[bernard]

[danleff]

I'll take a stab in the dark.

It looks like cdrecord does not like the media.

What exact media and size (72 min vs. 80 min.) are you using?

It looks like cdr media, but rated at 2X for this writer?

It also looks like the media write has been writing to the cdr with an error. The media is fixated and can't be written to again...

So, you run the risk of wasting cdr media? If the dummy write does not work, then don't remove this option, until cdrecord finishes without errors.

Make sure that you use a fresh cdr media that has not been used before and that it is rated for this writer.

[bernard]

Originally posted by danleff:

Quote:

I'll take a stab in the dark.

It looks like cdrecord does not like the media.

What exact media and size (72 min vs. 80 min.) are you using?

It looks like cdr media, but rated at 2X for this writer?

It also looks like the media write has been writing to the cdr with an error. The media is fixated and can't be written to again...

So, you run the risk of wasting cdr media? If the dummy write does not work, then don't remove this option, until cdrecord finishes without errors.

Make sure that you use a fresh cdr media that has not been used before and that it is rated for this writer.

*****************************************

There it is ! It now WORKS OK... but not with the HP cdwriter 8200. Must have been faulty. After many more trials, I jumped to my car and went buying a ASUS CRW 5224A external usb cdwriter. I made arrangements with the shop keeper so that I could return it in case it was not linux compatible. The test lasted no more than five minutes, using whatever command lines I had used with the used HP device ; it went the same way, except that there were no error messages ! I wrote a cd that I was able to read afterward... I hope I can get my money back for the used out of order HP 8200 that I will return. I am going to fill information in the linuxcompatible database so that the ASUS CRW 5224A usb is known as compatible.

Thanks for you help. As I do more many trials and cdwriting, I will tell if I encounter any problem in doing more complicate tasks.

Bernard

[Mel]

There's probably nothing wrong with the cd burner except that it's an HP.
For about a 4 or 5 year period HP was deeply involved with what they percieved as the dominant OS.As a result,firmware was designed specificaly for Windows™.The firmware and drivers became "propriatary"(probably ain't spelled right) which means that although it can be modified,it is illegal to do so.
At the beginning of that period,many linux users still considered themselves "elite" and wanted to maintain that status.Anyone inquiring about linux on those "elite" sites would be snubbed and often outright insulted unless they appeared to have knowledge of the terminology used by the linux community.
Then the unexpected happened.Some people with a combination of intellegence , common sence,willingness to help others and the knowledge that ignorance is not stupidity, became interested in linux and had the audacity, patience and perserverance to overcome the snide remarks and insults and become very knowledgable in linux.
Many of those people are now giving thier time on sites like this one to help people like us .Those are people like Danleff,Dapper Dan,The administrators of this site and many others to whom I would like to to extend a sincere thank you for the great help. Also,to jimf43,I sincerely apoligize for the way I misstyped your username,it was not intentional.I noticed it when browsing yesterday and realized it could be construed as derogatory.
Due ,in large part,to users on these sites,HP,along with other hardware and software companies,suddenly woke up,looked around and realized "Hey ,there is an alternative OS out there and it appears to be more stable and reliable than the present dominant OS !"
Recent HP hardware is linux compatible but as one who uses HP hardware,I suggest, before buying used HP hardware,check linux sites for compatility issues and fixes.

[danleff]

[Mel]

All the recent kernals will support HP hardware but although
all the distros claim to support HP hardware,Mandrake10 is the
only distro I found that will properly set up HP stuff with
system configuration GUI.The other distros require manual
configuration of dependancies and kernal entries.
At the risk of revealing my age,I will say,the last time I actually did any programming was way back when,to get anything really useful,I had to use a combination of CPM,Basic and ML with a lot of gosubs and calls.(That's a few years.)I think c was just coming out.
I assume there are a lot of good programmers around now who never heard of CPM or gosub.
My last post is the impression I got from replies from HP while trying to get this hardware to work.
BTW,last time I tried, kernal 2.4 ,which I use now, seems stable, 2.6 tends to take side trips into never-never land.Also 2.4 handles 3rd party stuff OK while 2.6 has problems.

[bernard]

Hi Mel, Danleff and everyone else who took part in this thread !

I didn't say that there was anything wrong with HP cdwriter 8200 as far as comptatibility with Linux... I only said that it was most likely something wrong with MY HP cdwriter. As previously said, it was a used unit, and the power module was added on, the original one having likely given up. I found that it was fed on 12V DC only, while the scheme said that it should have been fed in 12V and 5V DC. I had gotten a positive test with that writer in MSWIN on my office PC, not on my laptop. In Linux, it was not even being reckognized. I therefore suspected that, on my office PC, part of the power was fed from the PC unit, through the usb cable, and that, using my laptop, there was not enough power. So, I got an old PC-AT power module, and adapted it to feed the missing 5V for my burner. Then, the writer got to be recognized under Linux. I could mount it, read CD... and even write CDs, except that I always got errors, so the discs were unusable. Furthermore, I noticed that CDs got to turn at variable speeds, increasing and decreasing back and forth. That is when I got the idea to test another apparatus, the ASUS I spoke of, and everything got allright, I got constant speed for cd spinning, and no errors in writing.

I have no doubt that, had I tested a brand new HP cdwriter, or an used one in a good shape, I would have most likely worked...

May I ask one more Out of Topic question ? I have played around a bit with cdrecord and mkisofs, but I did not find any possibility for checking a burnt CD against an iso file, as I used to do with xcdroast on an older PC, equiped with RH 6.0 and an SCSI TEAC burner. Since I don't intend to install xcdroast on my Thinkpad (I try to save as much disk space as possible), I'd like to know how to do without.

Originally posted by Mel:

Quote:

All the recent kernals will support HP hardware but although
all the distros claim to support HP hardware,Mandrake10 is the
only distro I found that will properly set up HP stuff with
system configuration GUI.The other distros require manual
configuration of dependancies and kernal entries.
At the risk of revealing my age,I will say,the last time I actually did any programming was way back when,to get anything really useful,I had to use a combination of CPM,Basic and ML with a lot of gosubs and calls.(That's a few years.)I think c was just coming out.
I assume there are a lot of good programmers around now who never heard of CPM or gosub.
My last post is the impression I got from replies from HP while trying to get this hardware to work.
BTW,last time I tried, kernal 2.4 ,which I use now, seems stable, 2.6 tends to take side trips into never-never land.Also 2.4 handles 3rd party stuff OK while 2.6 has problems.

[Mel]

Thanks,Bernard
You just helped me much more than I could have possibly
helped you.Explaining how you checked that drive solved a
problem I had with a little project.I had forgotten that
some relatively recent power supplies have a 3.5 volt output.
On checking I found I was connecting 3.5V where I needed 5.
Thanks again.