[Gllug] Re: CD-Writer not detected

[Nix]

On Thu, 12 Jan 2006, Mark Williams moaned:
> Emon wrote:
> 
>>> ben at debian$ grep cdrw /etc/fstab /dev/hdc       /cdrw           iso9660 ro,user,noauto          0 0
>>
>>Thanks
>>
>>One question though, shouldn't it be 'rw' instead of 'ro' in the
>>4th field, cause it's a WRITER not just a ROM??
>>
>>Please let me know if my understanding is correct.
>>
>>Emon
>>
>>
> No, because you aren't writing to it as a normal drive, this is
> handled differently in the software.

Specifically, you don't mount it and then write to the mount; you run a
program (`cdrecord') which sprays data directly at /dev/hdc.

> There is a system (UDF) which does work this way, if you have a
> compatible drive;

Any CD-RW drive will work.

>                   I used to, in my pre-Linux days; it tried very hard
> to trash a colleague's system so I gave up on it - though I can still
> read the old CD's in Linux so I guess it works...

UDF / pktcdvd. It works very well, *but* it depends on a set of tools
`cdrwtools' to format disks and so on, which, alas, are maintenance-
dead and the last released versions no longer work. There are a variety
of unofficial patches floating around to fix them.

It looks like moves are at last underway to revive that project, too.


(If you have a DVD-RW drive, you don't even need cdrwtools or pktcdvd;
just stick a normal filesystem on the DVD and it will just work :) )

-- 
`Logic and human nature don't seem to mix very well,
 unfortunately.' --- Velvet Wood
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