Just picked up "Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop" and spent part of an evening reading via oil lamp as we had a power outage and popped the CD in this morning when power was restored.Well to get to the point ,when I log out and quit the JDS my pc shutsdown without ejecting the Live CD first and booting up again puts me back to reload the desktop and cannot eject the disc while JDS is running.

That's something I hope we can fix ourselves.

You'll have to power on and immediately press the CD eject button on your case. If you have a quick power-on self test (post), you may have to go to the bios and change it.

I have tried the "Demo Disc" in three different computers with the same results>no disc eject.
I hope there is a better way to overcome this problem and if there are first time users of JDS
and have bought the book as I did it will surely not help in "winning over" converts to Linux.I was hoping for something that I would be able to have friends and associates try out without risk.If all of the "live discs" behave in this manner it would be a good idea to pull the books from the shelves and replace the discs with ones that function properly.I have tried other "live distros" and also had the same problem with the disc not ejecting but didn't expect it with JDS.I will give the "power on>press eject" a try to see if that works and will probably put the disc back in the sleeve located on the back cover of "Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop" book and return it for a refund.Sorry but that's the way I feel at the moment.

As you said, "I have tried other "live distros" and also had the same problem with the disc not ejecting."

So, the issue you have is not unique to the JDS liveCD. It is trouble with there being an unsatisfactory level (for your needs) of automation that's scripted with the "live distros." I would grant that others may have a similar difficulty as you've had. Open source products like these liveCD's have tended to purposely avoid such automation (as advanced users don't appreciate automated procedures taking over when they can do the job themselves manually), but it is an area where open source projects can generally do a better job than we have done in the past to meet the needs of non-technical users.

If you would like to have clearer instructions about how to change your BIOS settings upon power-up, I'd be happy to write them out and then post them up to JDShelp.org and into the knowledge base there. If changing the BIOS is troublesome to newbies, then we should provide sufficient support documentation or make adjustements to the scripting on the liveCD.

-Sam