Mailing the story:
Triggering software events from hardware changes with HAL and Ivman
Traditionally on a Unix-like system like GNU/Linux you must mount a device such as a CD-ROM before being able to use it. This is one of the biggest complaints from newcomers, especially Windows refugees. The latest versions of the GNOME and KDE desktop environments offer automounting functionality, and some distributions (such as Ubuntu and its derivatives) have it enabled by default. If you choose not to use any of these environments, here's an alternative solution.