Bootable disk
 

I downloaded the iso image of a distro that I would like to install. I burnt to iso image to a disk using the burning software that is included in GNOME. However, the disk wasn't bootable. I tried to install a cd burner program to make a bootable disk, but al of the programs I tried to install had several dependencies that I would prefer not to deal with. Is there a simple program that can burn an iso image? What should I do?

You just have to use "Burn disc from image" instead of creating a data CD.

growisofs -Z /dev/cdrom=image.iso

when I use "growisofs -Z /dev/cdrom=image.iso" I receive the error message ":-( /dev/cdrom: media is not recognized as recordable DVD: A"

As for the "burn disc from image" solution, When i right click the iso image and hit "write to disk" the only options I see are "write disk to file image" or "NR-7800A". Originally I used the NR-7800A option, which created a data cd and not a bootable disk. The write disk to file image option seems to do nothing.

What am I doing wrong ???

I don't think you want to make the CDs bootable in any case; it's a legacy process that is unnecessary IIRC. Previous posters are both correct. For burning I recommend K3B (I use it in gnome fluxbox and enlightenment) although if you don't have KDE installed alongside gnome then there will be some dependencies. But it's one of my favorite Linux apps. You shouldn't need anything but what you already have to "burn disc from image" though.