The following tutorial is based on the RedHat Linux 6.x distributions. The same tips below may or may not work for Suse, Debian, Stampede, etc... Typically installing an IDE CDRW is much easier than people think. Some folks incorrectly assume that they'll need to recompile the kernel in order to accomplish such a feat, but the reality is that installing your new hardware is fairly straightforward, just follow my simple list and you should be all set.

The first thing you should do is install your hardware, making note of the IDE controller you attached it to. This will affect how Linux "sees" your device. So if you attached your CDRW to the primary IDE port as the slave device, Linux will assign your device to /dev/hdb. Similarly, if you connected it to the secondary IDE controller as the master device, Linux will assign your CDRW to /dev/hdc. You can see what device your CDRW has been assigned by issueing the dmesg|grep CD command from a console.

After you are certain that your hardware is installed properly, and is seen by Linux, you need to make a few simple changes to some configuration files. The first thing you need to do is add the following to the bottom of your /etc/rc.d/rc.local file:

/sbin/modprobe ide-scsi

This command installs the SCSI commands over the IDE interface module that is required for your CDRW to work with the cdrecord program.

The next thing that you may need to do is to add the following command to your /etc/lilo.conf file:

append="hdc=ide-scsi"

Make sure that your subsitute hdc with the actual device that your CDRW is assigned. Here, you can see a part of my lilo.conf with the appropriate changes made:

label = linux

append = "hdc=ide-scsi"

root = /dev/hda1

After you make the changes to /etc/lilo.conf make sure you DON'T FORGET to type lilo and press enter at the console to save your changes to the /etc/lilo.conf file. Be very careful when you make changes to /etc/lilo.conf, as any problems with the file may prevent your linux machine from booting properly, or at all. Consider yourself warned!

After you make the above changes, you can reboot your system. Once you are logged back in, type cdrecord -scanbus at the console and hit enter. You should see your CDRW listed as a device in the output.That's all there is to hooking up your CDRW to Linux. Enjoy.