Behold! My second thread started at LinuxQuestions, and I have another hardware issue.

I'm building my own computer, and my optical drive does not support Linux. The manufacturer, LiteOn, tells me they cannot "assure" that the drive will work properly under Linux. I take that to mean I can make it work. However, I'm not the savviest fellow yet, and I was looking for some assurance from others that have gotten un-supported optical drives to work under Linux. (Any ideas on what I'll have to do to make it work?) Or, if that's not possible, any recommendations for a Linux-supported optical drive?

Thanks for the help!

I've used LiteOn optical drives with Linux for 8 years now without problems.

Caveat: if you drive is the latest and greatest, you *may* have problems. If it's more that a few months old, you should have little difficulty.

Another Caveat: Some distros have better hardware detection than others.

I've used Caldera OpenLinux, Suse, OpenSuse, RedHat, CentOS, Knoppix, Kanotix, PCLinuxOS, Debian, Solais 10, (a total of 20 Linux/Unix distros) with my LiteOn drives. Even though LiteOn doesn't officialy support Linux, the drives work with the Linux-supplied drivers.

'Nuff said.

I usually use Samsung/TSST or ASUS optical drives and have not had any problems with em. However, there have been a few posts on the forum that suggest that LineOn drives may have some problems in some cases. It's strange because they shouldn't have any problems if they are standards compliant drives.

I have never had a problem with any optical drive that used a standard interface (ie. PATA, SATA, SCSI). Only older drives with proprietary interfaces from the "early days" such as Sony were a PITA requiring special drivers.

Linux machines here are currently running various optical drives including LiteOn:

LiteOn, AOpen, Yamaha, HP(Phillips), Pioneer, Plextor, Epson, Sony, IBM

I run one LG DVD-RAM and one LG DVD-ROM under fedora 8. I've never had a problem with them period. I think they are just stating their opinion. LG drives work fine under Linux.

More than likely, they just don't want you calling them with installation issues.

Sorry, I've used LiteOn drives off and on over the last 4 yrs aswell under linux . . . no problems.

Hey, thanks everyone. When I get my computer up and running complete with LiteOn drive I want you all to be there with me!

Nota Bene: I asked NewEgg if I could return the drive for a Linux-supported model, and they credited my account with the drive price AND told me to keep the drive. Sure, it's a cheap piece of equipment, but that type of customer service is really something. Tell your friends!

Thanks yet again!

If it's any help, I just installed a LiteOn on my second computer. It was a model DH-20AP33C from Wal Mart of all places. Plug and play. No configuring required.

Good news! The computer is up and running, and the LiteOn drive works swimmingly. It is a bit of a flimsy clunker but I can't blame LiteOn for my being cheap. Thanks again everybody.