Thanks Simon for your reply, I will re-read this again but I have to work the next 2 days so I can't be exactly sure if I get time during the nights.

This may not be exactly to do with the 'sudo ln /dev/scd0 /dev/dvd' (or the other way around) command but I have learned something new in this process: when applying the medibuntu repos and key and running an update, it also replaced/updated my previously installed libdvdcss files with the ones found on the medibuntu repos. as a result the clone now plays dvd's. I have tried various regions (2 and 4) dvd's and they all played.

there is one more clone I will have to do, it will be a slightly different machine and I will see how this next one will handle the transition from one machine to the other, and report back here to keep it complete.

I have also replaced the dev notation for the '/' partition back to uuid found in menu.lst and everything seems normal, haven't able to change the other ones back because I have deleted it without making a back up first. the reason why I haven't made a back up is because in the past I have done this so many times that I feel confident doing it this way and there was never a need for changing it back. but with regards what you say: "I think some programs in Ubuntu may be expecting uuid notation - to assign devide names for eg." I think you may have a point there; the developers surely have their (way beyond me) reasons for doing that.

apologies for not coming back any earlier, had a busy week at work.

after cloning the last machine I bumped into the same problems. issuing the command 'sudo ln /dev/scd0 /dev/dvd2' (this clone puts a 2 after /dev/dvd) I get response:

ln creating hard link '/dev/dvd2': File exists

after this it still will not play the dvd. when I change the xine parameter settings it will play the dvd, but after reboot the problem reoccurs. for me the quickest way to fix this seems to be simply to reinstall Kubuntu.

it may be a better idea to search for similar problems with cloning and how to fix these problems, what seem to be minor set backs but I just don't know how to get around them.

The link you want is:

sudo ln /dev/scd0 /dev/dvd

because the players are expecting to find the dvd device at /dev/dvd

how are you making the clone?

I issued 'sudo ln /dev/scd0 /dev/dvd' and it creates a block device(?), not a block device link. it will play the dvd after giving the command but it does not stick; after reboot the block device is gone again and the dvd will not play. so the next real question is: how do I make it stick?

I make clones using clonezilla http://www.clonezilla.org/ it works quiet well apart from this problem that I am encountering, but I think that has nothing to do with clonezilla but more with the OS that (as you mentioned previously somewhere) sees the 'new' hardware and thinks it is another drive. with that in mind it does not surprise me that on this machine I get a number 2 after the block devices' links as this is a clone of a clone (bit more fine tuned than the original clone). the program clonezilla live works very easy, I always choose to save or restore client partitions, never a whole disk. it takes care of grub as well. hope that answers your question 'how I make my clones?' because there is not much to explain about it, mostly I just keep hitting the 'enter' key until it asks where to read/write the clone from/to and which partition needs cloning. it automatically sees what file system you want to clone and that determines which program it will use for cloning (ntfs clone, partimage or dd if I am not mistaking)

What makes you think ln has made a block device in that case (check with ls -l)?

I figure there is a way to get the clones to behave. I know some people who do this routinely - so I'm asking them.

Strictly speaking - seeing a new dvd drive should get it called /dev/scd1 and leave the link alone ...so there is more to it. Stand by.

get the clones to behave, I like that!

I am not near the machine now, but how I found out it makes a 'block device' and not a 'block device link' is because I had the /dev/ directory open in Kubuntu's default file browser Dolphin.
In there I can see the icons for ./cdrom2; ./cdrw2; ./dvd2; ./dvdrw2 they all have an overlay arrow at their bottom left, which indicates (as far as I think) a link or shortcut, in this case I would call it a link.
after issuing command 'sudo ln /dev/scd0 /dev/dvd' a similar icon appears but without the overlay arrow. when I alternate click on it and choose properties, I can see differences between this one and the ones with the arrows. also when I just hover the mouse over the icons and watch what text appears in the status bar there the word 'link' is missing on the new icon.

I am standing by, there is no hurry on this side. I am learning from you, that's more than just getting this machine to work properly. Had a look at your site too and saw some interesting topics there.

Right - my experts concur with my ideas - the clone can tell that it is in a new computer. The utility responsible for naming stuff is udev

The pause above was also what paused me - I have no rules for changing links like that in mine either.

I also asked if there was perhaps a more linux-appropriate way to achieve the same ends as cloning (since that is really a windows-world solution: copy the whole drive - windows is too dumb to tell the difference) and got the following advise:

... this by making use of contacts via the NZ Linux Users Group.

I have been thinking about finding the local LUG but haven't actively been looking for one yet, I should though.
I have installed the package fai-doc and I will be reading this through in the next couple of days.

I will delete the '/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-cd.rules' file and see what happens and will do the same for the '/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules' file because there is some change in network device naming as well on the clone (eth0 -> eth1) while if one would do a clean install on the same box the ethernet device would be named 'eth0'.

Hmm, removing those two files seemed to have fixed the dvd issue and the eth1 is now eth0. all the block device links have lost their number 2 at the end of their names and are now called: /dev/dvd and /dev/cdrw and so on, which is what I wanted to get dvd playback to work properly.

Thanks very much Simon, for your ongoing effort in helping me fix this problem.

If there is a way to mark this thread as SOLVED, that would be appropriate now. Except along the way we've come to conclude that it is not really dvdcss related but to a cloning issue.

thanks again Simon for nailing it!
I'd still be in the dark about it otherwise.
Ron.

It may be possible to go back and edit the initial title. Or notify a moderator.

A characteristic of community-based support is that you'll get help beyond what you asked for. You had DVD working ages ago - but the solution just left a future problem lurking. A MSCE mould have taken your money and looked forward to your future business

As it happens - I have a laptop which is (was) difficult to configure. I'd been distributing clones of my setup ... so this issue concerned me anyway.

It also means you have ow had a good experience of gnu/linux where you'd otherwise have had a recurring annoyance.

It has been a little hard in the beginning but nowadays my experiences with Linux are great. I am a Linux user since SimplyMepis 3.x, only went back to windows to do some tasks I had not quiet mastered under linux. Back then I made the decision and stuck with it and have been able to pass this virus (it completely eradicates windows not only off your hard drive but also your mind) on a few others. I do not see this sort of thing as a reason to give up on it. If we could not resolve it here I would have been forced to use my regular routine for setting up a system, which is a certain way to get things to work but also a longer way. What I am thinking of doing now for future clones is to remove those two files from the to be cloned machine and then reboot straight into clonezilla and make my clone the way I always did. If those two files will be re-created on boot then I think they will be absent in the clone image and created the first time the clone boots.

I try to do my part here as well, but I find most problems here are out of my league. There is one thread in particular where I think I can be a great help to the OP but the thread seems to be getting out of hand, the OP is new to linux and has the potention to stay but I have the feeling she gets too much information fired upon her and doesn't know what to do with it, which in the end can backfire and she may choose to go back to windows.