Here's my results from the three checks:

[wrc1944@localhost wrc1944]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost wrc1944]# cdrecord -scanbus
Cdrecord 1.11a19 (i586-mandrake-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2002 Jörg Schilling
Linux sg driver version: 3.1.24
Using libscg version 'schily-0.6'
scsibus0:
0,0,0 0) *
0,1,0 1) *
0,2,0 2) 'LITE-ON ' 'LTR-48125W ' 'VS04' Removable CD-ROM
0,3,0 3) *
0,4,0 4) *
0,5,0 5) *
0,6,0 6) *
0,7,0 7) *
[root@localhost wrc1944]#
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dmesg- the relevant lines referring to cds (out of hundreds):

hda: Maxtor 32049H2, ATA DISK drive
hdc: LITE-ON LTR-48125W, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15

w83781d.o version 2.6.3 (20020322)
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
scsi0 : SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
Vendor: LITE-ON Model: LTR-48125W Rev: VS04
Type: CD-ROM ANSI SCSI revision: 02
kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds

lp0: using parport0 (polling).
Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 2, lun 0
sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 183x/48x writer cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
CSLIP: code copyright 1989 Regents of the University of California

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MY ls -l /dev/scd0 output:

[root@localhost wrc1944]# ls -l /dev/scd0
lr-xr-xr-x 1 root root 31 Aug 24 17:46 /dev/scd0 -> scsi/host0/bus0/target2/lun0/cd
[root@localhost wrc1944]#


I'm still unclear as to what to try next.
Thanks,wrc1944

Try the raw device
/dev/sr0 as it states in dmesg
ln -sf /dev/sr0 /dev/cdrom
put CD in
mount /dev/cdrom -tiso9660 /mnt/cdrom
Does it mount the drive?

Here's the output:

[root@localhost wrc1944]# ln -sf /dev/sr0 dev/cdrom
ln: creating symbolic link `dev/cdrom' to `/dev/sr0': No such file or directory
[root@localhost wrc1944]#

made a typo in the symlink command- sorry- I'll try again.

Still no luck. Here's the output:

[wrc1944@localhost wrc1944]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost wrc1944]# ln -sf /dev/sr0 /dev/cdrom
[root@localhost wrc1944]# mount /dev/cdrom -tiso9660 /mnt/cdrom
mount: special device /dev/cdrom does not exist
[root@localhost wrc1944]#

Still no luck in figuring this out. I have no cdrom access (burner works), whichever of all the above suggestions I've tried, either with, or without the old cdrom connected as slave. I'm about ready to admit defeat, and start all over and lose 3 months of this install, with all the tweaks.

I know it has to be a relatively simple problem, but nothing I've tried, or have been advise to do works.

If I reinstall Mandrake, can I hook up the old drive as slave, and not reformat my home partition, and thus be able to restore some programs from my rpms and tarballs stored on ~/home without having to download kde 3.0.2, etc., over a 56k modem. I've really spent huge amounts of time getting this 8.2 install set up fairly well.

Now I'm wondering since I don't have cdrom access, how I'll even be able to do that.
wrc1944

neo77777,
Is there a typo in your post? Precisesly, the -tiso9660? Should it be -t iso9660 (space between -t and iso9660)?

Your post:

"Try the raw device
/dev/sr0 as it states in dmesg
ln -sf /dev/sr0 /dev/cdrom
put CD in
mount /dev/cdrom -tiso9660 /mnt/cdrom
Does it mount the drive?"

that's not a typo.

unless cdrecord or whatever it is is a non-posix cpompliant application

Try mounting using just the raw device, not symlinking yet. Just try:
mount -t iso9660 /dev/scd0 /mnt/cdrom

OR

mount -t iso9660 /dev/sr0 /mnt/cdrom

(of course this assumes you have a disc in that has data on it, not an audioCD, or a blank, and it assumes you have created the directory /mnt/cdrom)

Cool

Heres the ouput. After that, I clicked the cdrom icon on the Mandrake/kde desktop, and it opened, and showed the data on the cd. This is major progress!

What next. BTW, Acid_kewpie said that "-tiso9660" wasn't a typo, but then MasterC has it as "-t iso9660"- which seems to work (as root).

My question is, how can I get back to when as user, I wish to use the cdrom, and just use the desktop icon instead of having to be root konsole?

Will I need to always use a knosole root umount, instead of the regular Mandrake automatic supermount/unmount as user?

And, will the Mandrake Software Manager still work, i.e., opening the cdrom tray when it needs a package from my imnstall cds?
wrc1944


[wrc1944@localhost wrc1944]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost wrc1944]# mount -t iso9660 /dev/scd0 /mnt/cdrom
mount: block device /dev/scd0 is write-protected, mounting read-only
[root@localhost wrc1944]#

When I try to umount, I get this as user, and root:

[wrc1944@localhost wrc1944]$ umount /dev/cdrom
umount: /dev/cdrom is not mounted (according to mtab)
[wrc1944@localhost wrc1944]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost wrc1944]# umount /dev/cdrom
umount: /dev/cdrom: not found
[root@localhost wrc1944]#

cdrom is mounted, because I'm reading the contents of the cdrom inserted, and I can navigate around the cd directories and files. I can't make sense out of this one.

wel that's because you're doing it wrong. /dev/cdrom is NOT mounted.. where have you ever tried to mount it? you mounted /dev/sr0 at /mnt/cdrom.....

In my case, I did:

mount -t iso9660 /dev/scd0 /mnt/cdrom

So, I should do "umount /dev/scd0 /mnt/cdrom" as root, to unmount?

Or, do I need to also put -t iso9660 in there?

Thanks
wrc1944

No, just plain
umount /dev/scd0 will suffice
as for -tiso9660 vs -t iso9660 it doesn't make a difference as acid stated as long as cdrecord (whatever there is there else) is POSIX compliant.
Now as root you may make a symlink
ln -sf /dev/scd0 /dev/cdrom
put the following line into /etc/fstab
/dev/cdrom /mnt/whatever/is/your/mount/point iso9660 user,defaults,ro 0 0
if you add auto option
/dev/cdrom /mnt/whatever/is/your/mount/point iso9660 user,auto,defaults,ro 0 0
the CD will be mounted automatically on boot if there is a CD in - or you'll be getting lots of media not found errors in the kernel log - don't be scared of them - they'll just pour your logs.