I bumped my Ubuntu installation (on my Pavilion right now) up to Hardy, just for fun and to see if something will break. Thus far everything I have tried has been working fine, with an occasional uninstallable package or error message from the update manager.

After that I’ve taken a few turns around the Gnome desktop and while it still doesn’t appeal to me, I have found a few things I like. Brasero is one — I wish there was a version that didn’t drag Gnome in with it because I’d probably use it fairly regularly. I like the layout, the detailed options, the ability to verify a burn immediately after you finish it.

I like that it does multiple burns in single commands and can close itself automatically if it reaches a healthy finish. I’m using it right now to reburn an installation CD for the ugly laptop (which is acting up already), by streaming the ISO across the network from my Arch machine.

I know Brasero isn’t the next Nero (or is it? I don’t use Nero either), but it’s quite nice compared to my old arch-nemesis, Gnomebaker, or my failed relationship with Graveman. Pyburn is still my favorite for burning CDs (I don’t know what I do when I need to burn a DVD. It’s been a while) but if anyone comes up with anything close — even something like Grafburn — I’ll give it a try. I’m open-minded that way.