I'd like to be able to burn cds, dvds, and blu-ray media and I'd also like to be able to watch dvds and blu-ray media. 3d would be icing on the cake, but if there's something tricky with subtitles I'd like to hear about it.

I'm looking to buy an external drive and I anticipate that it will have a usb 3 connection to the main box. I don't mind a separate power supply.

Also, I'd appreciate hearing from you if you have had trouble with a drive (please specify the model #.)

FWIW, I'm running Kubuntu and a couple of flavours of Debian.

I have a thin LG BluRay RW that I bought at BestBuy about 5 years ago that does all you ask. Have used it with 2 different laptops and my desktop with no issues at all. The USB cable provides all the power for it.