OK, I'm right behind you, I have just installed it, but was just trying to figure out what the man page(s) are called, looking for instructions.
I have my formatted CD-RW here, and will be experimenting until I hopefully get it to mount RW.
Unfortunately I don't have a writeable DVD unit, however if I get the CD to mount writeable, I will definitely let you know what I did, and hopefully the same principle will apply to your DVD unit.
Have you followed all the instructions on that Ubuntu page?

Yeah I just went down the line and did everything it said, changing /dev/hd* to /dev/hda.

OK, I am thinking the installation is a bit different on my system. I don't have the /etc/udftools file, or the /etc/init.d/udftools executable script, or the /dev/pcktcdvd/0 device. I think I have my work cut out..

I didn't have any of the udftools either; I had to just google & download them

ok ,hold it now.. did you not download the udftools.tar.gz package?
I did, and I configured and installed it.. Thing is, trying to follow the instructions on that website, it just doesn't jive with my system setup. I have the tools now, compiled and installed in /usr/local/bin/ and they work.. But I don't have the script they are referencing, nor the /etc/udftools config file.. I think I found the /dev/pktcdvd/0 device, but I havent figured out how to use any of this
Heheheh, perhaps between the 2 of us we'll figure this out eventually. Atleast you are using Ubuntu lucky you! The instruction are for Ubuntu :P
And the man pages.. well, they could sure use some filling-in.. Not much to go on.

http://www.g-loaded.eu/2005/11/10/pa...d-dvdrw-media/

This appears to be a far more indepth info page about packet-reading and writing.

After reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univers...format_is_used

I'm going to try

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index...95&atid=300295

To apply the patch copy the file
'UDF_2.50-linux-2.6.16.patch' to
the directory where the kernel source resides, e.g.
"/usr/src/linux", and issue:
patch -p1 < UDF_2.50-linux-2.6.16.patch.
The patching should happen without any warning.
Recompile the kernel/modules.

I can do everything except the last bit I think. How do you "recompile the kernel/modules?"

And how do you find out what version of the Linux kernel you have?

To recompile the kernel modules, you would do 'make modules' and then 'make modules_install' from within the kernel source directory.
But hang on here, I thought you are using the 2.4 kernel?? That patch there is for the 2.6 kernel.
in a console, type 'uname -r' and it will tell you what your kernel is.
You need to have handy the kernel source code, which likely came with your distribution, and the .config file which is the config for your current running kernel. It should all be in the kernel source directory.
Depending on how the kernel was compiled, you can look in the /proc directory for a file called config.gz or kernel.gz. that is a gzipped .config file matching the running kernel, incase you can't find the un-zipped file in the source directory.
Note that filenames beginning with a period are hidden by default. The konqueror view menu has a setting for 'show hidden files' if you need it.
EDIT: OK, I think I was just at the page where you got the patch, and if so, it IS ok for 2.4 kernels.

Where is the kernel source directory?

And is there a place to find out how all this works? Like the fundamental bits of linux and how it all works together? I have a pretty good idea about windows (like, where the driver files / APIs / DLLs are stored, where user data is, where applications and application data is kept, the order of startup and how that's stored, etc) but I don't know where to look for things in Linux.

Also it would be really cool to understand what make is doing (like... make should compile something, right? so what's the difference between make modules and make modules_install, and how does it recompile itself while it's running? Wouldn't some important system files be locked?)

Hiya!
OK, indeed there are loads of tutorials both here on LQ, and on the net. Once you find and read a few, you will see consistencies, and gain the basic idea of what's involved in compiling a kernel.
(I'm not one of those people with a seemingly endless supply of links to useful pages to paste into my posts, so I apologize for not supplying some links here )
To answer your questions briefly and concisely (I had much the same questions when I got into this):
Where is the kernel source directory?
Almost always at /usr/src/<kernel-release> or /usr/src/source/<kernel-release>.
By default, there is often a symlink (symbolic link) at /usr/src/linux which will point to the actual source for the kernel.
HOWEVER: when it comes to building your own kernel, you can put the source folder pretty much wherever you like, and work inside it to make your kernel.
If your Ubuntu has installed the kernel source code when you installed, that's whare it should be. However, if perchance you do not have the source-code for your running kernel installed, it should be either on the install CD or you can download it (or another kernel version of your choosing) from several places. It will typically be an archive of 40 or 50 MB which will unpack to something like 200 MB.
Where to look for stuff: I'm going from memory, but you can find lots of basic tutorials on the Linux Filesystem Structure/heirarchy. /etc holds system config stuff, config files for various system programs. /bin holds binary programs used by the system or by root user. /sbin holds system binaries ewquired to get the system running, like when you boot it up. /Var contains stuff that can change, like logs, packages, etc.. /proc contains info generated by the kernel about the running system, like hardware info, kernel configuration data,etc./usr tends to be where user-space applications get installed. /lib contains libraries (comparable to dll's I guess)
Browse for pages on 'Linux filesystem heirarchy' for further details.
What does Make do?: In brief, 'Make' is a binary program, kept in /bin or /usr/bin. It takes the instructions in a 'Makefile' and, using a compiler (like the gnu gcc compiler), it creates compiled binary programs, so you're right on there: 'Make' compiles stuff, indirectly.
Make modules: tells GCC compiler to compile the kernel modules, as defined in the kernel .config file.
Make Modules_install: puts the kernel modules into (an) the appropriately named lib/modules/<kernel-name> folder.
How does it compile while running? Well, the kernel you are running, is indeed 'running' in memory. The one you are 'making' is another one. You can make as many as you like, and have 'em lying everywhere, but until you actually 'install one' and set the boot-loader up to boot one of your new kernels, the running one keeps running, and booting next time.
After making a new kernel, you typically put the finalized kernel, or 'image' as it is called, into the /boot directory. Then you must configure LILO or GRUB, your bootloader, adn tell it where to find this new image you made, and how to boot it..
Are some system files locked? Yes, some things are 'locked' to prevent regular users from messing with them. For example, you can typically 'make' something, for example a binary like a kernel, without root priveleges (providing the GCC compiler is executable by users) but when it comes to INSTALLING into system folders (root-owned folders) you need to use 'su' to gain root priveleges to complete the install.

Always remember: Google is your friend, when it comes to finding out stuff about Linux.
There are probably millions of sites dedicated to every single aspect of linux, from kernel compiling, a homepage for every distribution out there, there's kernel.org, there's the Slackware main site (again sorry, I don't have the exact link handy), there's sourceforge.net...
Just search for what you want to know.. And search LQ
OH, and check your system for a folder like /var/docs or <something>/docs, chances are there's a documentation section with a bunch of general stuff in it, like help files and tutorials.
Also, remember the man pages and info pages.
Type 'man make' for the manual on 'Make'
or
'info Make' for a (possibly different) help file on make. Virtually everything installed has man pages.

Grapefruit - thanks a lot for that explanation! Especially the last bit! I had no idea that it was so flexible as to which kernel would load and stuff. Would switching from one kernel to another not screw up a million other things, like program startup and drivers etc?

So if in usr/src all I have are some directories like "linux-headers-2.6.17-10 generic" I need to copy the source off my linux disk?