[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> The CD burner on my machine is getting flaky.  I want to get a new one, as 
> well as upgrade to CD and DVD R and W.  Can anyone recommend one?
>
> At one computer store they recommended an NEC 3550A but can I get a driver 
> for it?  Would that be just a "Linux driver" or do I have to differentiate 
> between a Debian driver / MEPIS driver / Ubuntu driver and so on?
>   
  All drives are treated pretty much the same. There aren't drivers for
certain drives. There may be workarounds for known bugs in certain
drives though.

  I was going to recommend buying a Benq DW1640, but in the middle of
writing this I checked to see where it could be purchased. It seems to
be off the market now. I not long ago was looking for a new dvdrw drive
and read many reviews, in the end I bought the Benq drive. It has some
nice new technology that lets it make educated guesses on the writing
strategy to use with a certain type of media. Unlike other drives that
have to have the media in a predetermined list stored in the firmware.
It looks like it has been replaced by the Benq DQ60, but the DQ60 is a
completely different beast, and a bad one at that. Reading further I see
it has improved with newer firmware, but still should be avoided. In the
next month or so it looks like a DW1650 and DW1655 will come out to
properly replace the DW1640.

  I do see others recommending the NEC 3550a in place of the DW1640. I
would say get the NEC now, or wait for a DW1650 or DW1655. There is also
a NEC 4550a and a NEC 4451a, but can't find them online.


Link to 3550a drives on Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=Go&DEPA=0&type=&description=3550a&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0


Links to reviews of the DW1640:

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=14268
http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/226
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2470&p=13



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