cannot write to dvd 13.04

[rfell]

Having just installed kubuntu 13.04 I find the only hiccup is that I cannot write to my dvd using either k3b or brasero. When trying to write to the dvd disk, neither of the two aforementioned programs recognize the fact that there is a blank, writeable dvd in the drive. However, I can play a dvd that has, for instance, a video recorded on it. So, the dvd drive does work.

I have searched the forums for a similar problem, perhaps not with enough effort, and have found nothing of value. If anyone has a suggestion or two, then I would be most grateful.

Thanks,
Dick Fell

[oshunluvr]

Have you run the K3B config to make sure you have everything installed and configured properly? Sounds like a needed package or two might be missing.

[oshunluvr]

Like this one?

http://packages.ubuntu.com/raring/dvd+rw-tools

[rfell]

Thank you very much for the quick replies. Following the suggestion above about configuratioin, the k3b config tool tells me that it, k3b, does not have write permission for the system device /dev/sr0. Here is a list of the permissions for the sr0 devices:

rfell@laver:/dev$ ls -l | grep sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jun 12 16:04 cdrom -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jun 12 16:04 dvd -> sr0
brw-rw-rw-+ 1 root cdrom 11, 0 Jun 12 16:04 sr0
rfell@laver:/dev$

But it seems from the above that everyone has write permission. Not knowing what I am fully doing, it is best I ask for further device.

Again, thanks for the much needed help.

[oshunluvr]

I agree that looks normal.

In K3B, go to Settings> Programs> Permissions (I think - I'm posting from memory as I'm not on my Linux machine at the moment - anyway, somewhere like that) and look at the permissions there. Also, there's a "Use burning group" option which I believe is off.

I'll look at my own later tonight and see what's different.

[bweinel]

I had a similar issue a few weeks back with k3b and found that what passes for mkisofs in kubuntu (genisoimage) was not running certain processes as root causing this issue. In the current kubuntu release mkisofs->genisoimage and cdrecord->wodim.

After much reading on the subject, I decided to download, compile, and replace genisoimage and wodim with the original cdrtools software (mkisofs and cdrecord) from Jorg Schilling. I haven't had any DVD burning issues since. If you'd care to read up on the issues, you can check out http://cdrecord.berlios.de/private/linux-dist.html for details of the differences between what currently passes for cdrtools in debian distributions and the real stuff. The latest version of cdrtools is available from Jorg Schillings site at http://cdrecord.berlios.de/private/cdrecord.html.

YMMV but it worked for me...

cheers,
bill

[oshunluvr]

Here's one difference from your setup to mine:

stuart@office:~$ ls -l /dev |grep sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root             3 Jun 11 17:19 cdrom -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root             3 Jun 11 17:19 cdrw -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root             3 Jun 11 17:19 dvd -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root             3 Jun 11 17:19 dvdrw -> sr0
brw-rw----+ 1 root cdrom      11,   0 Jun 11 17:19 sr0

[rfell]

Thanks to all that have responded. Adding sybmolic links as suggested by oshunluvr unfortuantely did not help matters. The suggestion to replace genisoimage and wodim perhaps is the way to go but a further question - if I were still try to use a gui interface such as k3b or brasero how would they know that mkisofs and cdrecord should now be used - perhaps a symbolic link such as /usr/bin/genisoimage -> /usr/bin/mkisofs, etc (I think I have the syntax correct).

Many thanks,
Dick

[bweinel]

If you check /usr/bin/mkisofs you'll see it is currently a symlink to genisoimage. Also /usr/bin/cdrecord is a symlink to wodim. If you decide to replace them with the original files from cdrtools, you can either make new symlinks to the location of the actual executable files, or replace the symlinks in /usr/bin with the executable files. I have done it both ways, however I prefered using symlinks to the image files generated by the 'make install' script (which puts the executables in /opt/schily/bin.) k3b references mkisofs and cdrecord so it seems to be happy either way.

cheers,
bill

[rfell]

Bill -
Many thanks for your advice which I have followed. Unfortunately, k3b and brasero still will not recognize the device. I shall persevere.

Dick

[bweinel]

Hi Dick,

You might give the following a look to check that your hardware has shown up and has the correct mapping. Here's a look at mine:

bweinel@excalibur:~$ sudo lshw -class disk
  *-cdrom                 
       description: DVD writer
       product: DVDRW SOHW-1653S
       vendor: LITE-ON
       physical id: 0.0.0
       bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
       logical name: /dev/cdrom
       logical name: /dev/cdrw
       logical name: /dev/dvd
       logical name: /dev/dvdrw
       logical name: /dev/sr0
       version: CS0T
       capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r
       configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
  *-disk
       description: ATA Disk
       product: ST31500341AS
       vendor: Seagate
       physical id: 0.0.0
       bus info: scsi@2:0.0.0
       logical name: /dev/sda
       version: CC1H
       serial: 9VS1YD5Q
       size: 1397GiB (1500GB)
       capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
       configuration: ansiversion=5 sectorsize=512 signature=0008fcb2

From there you should be able to verify that the system sees your drive. As oshunluvr also said earlier, check your /dev directory for the correct mapping to the device and permissions. Here's how mine looks:

bweinel@excalibur:~$ ls -l /dev |grep sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root           3 Jun 17 09:39 cdrom -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root           3 Jun 17 09:39 cdrw -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root           3 Jun 17 09:39 dvd -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root           3 Jun 17 09:39 dvdrw -> sr0
brw-rw----+ 1 root cdrom    11,   0 Jun 17 09:39 sr0

cheers,
bill

[rfell]

Bill -
Thank you very much for your help and patience. The output for your cdrom explains the difficulty I am having. My dvd is not writeable, only readable, the output for my system being
*-cdrom
description: DVD reader
product: DVD-ROM DH-16D6S
vendor: PLDS
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom
logical name: /dev/cdrw
logical name: /dev/dvd
logical name: /dev/dvdrw
logical name: /dev/sr0
version: BD11
capabilities: removable audio dvd
configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc

I apologize for taking up your time with what turns out to be an inane question. On the bright side, humility is one of the virtues and I now get to practice it.

Dick

[bweinel]

Hey... no problem Dick. That's what we're all here for... The only truly silly question is the one you didn't think to ask.

cheers,
bill

[PJJ]

Here's one difference from your setup to mine:

stuart@office:~$ ls -l /dev |grep sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root             3 Jun 11 17:19 cdrom -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root             3 Jun 11 17:19 cdrw -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root             3 Jun 11 17:19 dvd -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root             3 Jun 11 17:19 dvdrw -> sr0
brw-rw----+ 1 root cdrom      11,   0 Jun 11 17:19 sr0

Mine looks like this:
peter@pjj:~$ ls -l /dev |grep sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jun 24 10:41 cdrom2 -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jun 24 10:41 cdrw2 -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jun 24 10:41 dvd2 -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 Jun 24 10:41 dvdrw2 -> sr0
brw-rw----+ 1 root cdrom 11, 0 Jun 24 10:41 sr0

And I have all files listed as necessary for kb3 to run properly. But it looks like I also have the bad fork:
cdrecord -version
Cdrecord-yelling-line-to-tell-frontends-to-use-it-like-version 2.01.01a03-dvd
Wodim 1.1.11
Copyright (C) 2006 Cdrkit suite contributors
Based on works from Joerg Schilling, Copyright (C) 1995-2006, J. Schilling

After all my bad experiences with compiling anything I am reluctant to do some more of it just to get kb3 to work.

Is there any work-around that does not involve this method:

http://cdrecord.berlios.de/private/cdrecord.html

If yes, I would like to know, please.