cdArray

Not a utility you actually run to see (or see running) -- it is run automatically each time the system starts via a call from /etc/rc.d/rc.local.

It is a shell script that looks for new/different CD-ROM devices on your system. If it finds something the script will write an appropriate entry for the device in /etc/fstab, linking a mount point to the system-generated /dev entry. The script also generates an entry for the "My Linux" folder, linking an approriate script to start the device.

The script linked is different, depending upon whether the device is a CD-ROM, a CD-WRITER or a DVD-PLAYER. (The script can tell the difference.) In so doing, new devices automatically show up in your "My Linux" folder after each boot.

The different scripts linked, for the different types of CD-ROMs, enable appropriate actions to be taken for the type of media that is put into them. And, of course, running this little script on each boot means you never have to "install" a CD drive, and your system does not have to run a CD-related deamon all the time to know what is going on. (Part of that simple but lightweight and fast thing . . .)

It's actually easier for me to follow the script than an explanation of how it proceeds, but I will give you a summary below of what happens when you click on one of the links in your "My Linux" folder:


DVD-PLAYER

The DVD-PLAYER script is about as complicated as things get, so if I tell you about this one you can determine the functionality of the rest.

By clicking on the DVD-Player entry in "My Linux", you start the script called (get ready) DVD-Player. This is a simple one to start off with: it tries to play the DVD as if it were a DVD movie, with mplayer. The response from mplayer is very quick (and not seen by the user) if the media in the player is not a DVD movie.

If it is a movie, the movie plays. If not, the script passes the work of openning the DVD to another script, called DVDasCD, which functions identically to the scripts used by CD-ROMs and CD-Writers.

First thing it checks is if the media can be read at all. If there is no CD/DVD detected (or a blank media), then the following dialog will appear:

No Disk Found






If the script DOES detect media in the drive, it moves onto whether the media is already mounted (if it is a data CD). If it is already mounted, you will see the following dialog:

Already Mounted Data Disk