Re: Installing CD-RW on suse 8.0

Hello Geoff--

I'm kind of a newbie at Linux, but my cdrecorder does work so I 
thought I would compare notes with you in hopes it may help.



On Wednesday 15 May 2002 22:27, Geoffrey Snyder wrote:
> I'm trying to install a new plextor cd burner (Plexwriter
> 16/10/40A CD-RW) on my SuSE 8.0 system. I've followed the
> instructions in the support database but haven't had success.
> The instructions - briefly outlined - are:
>
> Switch off IDE support by changing the LILO configuration -
> add hda=ide-scsi to the append option of the boot loader (hda
> is the correct drive for my cd)



I have a CD-burner as second drive on my second IDE bus, so it 
is:

/dev/hdd

After enabling ide-scsi emulation (as a kernel boot-time 
parameter), /dev/hdd becomes /dev/sr0 on my system (SuSE 8.0)

ide-scsi emulation is enabled by changing the /etc/lilo.conf file 
to include:

append = " hdd=ide-scsi"

(Note that there is a space after the opening quotation mark. I 
believe this may be to ensure that when the kernel parameter is 
appended to the boot-time arguments, there will be a space 
between any previous parameter and this one. Remember to execute 
/sbin/lilo after editing /etc/lilo.conf so that lilo will read 
the new lilo.conf and write the appropriate data to its boot-up 
file on the Master Boot Record (or wherever it is installed).)

Here is my complete /etc/lilo.conf file:

boot    = /dev/hda
change-rules
reset
read-only
menu-scheme = Wg:kw:Wg:Wg
lba32
prompt
timeout = 80
message = /boot/message

  image  = /boot/vmlinuz
  label  = linux
  root   = /dev/hda2
  vga    = 791
  initrd = /boot/initrd
  append = " hdd=ide-scsi"

  image  = /boot/vmlinuz.suse
  label  = failsafe
  root   = /dev/hda2
  vga    = 791
  initrd = /boot/initrd.suse
  append = "ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off  hdd=ide-scsi"
  optional

  image  = /boot/memtest.bin
  label  = memtest86



>
> Load the scsi emulation by adding this line:
> /sbin/modprobe ide-scsi
> to the /etc/init.d/boot.local file.



I didn't have to do the step above. I'm not sure why. I think it 
may be because ide-scsi emulation was either already compiled 
into the kernel I use, or the kernel was already configured to 
load the scsi emulation module(s) if and when needed (and the 
boot-time parameter hdd=ide-scsi in lilo.conf implies the need 
for the module, so the kernel loads it I suppose). Here are the 
pertinent lines from boot-up, obtained with /bin/dmesg


hdd: no flushcache support
scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
  Vendor: MITSUMI   Model: CR-4804TE         Rev: 2.8C
  Type:   CD-ROM                             ANSI SCSI revision: 
02
Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 24x/24x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray




>
> Correct settings for all IDE CD drives:
> ln -sf /dev/scd0 /dev/cdrecorder
> I've also tried:
> ln -sf /dev/sr0 /dev/cdrecorder
> per suggestion from suse support



The second symbolic link is what I have on my system, a link 
called /dev/cdrecorder that points to /dev/sr0 (which in turn is 
the device file assigned by scsi emulation to /dev/hdd, now that 
it is being treated as a scsi device)


>
> Add this line to fstab:
> /dev/cdrecord /media/cdrecorder auto ro,noauto,user,exec 0 0



That is almost what I have in my /etc/fstab, except that if the 
symbolic link to /dev/sr0 is /dev/cdrecorder, then the line in 
/etc/fstab should begin /dev/cdrecorder (not /dev/cdrecord). 
Everything else in the pertinent line in my /etc/fstab is 
identical to yours.



>
> mkdir /media/cdrecorder


Here is the output of ls -l for /media on my system:

linux# cd /media; ls -l
total 20
drwxr-xr-x    5 root     root     4096 Apr 29 21:26 .
drwxr-xr-x   20 root     root     4096 May 16 06:45 ..
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root     4096 Apr 29 21:26 cdrecorder
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root     4096 Mar 20 17:14 cdrom
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root     4096 Mar 20 17:14 floppy



>
> Reboot and the thing should work but when I run
> cdrecord -scanbus
> this is all I get:
>
> Cdrecord 1.11a13 (i686-suse-linux) Copyright (C) 1995-2001
> Jörg Schilling Linux sg driver version: 3.1.22
> Using libscg version 'schily-0.5'
> scsibus0:
>         0,0,0     0) *
>         0,1,0     1) *
>         0,2,0     2) *
>         0,3,0     3) *
>         0,4,0     4) 'iomega  ' 'jaz 2GB         ' 'E.17'
> Removable Disk 0,5,0     5) *
>         0,6,0     6) *
>         0,7,0     7) *
>
> which lists my real scsi drive (just the iomega) that are on
> my scsi adapter - nothing about the ide cd-rw.
>



Here is the output of cdrecord -scanbus on my system:

linux:/media # cdrecord -scanbus
Cdrecord 1.11a19 (i686-suse-linux) Copyright (C) 1995-2002 Jörg 
Schilling
Linux sg driver version: 3.1.22
Using libscg version 'schily-0.6'
scsibus0:
  0,0,0    0) 'MITSUMI ' 'CR-4804TE   ' '2.8C' Removable CD-ROM
  0,1,0    1) *
  0,2,0    2) *
  0,3,0    3) *
  0,4,0    4) *
  0,5,0    5) *
  0,6,0    6) *
  0,7,0    7) *

So cdrecord does correctly see my Atapi Mitsumi CD burner as a 
SCSI device. On my system I don't have a real SCSI adapter, as 
you do for your Iomega Jaz drive so I don't know about any 
possible interactions between a real SCSI bus and ide-scsi 
emulation.

(Side note: I don't have a Jaz 
drive anymore after my Jaz drive became defective, caused 
read-write errors on my Jaz disks and ended up using all the 
spare blocks or sectors on the disks thinking that the 
read-write errors were caused by bad blocks. This all happened 
automatically within the space of several minutes after 
inserting the disks into the Jaz drive and trying to use them for 
back-up. When the disks had no more spare blocks, the Jaz drive 
refused to use them, giving an error message that my recently 
purchased disks had reached the end of their lifespan and could 
not be used, or something to that effect. I wrote numerous email 
messages to Iomega, who said that the problem lay in the drive, 
not the disks, but that unfortunately the disks (and all my 
backed-up data on them) could no longer be used. They offered to 
sell me a refurbished Jaz drive for $150 but I had lost five 
expensive 2GB Jaz disks that I had only had for several months 
as a result of this. The disks would not be able to be 
reinitialized in the refurbished drive and reused. I turned my 
back on Iomega at that point and no longer use their products, 
although the Zip drives seem reliable.)

Good luck,

Steve D
New Mexico, US



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