I'm new to Linux and I've just installed ML 8.1 on a Dell Latitude LT. I had to do a network install because I was unable to get ML to recognize the external cdrom once I hit enter to install. In other words, the BIOS would boot from the cdrom but I don't think linux could find it when it was time to install. Anyway, I've got Linux on the computer now and I'm wondering is there a way I could get Linux to try and recognize the cdrom now because I don't wanna have to network install packages everytime. The cdrom uses a PC card. I've got a "windows" driver for the drive on floppy disk but I don't know how it can help since it's for a different OS. I greatly appreciate any suggestions anyone might have.

You should be able to get it to work with a little configuration of the system. What type of card is this 'pci' card? Is it a SCSI controller or just some extra USB ports, Parallel etc...? Once you know what type of cdrom it is besides it being an external drive, we can help you configure the system to see it.

Thanks for the reply taz. The card type is PCMCIA type II. I used a 3Com LAN PCMCIA card to get the OS loaded. Linux recognized and installed the drivers for it ok. I've recently noticed that when I switch to the CDROM PC card and have the hardware detected through Hardrake, it gets listed as an unknow device. Here is what is said:

Vender: Unknown
Model: Unknown
Kernel: Unknown
Bus Type: PCMCIA
Informations: This device hasn't been identified by HardDrake, please send '/proc/bus/*' files and this device ID '00322704' to: harddrake@mandrakesoft.com

As far as I know this is the card that comes with the CD-ROM
Thanks again for the reply.

Sorry, I read the original post wrong and should have remembered it was a laptop and a PC card not a pci card. D'oh! LOL My brain doesn't seem to work well these day. Anywho, i'm not surprised that the 3com was found since it's an old, tried and true company. Everyone integrates support for 3com now. What seems to happen is that it knows there is a PCMCIA card inserted but not which one so to speak. Your card should have some type of manufacturer name on it. I'd look for a linux specific driver on their site. You may get lucky looking into the kernel config that would support that specific card or a generic driver that may work.