications ourselves, we can't give you any support on how to use them. Please read their documentation before using them.