K3b, un semplice e potente programma per la masterizzazione di DVD e CD.

K3b è un programma che si interfaccia a cdrdao e cdrecord per la masterizzazione su sistemi GNU/Linux.

Per installare il programma è sufficiente installare il pacchetto k3b.

Per poter sfruttare tutte le potenzialità offerte da k3b, quali la creazione di CD audio e video, è utile installare anche i seguenti pacchetti:

• sox
• vcdimager
• libk3b2-mp3
• transcode

L' interfaccia grafica è senza dubbio la più accattivante del settore, basandosi sulle librerie QT e ricalcando dunque lo stile del noto KDE. Il tutto a discapito però della leggerezza, che lo penalizza su macchine non di ultimissima generazione.

Se si desidera utilizzare il programma in lingua italiana è sufficiente installare i seguenti pacchetti:

• k3b-i18n
• kde-i18n-it

Avendo a disposizione le librerie ed i software opzionali è possibile rippare e comprimere DVD in MPEG, file Ogg Vorbis, creare Video CD o CD bootabili e normalizzare le traccie dei CD audio.

Richiede:
- KDE >= 3.1
- QT >= 3.1
- cdrdao
- cdrecord / mkisofs
- dvd+rw-tools
Vantaggi:

• Grafica intuitiva ed accattivante
• Si interfaccia a molti tool per masterizzazione, ripping ed encode
• L' HomePage del software è ricca di Faq ed how-to

Novità dell'ultima versione 1.0.5 rilasciata il 27/05/2008

• Fixed CD Copy device selection when starting from the KDE "run" dialog (Bug 151924)
• Fixed HAL mounting (thanks to Ken Milmore)
• Always wait for the drive to become ready before starting verification (this should fix some of the problems with failed verification where K3b claims that no medium is in the drive.)

Installation from Source

• The first thing to do is to get the requirements installed (see the requirements page). You need at least install the Qt and kdelibs devel packages.
  For a working audio player you need the kdemultimedia devel package.
  For mp3 decoding support you need to install libmad.
  For FLAC decoding and encoding support you need to install the FLAC++ libraries and headers.
  For Ogg Vorbis decoding and encoding you need to install the Ogg Vorbis libraries and headers.
• Get the source from the K3b download page (Example: k3b-1.0.tar.bz2)
• Extract the source to a temporarly directory:
  

  # tar -xjvf k3b-1.0.tar.bz2

  and change to the created directory:

  # cd k3b-1.0

  Configure the source:

• # ./configure

  (with older versions of K3b one needed to provide a prefix but the new KDE build system is able to guess it properly) After the configuration finished you will see a summary. If one of the features you want to be enabled is not you need to check the requirements again.
• Start the compilation:
  

  # make

  And finally if the command above did not show any errors install K3b:

• # su -c "make install"

  (You will have to type in your root password.) Now you may start K3b from the KMenu (Multimedia section) or run it from a shell or the Alt-F2 menu via 'k3b'.

How to create a Theme for K3b
K3b is themeable in a restricted way. A theme consists of a bunch of pixmaps in png format used in certain places in K3b as described below and a background and foreground color.
A good starting point is to take a look at the crystal theme that comes with K3b.
Following a list of the pixmaps that need to be created for a theme.
The Media info pixmaps:
All media info pixmaps should have the same size.

• media_none.png
  A pixmap used in the media info header when no media is inserted.
• media_empty.png
  A pixmap used in the media info header when an empty media is inserted.
• media_audio.png (Example)
  A pixmap used in the media info header when an audio CD is inserted.
• media_data.png
  A pixmap used in the media info header when a data CD or DVD is inserted.
• media_mixed.png
  A pixmap used in the media info header when a mixed mode CD is inserted.
• media_video.png
  A pixmap used in the media info header when a Video DVD is inserted.
• media_left.png
  A pixmap used in the media info header on the left side.

Progress Dialog pixmaps:

• progress_working.png (Example)
  A pixmap shown in the top right of the progress dialog while K3b is working.
• progress_success.png
  A pixmap shown in the progress dialog in case of progress_working.png when the process succeeded. This pixmap should have the same size as progress_working.png.
• progress_fail.png
  A pixmap shown in the progress dialog in case of progress_working.png when the process failed. This pixmap should have the same size as progress_working.png.
• progress_right.png (Example)
  A pixmap shown in the progress dialog on the right side.

Project header pixmaps:

• project_left.png
  A pixmap shown on the left side of the project header.
• project_right.png
  A pixmap shown on the right side of the project header. This pixmap should have the same size as project_left.png.

Action Dialog pixmaps:
(In the themes that come with K3b these are the same as media_left and media_none.)

• dialog_left.png (Example)
  A pixmap shown in the upper left of every K3b action dialog (for example the CD Copy dialog).
• dialog_right.png (Example)
  A pixmap shown in the upper right of every K3b action dialog.

Miscellenous pixmaps:

• splash.png
  The K3b splash screen. The splash screen's size will be adjusted according to the pixmaps's size.
• welcome_bg.png
  A pixmap used as background for the welcome window. This pixmap can have an arbitrary size as it is used to tile the background of the welcome window.

Every theme needs a k3b.theme file which allows K3b to properly detect the theme. A k3b.theme file looks as follows:

Author=Everaldo
Backgroundcolor=139,153,222
Foregroundcolor=255,255,255
Comment=The cool crystal theme
Version=1.0

Tip: If you want K3b to use the window decoration colors from the current KDE color scheme simply remove the color entries from the theme file. This can be combined with transparent images to create a theme that adjusts to the current KDE color scheme.
All the pixmaps together with the k3b.theme file need to be put in a folder (and then for example be packaged as a tar.bz2 archive). The name of the folder will be used as an internal name for the theme in K3b.

Main Window with Welcome Screen
and the crystal theme from Everaldo (0.12.x)

Simulation of an Audio CD copy (0.12.x)

The Audio CD project can handle many different audio file formats including audio tracks directly dragged from an audio CD (0.12.x)

Main Window with Welcome Screen (0.10)

Data DVD Burn Dialog (0.10)

Showing info of an empty CDR (0.10)

CD Copy Dialog (0.10)

Main Window with really new Welcome Screen
and the crystal theme from Everaldo (cvs)

Main Window with Welcome Screen

Data DVD Burn Dialog

Showing info of an empty CDR

CD Copy Dialog

DVD Formatting Dialog

Data DVD Project

Audio Project

Showing contents of an audio CD with CDDB support

Simulating an Audio CD

Main Window with really new Welcome Screen
and the crystal theme from Everaldo (cvs)

Main Window with really new Welcome Screen
and the crystal theme from Everaldo (cvs)

K3b Splash screen (0.12.x)

An audio cue file imported into an audio project (0.12.x)

Data DVD Project (0.10)

Audio Project (0.10)

Showing contents of an audio CD with CDDB support (0.10)

Simulating an Audio CD (0.10)