I really do like MacOS X. I do. Of course, nothing’s perfect, and here’s one of them. Why can’t I create a CD image that is readable on Windows (or Linux or NetBSD for that matter)? Is this some kind of joke? There’s no option to create an ISO9660 image that can then be burnt to a CD? Give me a break! I really don’t mind using hdiutil from the command line, or even using mkisofs from the fink archives, but if Apple went to the trouble to make a nice GUI, then why aren’t these options available there? In Mail.app, there’s a checkbox for “windows-friendly atachments”. Couldn’t there be a similar option for Disk Utility?
So, what’s a nerd to do? Roll your own, of course! I decided to learn something new and write a little Applescript droplet that turns the dropped folder into an ISO image. Here it is in all its glory. It detects if you’ve gone over the rough size limit of a CD, but doesn’t check for DVD size limits. However, it doesn’t stop you from making an image any size you want.
Try it out (if you have a Mac) and let me know how I can improve it.
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