From: centos@911networks.com

Hi, I have just installed 4.1 on a new Dell Latitude d610. It does not automount the CDs. When I mount the CD manually I get: $mount /media/cdrecorder mount: block device /dev/hdc is write-protected, mounting read-only

First off, there is a multitude of understanding that is required. Most consumers are not aware of many differences between CD-R v. CD-RW access, CD-R v. CD-RW filesystems, etc...

In Windows, some of this is hidden from you to a point, but not all. E.g., you use a program to "record" whereas you directly access the drive letter to to "read/write." Windows only lets you "record" to CD-R (or CD-RW emulating CD-R), and won't "read/write" to anything but CD-RW (with a non-ISO9660 fs). These two processes are actually _different_.

What type of CD did you insert? A CD-RW? CD-R? Or CD-ROM? Also note that CDs are not "formatted read/write" with ISO9660. ISO9660 is a linear, byte-by-byte track, that is not modifyable (most specifically, data is a "Yellow Book" track of ISO9660).

You have to use _another_ filesystem to have "read/write." UDF is its replacement, although almost any filesystem can be used. As I said, a multitude of understanding.

The CD writer is an Philips IDE: CDRW/DVD-ROM CDD5263

There is some "read/write" support for CD-RW in kernel 2.6. I haven't messed with it personally.

Otherwise, you pre-master an .iso file with "mkisofs," and then you record with "cdrecord." There are GUI tools build around those 2 programs to help you. That's for CD-R (or CD-RW emulating CD-R).

Here is my mtab: $ cat /etc/mtab /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00 / ext3 rw 0 0 none /proc proc rw 0 0 none /sys sysfs rw 0 0 none /dev/pts devpts rw,gid=5,mode=620 0 0 usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs rw 0 0 /dev/sda1 /boot ext3 rw 0 0 none /dev/shm tmpfs rw 0 0 none /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc binfmt_misc rw 0 0 /dev/hdc /media/cdrecorder iso9660 ro,nosuid,nodev,user=froggy 0 0 How do I change /dev/hdc /media/cdrecorder iso9660 ro to rw?

You can't. You can't really "read/write" anything that is ISO9660. It is clear that this CD media (CD-RW?) was written as ISO9660. All you can do is append additional sessions/tracks (if CD-R), or re-format it (if CD-RW).

These are just things that some Windows tools "hide" from you. But you still probably need to know about them.

$ cat /etc/fstab # This file is edited by fstab-sync - see 'man fstab-sync' for details /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 / ext3 defaults 1 1 LABEL=/boot /boot ext3 defaults 1 2 none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 none /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0 none /proc proc defaults 0 0 none /sys sysfs defaults 0 0 /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 swap swap defaults 0 0 /dev/hdc /media/cdrecorder auto pamconsole,exec,noauto,managed 0 0

Stick in a new CD-RW media that has been formatted UDF and see what happens.

-- Bryan J. Smith mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org