This section lists the CD-ROM drivers and interfaces that are currently supported under Linux. The information here is based on the latest Linux kernel, which at time of writing was version 1.1.69.
SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) is a popular format for CD-ROM drives. Its chief advantages are a reasonably fast transfer rate, multi-device capability, and support on a variety of computer platforms.
Any SCSI CD-ROM drive with a block size of 512 or 2048 bytes should work under Linux; this includes the vast majority of CD-ROM drives on the market.
You will also need a supported SCSI controller card; see the SCSI HOWTO for more information on interface hardware.
Note that some CD-ROMs include a controller with a modified interface that is not fully SCSI compatible (e.g. it may not support adding other SCSI devices on the bus).
Several CD-ROM drives using proprietary interfaces are available; the interface is often provided on a sound card. Simple interface cards equivalent to that provided on the sound card are also available. These drives generally tend to be lower in cost and smaller than SCSI drives.
The following proprietary CD-ROM drives are supported by the Linux kernel (drives listed together are compatible):
The following sound card interfaces are supported:
The following interface cards are also supported:
IBM sells an external CD-ROM drive and interface card that is compatible with the Panasonic CR-562 driver.
Only the older Aztech drives compatible with the Matsushita/Panasonic driver. There is an ALPHA driver available separately for the CD268A drive. You can find it at ftp.gwdg.de in the directory pub/linux/cdrom/drivers/aztech.
Drivers for some additional devices are in development and may be available as kernel patches. They can most likely be found on sunsite.unc.edu in the directory /pub/Linux/kernel/patches/cdrom. Check the Linux Software Map for availability.
CD-ROM drives based on a modified version the IDE hard disk (ATAPI) standard have recently been introduced. One such drive is the NEC CDR-260. An alpha release of a Linux kernel driver for IDE hard disks and CD-ROM drives is available on sunsite.unc.edu. It works with the NEC CDR-260 and possibly others.
Note that the proprietary interfaces are sometimes erroneously referred to as IDE interfaces, because like IDE, they use a simple interface based on the PC/AT bus.
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