K3b does not see writer (answer here)
 

ok i have finally figured it out why k3b would not see my dvd writer it was a permissions problem with file /dev/hdc which by default has a group called disk with no users so if you add your normal user to the group disk then k3b can see the writer
hope this helps someone out..

Anyone else had these kind of problems ??

Yes, I've had the same problem... although it didn't take long to fix (I expected permission issues).

After I fixed it, I noticed the "K3B setup" command under the "Settings" menu... it turns out that this will try to figure out what permissions need to be changed and do it for you (after confirmation). (This is on version 0.11.20... I don't know when it was put in.)

... I just wish I had noticed the easy way at the start.