Sending hard reset signals to hardware under Linux (fwd)

[Syrus Nemat-Nasser <syrus@shiba.ucsd.edu>]

Hi folks.

The forwarded question below is from my friend. I don't know the
answer. Can anyone help me out? He's running slink.

Thanks. Syrus.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 13:21:17 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rex Kerr <rk@narya.ucsd.edu>
To: Syrus Nemat-Nasser <syrus@shiba.ucsd.edu>
Subject: Sending hard reset signals to hardware under Linux

Syrus,

Unfortunately, my CDR occasionally crashes when reading burned CD-ROMs
from another CDR.  This is highly annoying as it requires me to power down
the computer.  Any processes performing reads during the crash become
unkillable even with -9.  Is there a way to send a hardware reset (or
simply to kill power) to the drive from within Linux?  Thanks.

  --Rex