mkisofs trouble

[vegancoder]

i am trying to create an iso image so that i can burn it to disc, but when i used mkisofs (it spent quite along time outputting nonsense to the terminal window) all i got was a 2b file that when opened with k3b causes an error that says "could not open document!".

How am i supposed to create an iso, i searched the internet and that is what it told me to do but that failed any help would be appreciated

[CodeRoot]

Please post (in a reasonable amount of detail) what you have tried so far -- especially, the commands you have issued...

[bryansmith]

According to this, have you tried:

mkisofs  -r   -o cd_image   private_collection/
              `---------'   `-----------------'
                   |               |
          write output to   take directory as input

Bryan

[CodeRoot]

O.K. - I guess I could have just blurted it out -- but, rather than say "I think you got all of that 'nonsense' to the terminal window because you didn't use '-o <filespec>' in your command" I thought I would try a different approach...

Before I answer a post, I try to determine from the post what level of knowledge and experience the poster is likely to have - based on little tell-tale signs in the post - and the perspective and manner of thinking the poster has toward their problem...

I could have just as easily said:

man mkisofs

(I actually looked it up myself before I posted.)

Anyway (skipping several paragraphs)...

Sometimes it is better to try to help someone from their frame of reference - it is usually less confusing for them - and, sometimes, they will end up learning a lot more than just the specific answer to their question. Sometimes, rather than bluntly pointing out someone's mistake, it is better to "lead them to it" -- in such a way that they end up feeling better about it - and learn "a little something extra" along the way... Sometimes, rather that just give someone the "technically correct, 'deadpan' answer" - give it to them in a way that will boost their confidence and (in some cases) reduce their ...

EDIT:
(Case in point -> The way I handled this http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/topic-56446.html [3rd post] was very deliberate.)

For all I know, vegancoder could have tried something like:

mkisofs -o abcxyz pathspec > abcxyz

(I know - but then it wouldn't have been written to standard output -- I am just trying to make a point...)

And if I then say "try -o <filespec>" -- he might then say "well, I tried that and it didn't work..." -- see the point?

I thought it better to start with what he was doing - to first see what he had tried...

vegancoder, none of this is intended as a comment about you personally - but rather, is a generalization about me attempting to "adapt" to the frame of reference of the person who is asking for help -- so as not to insult their intellegence * nor * overload them...

bryansmith, I am not at all suggesting that it was wrong for you to post as you did - it wasn't - I just wanted to illustrate that it may not always be best to just/simply "blurt out" whatever information one has on the subject... (But I guess I could be wrong... )

Not in any way am I saying that there is only one way to go about...