Changing a CD drive to a new DVD/CD drive.

[Clint Harshaw]

Bill Tetens wrote:
> I want to change out the drive on my linux box running FC2. What steps 
> will I need to take to get the new drive operational. With windows it 
> was no problem but don't have the knowledge about linux yet but I am 
> getting there.
> 
> Thanks

Bill:

I did just what you are describing a month ago: swapped a CDRW for a 
DVD/CDRW. The installation without a hitch as far as the CD side of 
things go, but getting commercial DVDs to play was another story. There 
are many different DVD players out there for your FC2 machine, but the 
only one that works for me is Totem. Assuming you have your 
/etc/yum.conf config'd similarly to that found at fedorafaq.org, then 
you can get your DVD player to play commercial DVDs with the following:

1. open a terminal
2. su
3. give it your password
4. yum install libdvd* libmad* totem*
5. after the installation is complete, type exit
6. after the installation, try popping in a commercial DVD and starting 
Totem from the command line. You'll get a message that you need to be 
patient while it readies the DVD playback. It'll take Totem anywhere 
from a few seconds to a minute or so to decode the DVD.

Now the first time I tried Totem after the installation, I got a blue 
screen but audio playback -- I don't know why, but when I ran Totem as 
root just once, it worked and has been working fine since then for all 
users. Maybe it was a total fluke, but that was my experience. Other 
users like Xine, MPlayer, and other players, but I simply have not been 
able to get them to work. Totem works for me, so that's what I've stuck 
with for DVD playback.

Hope this helps,
Clint