The problem here is that most Mac disc utilities, including the built-in Disk Utility, take a different approach when it comes to image burning. Instead of telling the program you want to burn an image, then choosing the file, you're supposed to do the reverse: You choose the file, then tell the program you want to burn it.

Actually you can do just that. When you first open Disk Utility, none of the disk images will be selected in the disk image list on the left of the screen. As long as none are selected, clicking the burn button causes the 'Open File' pane to come down, you can then select the image you want and it will burn.

One step, exactly what you wanted in the first place.

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when you've been using Linux and Windows utilities for years, these steps can be a little perplexing and hard to remember

To burn files in .bin + .cue format, this page pointed me to a free application called simply Burn which can burn them to CD. After dragging it into Applications, just double-click the .cue file of the pair.

I know this isn't quite what this hint is about, but I landed here via google and thought others might too.

1. Remember, until the Mighty Mouse, standard Mac mice only had one button. The "right click" convention is very new to olde-tyme mac users (and I would wager, Mac developers as well). The olde-type mac convention is the good ol' "click-and-drag".

   Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but can you not simply download the iso, pop in your blank CDR, drag the iso image to the CDR icon, and click "burn"?

   Don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to mock the "switchers" out there who assume it's more complicated than that because the OS they're used to (Windows) makes it more complicated. After all, the whole reason I found this thread is because I too assumed it would be more complicated (I switched from Mac to PC a few years back due to work requirements, and am only now switching back. I'm having to "re-learn" some of the intuitive functions of the Mac).

   In fact, I haven't tested the "click-and-drag" approach yet because I followed the disk utility method in the first post of this thread.

   Still, I'd be very surprised if the "click-and-drag" method doesn't get the job done. After all, it's the way Macs have worked since 1984.

2. There's no real such thing as a "bootable cd" in Mac terms. If your CD (or floppy) has a full version of the OS on it, it'll boot. To boot from CD, you have to hold down the "C" key on your keyboard at startup. That's been the convention since at least OS 7.6.1 (that was the first OS I used with a CD rom. Booting from floppy in OS 6 on my Mac Classic didn't even require holding down the "C" key).

ASIDE: Not until this year have I had the opportunity to explain olde-tyme Mac conventions to PC "switchers". I have to say, it feels really nice to be explaining the quirks of my OS to them for a change, rather than having to ask them how to perform the same tasks in Windows.

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