Using extrn DVD writer HP-300e (USB/firewire) with 4.9 or 5.1?

[Hari Bhaskaran]

Hi,

I am trying to use an hp 300e external dvd writer from FreeBSD.
The links I found so far suggest this isn't possible
or available yet. But those pages were old (Sep 2002?). Has anything
changed recently?

The drive supports both USB as well as firewire - any option
(however slow) is ok for me. The drive supports DVD+R and DVD+RW
media. How is the support in 4.9 vs 5.1? I would like to stick to
4.9 if it is possible.

Any help is appreciated.

--
Hari Bhaskaran