How do I make a *.bin and *.cue file from a cd_rom? Do I need some software? I used to use cdrwin with windows.

well i don't think you can really do this, other than using fireburner which is a program that was originally for windows but has been ported to linux...but the only catch is, is that you have to purchase fireburner as it only does test burns with the trial copy, so you can't do anything with it unless you buy it....other than that all i can say is stick with iso files or use windows if you really need bin/cue files ..... someone else may bring "to both" of our attention a way of doing this, but to my knowledge what i said above stands true...

if it is for personal use, make an ISO file, pretty much the same concept, I know that ISO files are easier to deal with in linux.

as far as I know, ISO files are like a zip with no compression so it's just a rip of a cd. Bin files are a binary copy for a more stable and accurate copy rather then just a rip. By rip I mean it's no different then just copy and pasting the files from the cd. I'll try fireburner. thx.

".ISO" "files" are, as generally refered to, filesystems with the ISO9660 format. This is the filesystem most CDs use. zip and "compression" have *nothing* to do with the filesystem format. If you do a "dd", which is a binary data dump of the CD (data CD containing an ISO9660 filesystem, not an audio CD), you'll get a file that contains an ISO9660 filesystem. This file can be mounted just like any other filesystem (using the loopback device), and is an EXACT copy of the CD.
I don't know what ".cue" or ".bin" files (as you refer to them) are. If you want an exact copy of a CD that contains a filesystem, you can just do:
[code]
dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/tmp/cdrom_image
[/code[
where /dev/cdrom refers to your CDROM device, and /tmp/cdrom_image referst to where you want the image to reside.