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1996-05-26
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Last minute notes on ExtenDOS Pro
---------------------------------
Version: 2.4A
Dated: 26 May 1996
Program versions on this diskette:
CD.BOS 2.4A
CDAUDIO.ACC 2.4
CDAUDIO.PRG 2.4
DISC.RSC 2.4
EXTENDOS.PRG 2.4
EXTINFO.PRG 2.4
INSTALL.APP 2.4
INSTALL.RSC 2.4
UNIDRIVE.DOS 2.4A
UNI_BDDS.DOS 2.4A
Other files on this diskette:
CD_LIST7.ZIP An archive listing over 1000 CD-ROMs you can use
with your Atari
EXTENDOS.CNF Standard configuration file for non-TT systems
EXTENDOS.TT Standard configuration file for TT030 systems
READ.ME This very text file
New features that are not in the manual
---------------------------------------
1. * IMPORTANT *
UNIDRIVE.DOS will now handle most CD-ROMs; you should 'never' need
to use UNI_BDDS.DOS (although it's still provided 'just in case').
If you are upgrading from ExtenDOS, please change any references to
UNI_BDDS.DOS in your existing EXTENDOS.CNF to refer to UNIDRIVE.DOS
instead; you can do this by running the install program (see below)
if you wish.
2. There is now an install/reconfiguration program, INSTALL.APP,
which uses a resource file INSTALL.RSC. We suggest that you use
this instead of the manual install process, since it greatly
simplifies installation and reduces the chance of errors. See
"Using the install program" below for further information.
3. CDaudio has been greatly enhanced; among other features, it now
provides direct-to-disk recording (you can copy audio CD sectors
across the SCSI interface and write them to a hard disk). Please
refer to "Using CDaudio" and "Recording with CDaudio" below for
more details.
4. ExtenDOS Pro is now compatible with the MagxDesk desktop of MagiC4:
installed drives may be accessed via the standard drive icons
which MagxDesk will install automatically.
NOTE: unlike hard disk drives, CD-ROM drives cannot be accessed
from the U: drive of the MagxDesk desktop.
5. ExtenDOS Pro is now compatible with even more third-party software,
including the CDPLAYxx audio CD player and the MIDI_COM networking
desk accessory (CD-ROM drives defined as C: thru P: are visible
across the network).
6. ExtenDOS Pro now reports the volume label on a CD-ROM, where one
exists. Any piece of software (like the MagiC4 desktop) that looks
for a volume label will be able to find one on your CD-ROM.
7. ExtenDOS Pro now allows you to specify a LUN as well as a DMA id
for each drive in CD.BOS: this is to support CD-ROM changers such
as the Pioneer DRM-602X/604X. See "Supporting multiple-LUN
CD-ROM drives" below for how to use this feature.
8. Global options can now be specified to ExtenDOS Pro via the new
*OPT line in EXTENDOS.CNF. Currently allowed values are:
P=Y/N/E
Pause at end of processing: Yes, No, or only if Error
(default is P=E)
B=Y/N
Forces use of intermediate buffer for I/O: Yes or No.
(default is B=N)
D=Y/N
Forces use of system calls e.g. Dgetdrv()/Dsetdrv():
Yes or No (default is F=N)
Examples:
. Never pause at end of processing:
*OPT P=N
. Force use of system Dgetdrv()/Dsetdrv():
*OPT D=Y
. Always pause at end of processing, and force use of system
Dgetdrv()/Dsetdrv():
*OPT P=Y D=Y
The specification of global options is fully supported by a new
'Global options' panel in INSTALL.APP.
9. If you have multiple CD-ROM drives, you can now specify up to eight
drives per *BOS or *DOS line. This will save the memory required
for additional copies of CD.BOS and UNIDRIVE.DOS.
For example, if you have a CD-ROM drive at id=1 and at id=3, you
could use an EXTENDOS.CNF file with the following lines:
*BOS, C:\EXTENDOS\CD.BOS T=20 L=32, V:3 Y:1
*DOS, C:\EXTENDOS\UNIDRIVE.DOS P=20 B=8, P:Y Q:V
Note that the multiple drive definitions are separated by one or
more spaces. Also note that any parameters (such as T= or P=
above) apply to all drives specified on that line. If you need
to specify different parameters for different drives, you can
continue to use one line per drive, as before.
If you use the install program, this is all taken care of for you
(aren't computers wonderful?)
10. An ExtenDOS Pro cookie is now added to the cookie jar; this will
allow programs that use the drivers (e.g. for audio control) to
determine if they are present. The cookie id is 'EPro' (note
upper/lower case mix), and the cookie value is the address of an
internal ExtenDOS Pro table.
11. During initialisation, ExtenDOS Pro now checks for duplicate
physical (BOS) drives and reports an error message if found. It
also does further checking on the data returned by the initial
INQUIRY command to a drive. This will help catch certain host
adapter problems.
12. The following new drives are now supported:
Drive Device id
----- ---------
Apple CD600 70
Chinon 525 53
Chinon 535 rev S 52
Compaq 561 110
MediaVision Reno 90
Nakamichi MBR-7 120
NEC 3Xp+ 20
NEC 4Xe 20
NEC 73/83 24 (single-session photoCD)
Panasonic CR-501 71 (no photoCD)
Pioneer 602x 100
Pioneer 604x rev 2401 101
Pioneer 604x (other revs) 102
Pioneer 124X 102
Plextor 3028 80
Plextor 3024 81
Plextor 4plex 82
Sony 55S 30
Toshiba 3201 12 (no photoCD)
Toshiba 3501 10
Toshiba 3601 10
Toshiba 5201 10
Toshiba 5301 10
Also, single-session photoCD is now supported on the NEC25.
NOTE: The device type for the NEC25 has been changed to 24; if
you have a NEC25 and have been specifying a device type, you must
remove it (preferable) or change it to 24 in order to access
photoCDs.
13. If a drive isn't recognised, but identifies itself as a SCSI-2
device, it is handled in the same way as the most recent SCSI-2
capable drive from the same manufacturer. This should provide the
maximum amount of audioCD _AND_ photoCD support for new drives as
they are introduced.
14. ExtenDOS Pro now allows more time for accesses to a CD-ROM that
involve reading a table-of-contents, such as some photoCD and
audio operations. This provides increased reliability at the
cost of additional time to detect that the device is genuinely
not responding. This may slow down the boot sequence in some
circumstances.
15. The trace program, TRACE.TTP, no longer exists. Its function has
been replaced by EXTINFO.PRG, which is loosely patterned after the
well-known SYSINFO program. EXTINFO.PRG automatically gathers both
system and ExtenDOS Pro data and writes it to a file EXTINFO.TXT in
the current directory. See "Using the ExtenDOS Pro information
program" below for more details.
Using CDaudio
-------------
CDaudio has been greatly enhanced over the version described in the
manual, as follows:
1. It now uses 3D dialogs, where supported by the AES (this includes
all Falcon030s, and any system running Geneva).
2. A 'minimised' display is available to reduce the screen space
occupied by the dialog. The minimised display dialog is accessible
via the 'Fuller' gadget, i.e. the gadget at the top right-hand
corner of the window.
3. Fewer redraws are issued, thereby reducing screen flicker.
4. The FastForward/Rewind buttons are now "ballistic", i.e. if you
keep the button selected, the forward/backward skip amounts
increase continually, so you skip faster and faster.
5. Index numbers up to 99 are supported.
6. The volume may be changed by clicking on the volume bar, as well as
by dragging the slider.
7. In order to reduce confusion, the drive letter shown in the dialog
is the logical device, rather than the physical device.
8. A 'Scan' button has been added; if selected, 'Play' plays the first
10 seconds of each track rather than the entire track. This can be
used in conjunction with REPEAT and/or SHUFFLE (you can get tired
of this combination pretty quickly!)
9. 'Set A' & 'Set B' buttons have been added, to set the start and
end of a play segment. This is likely to be of most use with the
direct-to-disk recording feature (see below), but can also be used
with playback. This feature can be used together with the 'Repeat'
button. NOTE: if 'Set A' & 'Set B' are selected, 'Scan' and
'Shuffle' will be ignored.
10. A 'Record' button has been added for direct recording; please see
'Recording with CDaudio' below for further details.
Recording with CDaudio
----------------------
CDaudio now provides direct-to-disk recording (you can copy audio CD
sectors across the SCSI interface and write them to a hard disk).
This is achieved via changes to CD.BOS and CDAUDIO.PRG/CDAUDIO.ACC.
The changes to CD.BOS make it compatible with third-party audio CD
programs including CDPLAYxx. Output files from CDAUDIO.PRG/ACC are
created in AVR format.
In order to access the recording dialogue, click on the new 'Record'
button on the standard (non-minimised) CDaudio dialogue. In the
recording dialogue, the following buttons are available:
. in current track/time box:
< track down
play
(inverse video) stop
> track up
. to right of current track/time box
copy current track position to Start Time or End Time
(alternative to using Set A/Set B in the main dialogue)
. in start track/time box
play from start time to end time
. in end track/time box
play from (end time - 10 seconds) to end time
. below current track/time box
Stereo/Mono
select mode
16-bit/8-bit
select resolution
50066/44100/25033
select recording speed
. at bottom right
Record A-B
start recording (you will be prompted for filename)
Cancel
return to main dialogue
Note that you will need LOTS of disk space for digital recording
(around 10MB/minute for 16-bit stereo at 50066 Hz).
*** IMPORTANT ***
The direct-to-disk recording feature requires a CD-ROM drive that is
capable of reading audio sectors as data, and support for that drive
in CD.BOS. The following drives are claimed to support reading audio
sectors as data:
Chinon 535 (firmware revision Q20 & later)
NEC 3X
Panasonic 8004
Pioneer 602x
Plextor 4plex
Sony 561 (and equivalents)
Toshiba 3401
(later models from the same manufacturers will probably also support
this function).
At this time, the following drives are known to work correctly:
Plextor 4plex
Sony 561 (and equivalents)
Toshiba 3401/4101/3601
Other recent Toshiba drives such as the 3501 & 5301 should also work
but have not been tested. The NEC 3Xp has been tested, but appears to
have a firmware problem with the drive, resulting in an unacceptable
'skipping' in the output. Other NEC drives may function better.
Although CD.BOS contains support for all the drives in the above list,
we have been unable to test the Chinon, Panasonic, and Pioneer at this
time. If you have one of these drives, please let us know whether the
recording function works correctly or not. If not, an EXTINFO.TXT
listing of the problem would be welcomed (see "Using the ExtenDOS Pro
information program" below for how to produce this).
If you always receive the message "Can't read audio CD: error -5" when
attempting to record, it is probable that your drive does not support
this feature.
Using the install program
-------------------------
The install program, INSTALL.APP, has two basic functions:
. install a new version of ExtenDOS Pro by copying all the files
to the right places
. reconfigure ExtenDOS Pro by updating EXTENDOS.CNF
These functions are accomplished by a series of GEM-based dialogs,
each of which has an associated Help screen.
In order to run INSTALL.APP, insert the distribution disk in your
floppy drive, double-click on the drive icon, then double-click on
the INSTALL.APP icon.
On startup, install checks if you have multiple EXTENDOS.CNF files (in
the various allowable locations); if you do, it determines which one
is being used by EXTENDOS.PRG, prepares to update that one, and issues
a message to inform you. Then a dialog is presented that allows you
to choose whether you are installing a new version from diskette, or
you are reconfiguring your existing version.
From then on, the screens allow you to:
. select the drives to install from and to,
. scan your DMA port(s) for CD-ROM drives and other devices,
. set global options,
. associate scsi ids with logical devices, and
. set various device-related optional parameters.
As noted above, each screen has associated Help information which
describes how to use it.
Note: when you update EXTENDOS.CNF with the install program, any
reference to UNI_BDDS.DOS is automatically changed to UNIDRIVE.DOS.
In the _very_ unlikely event that you need to use UNI_BDDS.DOS, you
will need to modify the EXTENDOS.CNF file manually. In such a case,
please feel free to call Anodyne Software for assistance.
Using the ExtenDOS Pro information program
------------------------------------------
EXTINFO.PRG is used to gather system and ExtenDOS Pro information and
write it to the EXTINFO.TXT file. This information can be helpful in
diagnosing both hardware and software problems, and you will probably
need to have this information to hand when requesting help from
Anodyne Software.
Here's how to run EXTINFO.PRG:
. Using INSTALL.APP, ensure that both 'Trace table size' and
'Trace data length' are set for the CD-ROM drive(s) you are
using (these are options that are settable via the Setup
dialog in INSTALL.APP). Use a trace table size of 200 and
a trace data length of 48.
. Reboot your system, then recreate the failure.
. Run EXTINFO.PRG:
a) double-click on EXTINFO.PRG from the desktop
b) click on 'Create EXTINFO.TXT'
c) complete the displayed form specifying your name, address,
phone number, email address, etc. (this information is
saved in the EXTINFO.TXT file as a means of identifying
the file); then click on 'OK'
d) EXTINFO.PRG will copy information to the EXTINFO.TXT file
(this file is in ASCII text format so you may browse it
if you wish).
If you need to provide more than one set of debugging data, make sure
that you rename EXTINFO.TXT before re-running EXTINFO.PRG, since any
existing EXTINFO.TXT file will be overwritten when EXTINFO.PRG runs.
Supporting multiple-LUN CD-ROM drives
-------------------------------------
The SCSI definition allows up to eight "logical units" (known as LUN 0
thru 7) to be accessed at each SCSI id. Each logical unit can be a
totally separate device. In practice, most SCSI devices have only one
logical unit (LUN 0), so earlier versions of ExtenDOS and ExtenDOS Pro
automatically used LUN 0 for each SCSI (or ACSI) id defined in
EXTENDOS.CNF.
However, CD-ROM changers (including the Pioneer DRM-602X and DRM-604X)
typically implement the changer mechanism as several different LUNs
(0 thru n) on one SCSI id, so ExtenDOS Pro has been updated to support
this. From a user's point of view, each LUN appears to be a separate
drive, so multiple drives must be defined for each changer.
How do we define multiple LUNs to ExtenDOS Pro? Since a LUN is an
extension of the ACSI/SCSI id, the syntax for dma id in EXTENDOS.CNF
has been extended to include LUN. The format of the id is now:
D.L
where D is the dma id as defined in earlier versions, and L is the
LUN. D must be from 0 to 15 inclusive; L is from 0 to 7 inclusive
(valid values of course depend on the CD-ROM drive you are using).
For traditional drives that only use LUN 0, you can omit the period
and the L value; thus existing EXTENDOS.CNF files will continue to
work without changes.
An example: define a Pioneer CD-ROM changer at dma id 5 to be six
drives, P thru U inclusive:
*BOS, C:\EXTENDOS\CD.BOS T=0, P:5.0 Q:5.1 R:5.2 S:5.3 T:5.4 U:5.5
*DOS, C:\EXTENDOS\UNIDRIVE.DOS P=16, P:P Q:Q R:R S:S T:T U:U
PLEASE NOTE: this feature of ExtenDOS Pro is not yet supported by the
installation program. If you have a CD-ROM that uses LUNs other than
zero, you'll have to set up your EXTENDOS.CNF file manually. Please
feel free to contact Anodyne Software for assistance if required.
Known restrictions and incompatibilities
----------------------------------------
1. IMPORTANT: when using CDaudio to play audio CDs on your CD-ROM
drive, all audio output is from the CD-ROM drive itself, _not_
through your system's speaker(s). Most CD-ROM drives provide
output sockets at the front (headphone) and rear (RCA jacks or
other connector). In order to hear the output from your CD-ROM
drive, you _must_ connect one or other of these to your audio
equipment.
2. NeoDesk users: if you get a message that "data on the disk is
corrupted or damaged" when you double click on the CD-ROM drive
icon, or open a folder, turn off the option 'check for
executable bootsector' in NeoDesk/Set Preferences/More.
3. TT users: all of the resident components of ExtenDOS Pro
(EXTENDOS.PRG, CD.BOS, and UNIDRIVE.DOS/UNI_BDDS.DOS) must be
loaded into ST RAM for normal operation. If you have a system
with alternate RAM, such as the TT030, do NOT set the program
flags to load these programs into alternate (TT) RAM.
4. If a SCSI-2 drive is not recognised by ExtenDOS Pro (see item
13 of "New features"), photoCD _may_ not be supported. This
restriction is due to the lack of a standard for photoCD
support. If this situation occurs, please contact Anodyne
Software for support.
5. Chinon CDS-435 audio support has not been tested. If you have
this drive, and the audio playback is not working, please contact
Anodyne Software for assistance.
6. The installation program INSTALL.APP does not work properly when
installing to a floppy drive. If you have a floppy-only system,
please install by following the step-by-step instructions in the
manual. If you have any problems doing this, please feel free to
email, write, or call Anodyne Software for assistance.
7. We recommend that you always install ExtenDOS Pro in a folder
rather than in the 'root' of a disk; installing in the root
can cause a number of problems. This is particularly true if
you use INSTALL.APP to do the installation.
8. With certain drives (such as those with a lid rather than a tray
or caddy), the EJECT button on the CDaudio player program or
accessory cannot _physically_ eject the CD-ROM. However, on many
such drives (including the NEC 25 and the NEC 3Xp), the EJECT
button will _logically_ eject the CD-ROM. This means you will
have to open the drive door and close it again in order to access
the CD-ROM.
9. If a CD-ROM drive is defined as one of the standard logical drives
(A through P), the CHEETAH file copier will exit with the message
"can't access BPB". This is a Cheetah problem. It examines each
of the drives A through P during initialisation, expecting them to
have a low-level file system with FATs and directories just like a
hard disk; this is not the case with a CD-ROM. The problem can be
circumvented by reinstalling the CD-ROM drive as a logical drive
between Q and Z.
Acknowledgements
----------------
I'd like to thank a number of people who have taken the time over the
last couple of years to help me test ExtenDOS & ExtenDOS Pro on all
kinds of hardware and software. It's certainly a much better product
due to their efforts, so I'd like to publicly thank the following
intrepid beta testers (in alphabetical order):
Kim Andersen
Lee Benjamin
Danny Bhabuta
Daron Brewood
Alexander Clauss
Jerry Coppess
Steve Deitz
Al Fasoldt
Gary Fuhrman
Steve Hammond
Graham Irvine
Bertil Jagard
Claude Labelle
Rob Perry
Doug Steever
Frank Tobiassen
Dale Wenzelburger
My apologies to anyone I've inadvertently omitted; please let me know
and I'll include you in the next list.
If you have a problem
---------------------
As always, you may contact Anodyne Software for help via telephone,
electronic mail, or regular mail. If you do so, please be prepared
to provide the following information:
. your ExtenDOS Pro serial number (from the distribution diskette)
. a listing of your EXTENDOS.CNF configuration file
. a copy of the EXTINFO.TXT file produced by EXTINFO.PRG. This
is particularly important if ExtenDOS Pro appears to install
correctly, but you have problems accessing data or audio CDs.
See "Using the ExtenDOS Pro information program" above for how
to run EXTINFO.PRG.
Roger Burrows
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GEnie: R.BURROWS1
Internet: anodyne@magi.com _or_ r.burrows1@genie.com
Mail: Anodyne Software, 6 Cobbler Court, Ottawa, Ontario K1V 0B8, CANADA
Phone: (613) 523-7498
----------------------------------------------------------------------------