2003-12-13, 04:52 PM
CDROM
The drive works "out of the box" for reading CDROMs.
CDR/CDRW
For writing CDR/CDRW media, 2 different GUI-based applications come with RH9.0: gtoaster and xcdroast. I suggest you try both of them. In my view, gtoaster has some limitations, and therefore my personal preference remains xcdroast. The version packaged with Red Hat 9.0 (0.98alpha13) is reasonably stable and allows use by non-root users. Start XCDroast by typing xcdroast <Enter> in your console. After that, you will need to enter the general setup options. When creating a CDR, you may get an unexpected message about multi-session CDs when you never asked for that option in the first place... Click on "Continue anyway" - it does not seem to matter.
If upgrading your system, do not install cdrtools version 2.01a17 or cdrecord versions greater than 8:2.0.6 - the cdrecord binary outputs a version string not accepted by X-CD-Roast and will cause your recording to fail. This problem may be fixed in later versions of X-CD-Roast.
DVD
The DVD function requires a symbolic link before any application will recognise it. As root, create a link as follows:
$ ln -s /dev/cdrom /dev/dvd
There are various applications for playing DVDs but most seem to support only unencrypted formats. A version of Xine with associated libraries and CSS decryption module has been packaged for Red Hat 9.0 by Matthias Saou:
[/url][url=http://shrike.freshrpms.net/]http://shrike.freshrpms.net/
You will need a very long list of libraries and applications to build a working Xine configuration. The list seems to get longer with every new release of Red Hat Linux, so here goes:
aalib
xvidcore
flac
alsa-lib
libfame
xine-lib
xine
xine-skins
libdvdcss
xine-lib-devel
libdvdread
libdvdnav
libdvdplay
Download and install the rpm files for all of the above, from the "freshrpms" site, in the order shown.
In a console, type xine-check. This will check your xine configuration and will also set up the application to point to a valid plug-in directory. If there are any error messages, correct the problems flagged before going any further. Finally, type xine to start the DVD player. If it crashes when first trying to read the tracks from the DVD, restart your computer and try starting xine again.
To enable DMA access for the DVD drive (prevents video frame loss and gaps in the sound), add the following line to /etc/modules.conf:
options ide-cd dma=1