[LUNI] IDE CD burner frustrations

[Jirsa, Jeff]

<RANT>
#@$@#$!!!  Every time I try to burn a CD my system locks up!  I can't do 
anything to warm boot it and the Num Lock, Caps Lock, and Scroll Lock 
lights are blinking when it locks.

Boy, if I was a newbie, this would/could cause me to drop Linux in a 
heartbeat.  I never had this problem burning CDs with Windoze.  From my 
limited experience with the burner GUIs and cdrecord, I have to conclude
that 
burning CDs with Linux is like a loaded Uzi; one wrong move and you can do 
yourself in.
</RANT>

FYI, my box is a Dell GX1 PIII 450.  A CD-ROM is the master drive and a 
Lite On 16x burner is the slave drive on the second IDE channel.

Is there anyway to idiot proof (yes, you can count me in here) reading and 
writing to a burner?  Some kind of throttle for the device?  Or, how can I
find out
the max speed to burn with without locking up the box?  

Is this only an IDE burner problem?  Has anyone had any lock ups with SCSI
burners?