xine won't play dvd

[rebooter04]

I have a HD installation of Knoppix 3.7 and did apt-get of libdvdcss2 ..... here is xine comments when run from command line

rob@box:~$ xine
This is xine (X11 gui) - a free video player v0.99.1.
(c) 2000-2003 The xine Team.
libdvdnav: Using dvdnav version 1-rc7 from http://xine.sf.net
libdvdread: Using libdvdcss version 1.2.8 for DVD access
libdvdread: Could not open /dev/dvd with libdvdcss.
libdvdread: Can't open /dev/dvd for reading
libdvdnav: vm: faild to open/read the DVD
libdvdnav: Using dvdnav version 1-rc7 from http://xine.sf.net
libdvdread: Using libdvdcss version 1.2.8 for DVD access
libdvdread: Could not open /dev/dvd with libdvdcss.
libdvdread: Can't open /dev/dvd for reading
libdvdnav: vm: faild to open/read the DVD

my player is on /dev/hdb

input tab in XINE under device used for CD audio reads /dev/cdrom1

Thank you

[Cuddles]

Here are a few things to check / look at:

root@neo:~#
root@neo:~# ls -la /dev/dvd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Apr 10 10:53 /dev/dvd -> /dev/hdb
root@neo:~# ls -la /dev/cdrom*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Apr 10 10:53 /dev/cdrom -> /dev/hdb
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Apr 10 10:53 /dev/cdrom1 -> /dev/hdd
root@neo:~# ls -la /dev/cdaudio*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Apr 10 10:53 /dev/cdaudio -> /dev/cdrom
root@neo:~# cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem mountpoint type options dump pass
...
...
/dev/fd0 /floppy vfat defaults,user,noauto,showexec,umask=022 0 0
/dvd /dvd supermount fs=auto,dev=/dev/dvd 0 0
/cdrom /cdrom supermount fs=auto,dev=/dev/cdrom 0 0
/cdaudio /cdaudio supermount fs=auto,dev=/dev/cdaudio 0 0
/cdrom1 /cdrom1 supermount fs=auto,dev=/dev/cdrom1 0 0
/cdaudio1 /cdaudio1 supermount fs=auto,dev=/dev/cdaudio1 0 0
#
...
...
root@neo:~#

My DVD player is on /dev/hdb, and a CD-RW is on /dev/hdd - as far as what you said, in your post, the DVD settings should be the same, as yours are...

Take note of my symlink for /dev/dvd - it points to /dev/hdb, and my symlink for /dev/cdrom points to /dev/hdb - not cdrom1

Take a look at what you have as symlinks, this could be as simple as changing your Xine settings to use /dev/cdrom instead of cdrom1 -=- If you are using the autofs instead of supermount -=- which is what I am using, your fstab file will be "slightly" different from mine.

If you are using the autofs, your fstab file, using my example fstab file above, could look like this:

root@neo:~# cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: filesystem table.
#
# filesystem mountpoint type options dump pass
...
...
/dev/fd0 /floppy vfat defaults,user,noauto,showexec,umask=022 0 0
/dev/dvd /dvd iso9660 ... 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 ... 0 0
/dev/cdaudio /cdaudio iso9660 ... 0 0
/dev/cdrom1 /cdrom1 iso9660 ... 0 0
/dev/cdaudio1 /cdaudio1 iso9660 ... 0 0
#
...
...
root@neo:~#

I havent worked with the autofs for some time, so dont quote me on the above, its not so much what you have in your fstab file, just that you have entries for your dvd, cdrom, etc. I would be more interested in what those symlinks point to.

Chances are, if I was going to guess, your /dev/dvd symlink is pointing to an incorrect device, and / or, you should be using /dev/cdrom instead of /dev/cdrom1

If you are sure that your DVD device is on hdb, then ensure that all the devices that Xine is using, are using symlinks that point to your hdb device. Taking a look at your symlinks for /dev/dvd, /dev/cdrom, and /dev/cdrom1 will give you a good idea of what devices you should be using. Nested symlinks are fine, as long as they dont get too complicated, a maximum of one or two nested, is about the maximum. i.e. cdrom --> dvd, dvd --> hdb, if this was too complicated, it might look like this: cdrom --> device0, device0 --> hub0A, hub0A --> isa0B, isa0B --> hdb ( note that THIS is nested 4 times, and could easily be set up with ONE symlink, cdrom --> hdb )

If you are using SCSI emulation, you may have a "slight" difference in your symlinks: /dev/cdrom --> scd0 and scd0 --> hdb -=- this is fine.

As you are investigating your symlinks, make sure they dont ( 1 ) point to themselves (infinite loop), and ( 2 ) they point to the correct devices...

an example of ( 1 ) would be like this:
/dev/cdrom --> /dev/cdrom
/dev/cdrom --> /dev/dvd
/dev/dvd --> /dev/cdrom

an example of ( 2 ): ( given that your dvd is on hdb and a cdrom is on hdd )
/dev/dvd --> hdd
/dev/cdrom --> ( either /dev/dvd or hdd )

Devices are allocated, and set up, as they are encountered on the ISA bus, hda, hdb, hdc, hdd, etc... So, if you have, in my above example, a dvd device on hdb, and a cdrom on hdd, then, you will have ONE /dvd device, and TWO /cdrom devices. /dev/dvd will be the dvd device, and to designate the differences of the two cdrom devices, since the /dvd can also be a cdrom device, you will have the following /cdrom devices; /cdrom will point to the hdb, and a cdrom1 will point to the hdd device.

I am not trying to "deludge" you with too much, I just want you to be able to diagnosis this with as much information as I can think of, as well as, give you a little background on the whole "device" thing / set up...

Hope this helps,
Ms. Cuddles
-=- Sometimes, when saving the "known" Universe from evil attacking spawn, you gotta take a bathroom break -=-

[rebooter04]

Many thanks for this wonderful advice. I printed it out studied it and learned from it. I even fixed my problem! My /dev/dvd pointed to /dev/cdrom and it should point to /dev/cdrom1. After a quick look at 'man ln' I wasn't sure how to delete the inncorect symlink so I googled it and learned that I just remove it like any other file so I "rm /dev/dvd" and then was able to correct it with " ln -s /dev/cdrom1 /dev/dvd". I had a little trouble remaking the correct link until I realized the target comes BEFORE the link. I am now watching The Hunter with Binicio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones.

Thanks again Ms. Cuddles

[Cuddles]

rebooter04,

Dont think the whole "backwards" ln thing is done by just newbies, I get hit with that everytime. DOH!

As for your links, you dont have to go through the cdrom link, you can set it up to go directly to the hd, if you want... i.e. /dev/cdrom --> hdX

As for the removal of "bad" links, you can even "overwrite" them, and not have to remove, or delete them first, take a look at the -f option of ln... it will "force" the link, even if one already exists...

i.e. ln -sf ...

if a "previous" link is set up, the above "f" in the ln command will, delete the previous link, and then create the one you are asking.

Glad to see you got it working :D
Ms. Cuddles