Hey,

I just moved over to linux and i'm trying to get my new Samsung super write master SH-S223 dvd writer working with it. I cant find a driver anywhere and i rang up samsung and they said they dont support linux. Am i completly screwed? as in it'll never work until a driver is released.

If I am screwed, what would be the fastest and kinda cheap dvd burner that workes with linux. I need to start buring soon. Any help would be greatly appriciated.

-Killesk



ps.
I'm running fedora core 9 of a dell poweredge sc440 Server.

Lets start nice and simple: Does the drive show up in the BIOS?
if so, lets move on:

sudo lshw | less

Have a read through this and see if Linux can see it. Here's example output from my server:

*-cdrom
description: DVD reader
product: MATSHITADVD-ROM SR-8585
physical id: 0
bus info: ide@1.0
logical name: /dev/hdc
version: 1Z21
capabilities: packet atapi cdrom removable nonmagnetic dma lba iordy audio dvd

You can also get info on it by running:

Either way, that is not too important, what is more important is the type of drive it is, is it a SATA drive ? Can you also post the output of '/sbin/lspci'.

Hey,

Cheers for the help, Ok, my server came with a dvd reader so bear in mind that my computer has now 1 dvd reader (which works), and 1 dvd reader/writer (that does not work) here is the /sbin/lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation E7230/3000/3010 Memory Controller Hub
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation E7230/3000/3010 PCI Express Root Port
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 01)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GR/GH/GHM (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5721 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 21)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5754 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
05:07.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc ES1000 (rev 02)



ps. I really appreciate your help on the people.

Kudzu is Fedora's hardware probing service. You can launch it explicitly, though it should run by default during boot up to detect new hardware.

In the current case the hardware is probably too new to have an open-source alternative driver already. It's also possible that there is a non-free driver somewhere on the net (non-free driver are not in the Fedora install repo's).

Some companies (Epson for example) do not provide Linux drivers for legal and liability reasons, but instead allow some third-parties to develop and provide the appropriate drivers. That way Linux drivers are available, but not being distributed under their brand name - so they do not breach their MS contracts.

I don't know if Samsung does something like that. Do a Google search for the Samsung hardware Linux driver to find out more.

Never heard of needing a driver for a DVD burner, you just need the controller to be supported, which it looks like it is because you have 1 dvd reader (which works). So I get it that this is connected via IDE cable. I'd make sure that cable is intact and is not loose. Also it would be nice if you specify how it "does not work". It simply doesn't find it ? Is it listed in the BIOS as mjlouis asked ?

A little bit of Googleage shows that this is a SATA drive and apparantly XCDroast along with CDrecord (with DVD plugin) works nicely.
This leads to the thought that the drive is:

a) Not enabled in the BIOS
b) Not completely connected
c) Stuffed
d) On non-speaking terms with Linux until it returns the lawnmower.

D is probably not likely. :-)

@ mjlouis

Oh so it is a SATA drive. But as I see there is no SATA controller detected. Probably the SATA drivers that support it are not installed, or as you said the controller is not enabled in the BIOS.

So, try enabling SATA controller in BIOS, then see if it works, if not maybe try putting it in AHCI mode.

Killesk please provide more info on the situation. Is this a SATA drive, and how and where is it connected ?