I have been surprised at how often I have received this request, since the inception of the DIY blog. The primary requester of this topic has been those special IT workers that help keep community churches chugging along. Many of these churches have a special need that requires them to distribute copies of sermons. Because of this, those who are in charge of this task find themselves at a loss for what software can handle the task that won’t require any cost.
So, naturally, when “no cost” is required we turn to free, open source software (FOSS). I will preface this by saying if you are working in the Windows environment you can always use NERO which will burn multiple disks at a time. This solution will require the purchase of NERO which will set you back around $129.00 (they offer a $30.00 mail-in rebate of course). You will naturally have to have a working machine with a fully licensed Windows operating system. That setup should work just fine. But…let’s get cheap and use Ubuntu Linux for this service.
What you will need
- PC with working copy of latest release of Ubuntu.
- CD/DVD Burners (either external USB burners or S-ATA burners).
- Turbojet2.
What is Turbojet2? Interestingly enough, Turbojet2 (originally just Turbojet) was created by a gentleman in the exact same situation as the readers emailing me for this request. The developer needed to duplicate sermon CDs and the proprietary options were simply too costly. So Turbojet was created.
Installation
The installation of Turbojet2 is not the easiest piece of software you will ever get installed. First off, you have to install all of the dependencies:
Qt4
cdrecord (wodim)
cdrdao
growisofs
mpg123
ogg123
You will also need to install a few tools in order to run the compilation of Turbojet2. Here are the steps to install the tools:
- Open a terminal window.
- Issue the command sudo apt-get install libxtst-dev build-essential libqt4-dev qt4-qmake.
- Type your sudo password when prompted.
- Let the installation complete.
Now that you have the tools installed, let’s install the dependencies. NOTE: If you already have the dependencies installed, you can skip this step.
In the same terminal window, issue the command sudo apt-get install libxtst-dev build-essential libqt4-dev qt4-qmake.
That’s it for the dependencies. Now, time to download and install Turbojet2. Now, because the tar files are outdated, let’s download the latest from CVS. To do this you will need to first install CVS like so:
- Open a terminal window.
- Issue the command sudo apt-get install cvs.
- Type your sudo password and hit Enter.
- Allow the installation to complete.
Now, check out the source with the command cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@turbojet.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/turbojet co -P turbojet2. That will create a new directory (from the directory you ran the command) called turbojet2. It is time to install. Follow these steps:
- Open up a terminal window.
- Change into the directory turbojet2 that was created by CVS.
- Issue the command sudo qmake-qt4 turbojet2.pro.
- Issue the command sudo make.
- Issue the command sudo cp bin/turbojet2 /usr/bin.
That’s it! Turbojet2 is now installed. You will not, however, find a launcher for Turbojet2 in any of the menus. In order to use Turbojet2 follow these steps:
- Hit Alt-F2
- In the run dialog type turbojet2 and press RUN.
When Turbojet2 opens you will see a fairly straightforward (if not a bit spartan) GUI (see Figure A).
Figure A
Although the GUI is not fancy, it makes using the software simple.
You have now concluded the challenging portion of Turbojet2. The rest is just a matter of working with the GUI - which is as simple as they come.
Final thoughts
Not a perfect solution, but when you’re dealing with DIY the perfect solution is the one you get working. When you or your organization is on a restricted (or zero) budget, the creative solutions are almost always the only ones that will work. I hope you are able to make Turbojet2 work for you. It’s worked for plenty of other, similar, organizations so you should enjoy the same results.
