I spoke too soon when I said I had solved the last problem I had in switching from Windows to Xandros Linux. There is a wee small problem involving UDF packet writing tools.
This is not the place or time to do a tutorial on UDF packet writing software so I won't. But In the Windows world, the Adaptec UDF packet writing driver is almost a standard. You can easily find and buy preformatted CDs with the driver already included. Using such disks, and the driver, you can easily copy, backup, and move data between PCs. It just works. Even if the disks don't come with the driver, you can download a version from any number of places and install the driver with no more trouble than clicking on the install file.
In Linux, things are a bit different. Or at least it is in the default Xandros 2.6.9-x1 kernel world it is. I have three choices. First, do nothing and therefore lose access to gigabytes of data I have stored on CDs and DVDs. Second, download over 30MBs of 2.6.9 kernel source and then patch and compile the kernel, hoping that nothing breaks as a result. Or lastly, download over 30MBs of 2.6.11 kernel source and compile, hoping that nothing breaks as a result.
There is an old phrase that says: damned if you do and damned if you don't. I need access to the data. I can't get the data unless I do either option two or three. After thinking it over, I've decided to use option four. That is, I'll access the data in Windows and copy to a partition, as needed, that can be accessed from within Linux. It's the best work around I can think of right now - which is a pretty sad state of affairs.
For those of you who want to recompile your kernels, and are using the Gentoo distribution, there is a How-To here. For other distributions, I guess you are on your own as I've not found an official How-To and most of the unofficial ones I've seen are written for their specific configuration, even though they don't usually specify what that configuration is. So, I guess, this is just one more thing that is not going to happen under Linux. At least, until Xandros updates the kernel to something above 2.6.9. If you have another way of accessing such data, drop me a line.
Aloha!
