1 Howto setup an ATAPI CD-RW/DVD+-RW recorder on Debian/Ubuntu
2 ============================================================
4 This guide should be applicable to most kernel 2.6 using distributions of
5 GNU/Linux. For installations with kernel 2.4, continue reading below.
10 If you have just one CD writer in your computer, CD-writing should work out of
11 the box. There should be a symbolic link /dev/cdrw which points to your actual
12 CD-Writer's device (e. g. /dev/hdb). If the link is not present (eg. the
13 system is not using udev/devfs) or if you want to use a different device as
14 default, you can configure the device in /etc/wodim.conf:
18 would configure the default device to be /dev/hdd, i. e. the slave
19 device on the secondary IDE bus.
21 You can always override this default setting with wodim's "dev"
24 wodim dev=/dev/hdc ...
26 Only users part of the system group "cdrom" are able to write CDs.
27 If you wish to allow non-root users to write CDs then add your users to the
28 cdrom group ("adduser user cdrom") and let the user completely logout and
30 Note: with certain kernel versions wodim can fail with this message:
31 "wodim: Operation not permitted. Cannot send SCSI cmd via ioctl"
32 In this case it still does need the suid bit - please send patches if you have
33 identified the reason of that problem.
35 Kernel 2.4.* (for 2.5/2.6, see above)
36 =====================================
39 Linux: Kernel 2.4.20-bf2.4 (Debian package kernel-image-2.4.20-bf2.4)
40 Distribution: Debian Woody 3.0r2, i386
41 Devices: one CDRW-Writer, one CDROM-drive, both ATAPI
43 1. Become root, try "grep hd.: /var/log/kern.log" to find out where your
44 ATAPI-devices are connected to (hd?-names).
45 2. Edit your boot configuration file, eg. /etc/lilo.conf if you use
46 lilo or the batch-file if you boot via loadlin.
47 3. Find a line where you can append additional kernel parameters, eg.
48 "append=" in lilo.conf or the loadlin-line in the batch file.
49 4. Append sth. like this: "hdb=ide-scsi hdc=ide-scsi max_scsi_luns=1"
50 The hdX-parameters defines devices that should be mapped to SCSI
51 latter. You may do it with non-writers too, since the emulation layer
52 is almost complete. Or omit some so the devices will use their
53 native drivers (eg. ide-cd).
54 5. Save the file, reinstall the bootloader (ie. running "/sbin/lilo")
55 6. Call "modconf" in a console or xterm, enter the section
56 "kernel/drivers/scsi", load "sg" and "ide-scsi"
57 7. Reboot Debian, watch while booting, you should see a line like this:
58 "Detected scsi CD-ROM sr0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0".
59 Your old ATAPI devices virtually don't exist any longer, you cannot refer to
60 /dev/hd* as CDROM drives. Use the SCSI equivalents instead, /dev/sr*.
61 8. Become root, setup devices:
64 ln -s scd0 cdrom # NOTE: or cdrw, first check which drive is here
65 ln -s scd1 cdrw # NOTE: see above, maybe cdrom
66 Check the new SCSI settings:
68 Setup wodim's environment - edit /etc/wodim.conf:
72 Insert the right values, the fields are described in the manpage
73 of wodim. Alternatively, you may use these values as
74 wodim-parameter or take a frontend with an own configuration
75 scheme, then you don't need to modify /etc/wodim.conf.
76 The columns must be separated by tabs.
77 9. It's done! Insert a CD and try "wodim -v -toc". To create your first CD-ROM, try:
79 mkisofs -v -r -J /directory/to/be/written | wodim -v -dummy -
81 (read wodim(1), "man 1 wodim", for details)
83 10. If you wish to allow non-root users to write CDs, you must give them
84 permissions to do so. Set suid-root permissions on the executable,
85 then add your users to the cdrom group ("adduser user cdrom") and
86 let the user completely logout and re-login.