Ok, the third problem was easy: kpdf was just looking for the cups server in a very strange place. Namely in /var/run/cups/something.
Setting it back to localhost:631 was all to be done. I don't know how this change came, a recent update maybe???

For the first point, this is less trivial. I have the following devices

/dev/cdrw
/dev/scd0
/dev/sg1

they all point to the cdrom slot. Then there is

/dev/sg0

this is the harddisc and there I have no permissions as normal user. But as a member of cdrom which I am, I have writing and reading permissions for all the three above (/dev/cdrw is only a link to /dev/scd0 Now as far as I can see, k3b recognizes the right devices (i.e. /dev/scd0, /dev/sg1) but if I try to burn a CD I get the error message
cdrecord has no permission to open the device. the log output is the following:

System
-----------------------
K3b Version: 0.12.14
KDE Version: 3.5.2
QT Version: 3.3.6
Kernel: 2.6.15-23-386
Devices
-----------------------

MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-822S 1.61 (/dev/scd0, /dev/sg1) at /media/cdrom0 [CD-R; CD-RW; CD-ROM; DVD-ROM;
DVD-RAM; DVD-R; DVD-RW; DVD+R; DVD+RW] [DVD-ROM; DVD-R Sequential; DVD-RAM; DVD-RW Restricted
Overwrite; DVD-RW Sequential; DVD+RW; DVD+R; CD-ROM; CD-R; CD-RW] [SAO; TAO; Restricted Overwrite]
Used versions
-----------------------
cdrecord: 2.1.1a01

cdrecord
-----------------------
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord: Warning: Running on Linux-2.6.15-23-386
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord: There are unsettled issues with Linux-2.5 and newer.
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord: If you have unexpected problems, please try Linux-2.4 or Solaris.
scsidev: '1,0,0'
scsibus: 1 target: 0 lun: 0
Error trying to open /dev/sg0 exclusively (Permission denied)... retrying in 1 second.
(...)
Error trying to open /dev/sg0 exclusively (Permission denied)... retrying in 1 second.
Cdrecord-Clone 2.01.01a01 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2004 Joerg Schilling
NOTE: this version of cdrecord is an inofficial (modified) release of cdrecord
and thus may have bugs that are not present in the original version.
Please send bug reports and support requests to .
The original author should not be bothered with problems of this version.
TOC Type: 0 = CD-DA
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord: Permission denied. Cannot open '/dev/sg0'. Cannot open SCSI driver.
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord: For possible targets try 'cdrecord -scanbus'. Make sure you are root.
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord: For possible transport specifiers try 'cdrecord dev=help'.
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord:
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord: For more information, install the cdrtools-doc
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord: package and read /usr/share/doc/cdrecord/README.ATAPI.setup .

cdrecord command:
-----------------------
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord.mmap -v gracetime=2 dev=1,0,0 speed=24 -dao -dummy driveropts=burnfree -eject -useinfo -audio -shorttrack /tmp/kde-magdalena/k3b_audio_0_01.wav

It obivousely tries to open the wrong device! There was never ever question of /dev/sg0 in k3bsetup Indeed if I run the cdrecord command in a terminal and replace dev=1,0,0 by dev=/dev/sg1 or whatever device points to my cd driver, everything works perfectly. It even works if I don't specify the device at all because in my /etc/default/cdrecord the default device is set to /dev/cdrw. Hence (hmpf, why is this getting so long...) the problem seems to be somewhere in how Ubuntu deals with these scsi id number thingies. On the other hand the easiest workaround would be to teach k3b not to specify the device at all. Or to simply use cdrecord directly...

And workaround 1 (i.e. telling k3b to use the dev=/dev/cdrw option) goes like this:

k3b > settings > configure k3b > Programs > User Parameters
there type in dev=/dev/cdrw in the line cdrecord

It works!

Ya Majdalina,
saß gerade mit Qatrin und Hannes zusammen und sie haben mich auf Dein Blog aufmerksam gemacht. Morgen soll ich einer Freundin helfen Kubuntu auf ihrem Thinkpad zum Laufen zu kriegen (Probleme mit Fingerprint Reader, CDRW und WLAN) und dann sehe ich dieses Posting!

Vielen Dank für den Workaround zu k3b! Sehr nützlich, weil ich meistens mit Ubuntu (ohne K) arbeite...

It works!!! I mean the k3b fix. Pardon my enthusiasm, I've been using Linux (Ubuntu Edgy) for 2 weeks now, and I'm still amazed at all those kind people willing to spend their time helping people like me in their struggle:-) Vielen Dank!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!1111
Now I can finally burn cds. thank you.

Hi, I tried your workaround and I think it worked so far that cdrecord now can access the drive but I still get another error:

Performing OPC...
/usr/bin/X11/cdrecord: Input/output error. send opc: scsi sendcmd: no error

i would be very happy if you had an idea of what this could be...

I tried the cdrecord command as root with different device names (scd0, cdrw etc.) but it never passes the OPC test

Hi Andreas,
Never had that problem. I did a quick and dirty google search. (probabely didn't find anything you have not seen before). All I could find is that it might be a hardware problem (last entry by mzilhao or here, you could try this -force option they propose there).
On the other hand this is exacly your error message is it? It's a very old posting though. There is no solution just the guy says it happens only if he tries to burn a CD-RW but works fine with a CD-R. Only found other as old postings with the same error message, and normally they hint towards a problem with the media. I might be completely wrong, I am far from being an expert. Sorry can't really.

Milles merci ca marche!
Thousend Dank es funktioniert!
Thanx a lot, it works!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hi Magdalena
The Problem with k3b in Ubuntu 6.10 is solved. Thanks for your fix!
It saved me a lot of time.
Greetings from Brissago and the best whishes for you.
Albert from Brissago CH

Hi
I found another solution for the k3b write problem from a geek. Sounds also as a good solution.

http://technofreakatchennai.wordpress.com/2006/12/28/k3b-how-to-write-cds

Albert

Hi Magdalena,

thanks for your Workaround, it worked for me too.

(Kubuntu 6.10, external USB-Burner)

Greetings from Cologne,

Christian

The problem with K3b CD burning is a bug in cdrecord: https://www.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cdrtools/+bug/23203