Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[musher0]

Hello, gang.

Tried to find some at a reasonable price this afternoon.

Only place was Best Buy, 20 km from here. There were a few 3-packs left for 21 $ CAD... in a tiny area on a shelf near the floor in a huge store.
Whereas you could buy a ten-pack of small DVD+RW's for around that price two years ago.

None at The Source, none at Staples (aka "Bureau en Gros").

Ah, merchants sure enjoy complicating life for us creative ones!...

Are any still available in your area?

BFN.

[starhawk]

http://www.amazon.com/Memorex-min-Mini-DVD-R-20-Pack/dp/B000C0L4YO

...BTW, I've actually got a ten-pack of these that are literally collecting dust. Unopened package, and Sony brand to boot. I got 'em at Kroger (a US grocery chain) on clearance for a song. Sticker's still on it, says $2.

Mind you that's North Carolina money so you'll have to do the exchange rate.

Shoot me a PM if you want 'em. I've gotten stuff from Canada before and it went pretty well, so I'm willing to send it to you if it's not too expensive (if you have paypal, for ebay, you might consider sending me the money to ship it). I'm pretty sure that I'll need your full address before I can figure out the shipping cost, though. I can't just ask the postal service here "hey, how much to ship to canada, guys?" That's kinda a big area.

[James C]

Always can count on Newegg.......
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007591%20600010563&IsNodeId=1&name=1.4GB

[starhawk]

Yeah, newegg's pretty good stuff. I buy from them.

Still, let me know if you want the ones I have. I don't really need 'em.

[Flash]

I've been considering cutting some regular-size DVDs down on a lathe to see if they will still work. I can't see why they wouldn't. Maybe if they got full up to the edge, but that's not likely. The only problem I can see is the two halves may come apart (delaminate, like the F-117 wobbly goblin.) I don't know if the glue goes all the way from the center to the edge.

[starhawk]

You will make quite a mess! CDs and DVDs are polycarbonate plastic (Lexan is the brandname) and they have a very thin coating which will flake off no end...

...if the whole thing doesn't just flat-out shatter.

Such an attempt is not something I would therefore recommend.

[Evil20071]

For some real fun, take one and run your fingernail across the foil on the top while looking at the bottom... Notice you'll actually see it bulge down. What's that tell you?

[Barkin]

[Flash]

In a former life as an instrument maker I occasionally machined plastic, including polycarbonate, so I'm familiar with it. The question is the best way to go about cutting off the outside of the DVD. Perhaps a hot tool, like the tip of a soldering iron. Done properly, maybe that will fuse the two halves of the DVD together so they don't delaminate. I have plenty of coasters to practice on.

CDs are just one thickness of polycarbonate, with the data layer on the backside (top), protected by a coating of shellac. DVDs are the same overall thickness as a CD, but composed of two pieces of polycarbonate laminated together with the data layer in the middle. Obviously the data layer of a DVD is much better protected than that of a CD.

I have several junk DVD drives. Maybe I could modify one of them to do the job. Turn its laser up high enough to burn through the DVD with it.

[starhawk]

...there is one other problem, Flash. If you look at the disc near the hub, you will see some numbers and a barcode or two. That tells the drive what size and type the disc is, and how much space it has for writing. I don't think that part is changeable, but that's what you'd have to do to have it right.

[Evil20071]

[Flash]

I don't see how the drive could know that the disk has been cut down. As far as I know, drives don't normally go to the end of the disk to measure anything. So the drive will just burn away, happily taking the disk's word for how big it is. As long as I don't record too close to the edge it ought to work.

One thing's for sure: tin snips won't work. I can see the DVD has delaminated for quite a ways in from the cut.

[Evil20071]

Exactly. The drive won't know that it's been cut down, That's exactly the point I was trying to make. I would make a suggestion before you go cutting away...

Burn a DVD to 1.5gb like you're wanting, and then you'll be able to see how far you have you can trim... Just look at the color change on the face (bottom) of the disc.

[musher0]

[musher0]