External DVD - suggestions

I'm thinking about getting an external dvd rw to work with the Aspire One - any suggestions/pitfalls I should be aware of?

 

are you going for a bus powered drive or are you going to use one that requires a power adapter?
Note that the bus powered drives are very small too, they are about the same size as a laptop optical (that is what they are inside).
I have one and love it. I don't even notice it in the bag. I bought the enclosure on ebay for $10, and a drive for around $60 CAN. Yes, it is slower writes at 8x but that's fine with me.

 

I just bought an LG model GSA-E50L for my AA1 from NewEgg.com. It's a little pricey but comes with several software items. It's also USB powered but be sure to use both supplied cables, power/data and power. XP recognized the unit and installed the drivers. The enclosed CD contains applications. I'm satisfied with mine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... =lg%20e50l

 

Thanks for replies - I'm tracking two on Ebay - 1) is a HP1040E Lightscribe and 2) is a LITEON 20X. Both are quite chunky and would only be for home use. They are powered so would not take power from USB. As everything else about Linux seems to be different to Windows I just wondered if I would encounter any problems with the Aspire recognising the device.

 

If you have spare optical drives laying around like many of us do and are looking for and external drive for home use, this may be an option for some. Not very portable but can accommodate a 5.25 optical drive.

http://cgi.ebay.com/External-CD-or-DVD- ... 240%3A1318

 

What do you think about big existing topic: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5792&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=external+DVD

 

Interesting, I think my search for advice must have been faulty as I did not find that thread. Anyway, I am still concerned about buying a dvd and finding that Linux will not recognise the device. The Liteon seems like a good enough external dvd, its just that nagging doubt that it will not work.

 

I use a Liteon DX 20A4H and it works fine with all the versions of Linux I have tried.

 

Thanks for that info - just what I wanted to know.

 

I have just cobbled together a DVD reader using a 3.5" external hard disk bay (IDE with its own power supply) and a Liteon internal DVD recorder and it works perfectly in "read" mode. It will play films and run the rescue CD and read +/-R Ds. The only thing that had me stumped was that you have to eject a CD using the menu software eject - the button won't do it. Oh, and the 5.25" drive is a very poor fit in the 3.5" enclosure! But it works with my Linpus AA1.

 

I bought Pioneer CD/DVD R/WRthat runs on external power, and it worked out of the box. I took the chance after being told that a) Peripherals that work with Windows XP shoud work with Linux, and b) Pioneer CD/DVD drives work well with Linux systems.

They also had a smaller USB-powered one, but I wasn't sure if that would even work.

JMHO, but what these companies ought to do is if the stuff works with Mac or *nix, they should say so on the box, since they miss out on a lot of geeks-to-be by not doing so.