> use Xroast for burning CD's the program would not recognize the DVD rom
> as a read device.  
<snip>
> i can access it to get files off of a CD but i cannot use it to play
> music. or DVD's .


Xcdroast will only recognize scsi devices.  You must create scsi emulation 
for you dvd device.  Please check www.yolinux for the cdrw howto's.  As to 
your lack of audio, there has been a lot of discussion on the Mandrake list 
concerning this exact problem.  I have discovered using an ide cdrw device 
with scsi emulation along with devfs will cause my ide dvd drive to not 
recognize any audio cd's.  I'm not sure if your using devfs, but this is a 
confirmed and repeatable problem and could be the cause.  My 2 cents...