Help on Mandrake Linux

[wiin]

I have Mandrake Linux installed on an old pc. I get a "no access to this device" message when I try to use the cd player and dvd player. How do i go about giving myself access to these devices? Linux newb here so please be gentle. TIA

 

[cleverhandle]

Are you certain the device referred to is the CD/DVD? Seems more likely to be the sound card - it's been a long time since Linux had problems with CD players. Can you browse the contents of a regular data CD?

 

[Crusty]

post your

/etc/fstab file

 

[n0cmonkey]

How do you encounter this error exactly? How are permissions?

Look for an "audio" or "sound" group, and add yourself to it.

 

[wiin]

Thanks for the replies guys. I ditched Mandrake because of this. Installed Ubuntu but Ubuntu could not mount the cd-player so ditched that too. Installed RedHat. Installation went without a hicup. Problem though is that I cannot access the net. I filled out the info requested in Network Configuration but no luck. I find this weird because all I had to do in Mandrake was put in the gateway address and I was on the net in no time. Does this mean that Mandrake is a better linux?

 

[drag]

Most of the time when it comes to mounting cdroms or mounting issues is that your default user just needs to belong to a certain group.

Like a 'audio' group, or a 'cdrom' group. Linux-based operating systerms were designed from the ground up to be multiuser. So if you have users accessing the computer thru ssh or telnet over the internet, and you have a few hundred to deal with.. then it may not be a good idea to let them all use the cdrom drive.

So the OS usually has default groups that it assigns to certain aspects. Like access to the cdrom and such. It's a different mentality from windows... your kinda expected to figure this stuff out yourself rather then have everything be open by default and possibly cause a security risk...

With Mandrake and Ubuntu and such you have forums you can go and get help.. these groups permissions and other small problems tend to be very distro specific and you'd probably get the most accurate help by visiting their respective forums or irc channels.

Also if you go to places like what I have in my 'sig' with those guides it will help you understand what is going on much better and allow you to 'get under the hood'. Most Linux distros require a bit of tweaking to get it to work exactly how you want them to. It's one of those things that people point out when they talk about how 'linux is not ready for the desktop' type things. Doesn't bother me much personally, though. Once it works it works.