(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

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.

http://www.amazon.com/Memorex-min-Mini- ... 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.

Always can count on Newegg.......
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... name=1.4GB

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.

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.

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.

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?

Flash wrote:... 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.

After I've nuked them in the microwave oven for a few seconds they split in two real easy.

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.

...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.

starhawk wrote:...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.

Actually, I think that's just to tell the machines at the manufacturer that information...

True, you can shave the disk down and it'll probably still read as having 4.7Gb of space. However, this is more likely the result of the underlying filesystem that actually comes on the DVD. Most people think a blank CD or DVD is just a medium for storage and that the filesystem is written to the disk when you burn to it. However, this isn't the case. So, if the filesystem on the drive thinks it can store up to 4.7 Gb, but you've shaved off all but the 1.5 Gb worth of it... I'm quite sure it'll still read 4.7 when you insert it, IF it works at all.

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.

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.

Flash wrote: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.

You should consider a career in comedy !

starhawk wrote:http://www.amazon.com/Memorex-min-Mini- ... 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.

Hi, starhawk.

Maybe send COD ? Is that still feasible? I know there was some sort of restriction on COD at Canada Post. I do have a PayPal account, but I'd have to 'refill' it. Probably better to send you an international money order; might be faster, too.

And those are Mini-dvd-/+RW, right ? In any case, check your IM !

As to the exchange rate, USD and CAD are about a penny apart as I write this.

Many thanks!

Paypal is instant. I can go either way... although since I don't have a bank account, you might consider padding the money order a little; Wal*Mart's gonna want a piece of that pie for their processing "troubles"...

I've replied to your PM, by the way.

Clickable thumbnail of the item in question... please pardon my extreme lack of photography skills...

https://www.google.com/search?q=1.4Gb+dvd gets over nine million hits, so it seems the 8cm DVD is far from extinct.

Barkin wrote:https://www.google.com/search?q=1.4Gb+dvd gets over nine million hits, so it seems the 8cm DVD is far from extinct.

Hi, barkin.

Shucks, 4 hours later, Google says 7 million thirty thousand hits only.
Better hurry, at that rate, in 24 hours there will be none left...

Anyway, thank you all for your suggestions.

BFN.

Chris

Personally, when I need a portable fix of puppy, I just load up a flash drive and am ready to go.

But perhaps that is not for everyone, especially those who cannot boot puppy from USB, or do not have any spare ports.