a while back i posted here about dvd playback in linux, and most said that it really sucked. but being a moron, i got a dvd drive anyway, and i'm pleased to report that it works just fine. like, there is none of that constant skipping stuff that someone was talking about. when i play a dvd in xine it skips occaisionally, like at the new chapters, but if i play it in mplayer it doesn't skip at all. just so you know, its safe to buy a dvd drive for use in a linux machine; it seems to work fine.