This software is given to you under the terms of the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991. See COPYING for details.The author has given his permission for us to include it on the Developer Toolbox. Feel free to send any questions you may have about this software to DTjanitor@sgi.com. HOWEVER, understand that we will simply be forwarding all such correspondence onto the author who, as part of his agreement with us to include this on the Toolbox, makes no guarantee that he will answer them. We will create and grow a file containing all the messages we receive from developers about this software so that anyone else who finds their way to this directory will be able to read what other people have written regarding their questions, experiences and ideas.
This directory contains IRIX 6.2 and IRIX 5.3 versions of two programs:
Audio tracks are written to AIFC files, data tracks are written to binary image files, so files created by ReadCD can be used directly by WriteCDR.Audio reading has been tested with the Sony CDU 76S CD-ROM, the Sony CDU 920S and the Yamaha CDR 100 CD-writers.
Binary reading should work with any CD-ROM and with any CD-writer that can be used as a CD-ROM.
It can also create a single session, mutiple track audio CD-R from AIFC files.CDs can be "written" in "check" mode to test the data path, meaning that the write laser is not actually turned on.
The two CD writers WriteCDR has been tested with are the Sony CDU 920S and the Yamaha CDR 100.
SEE ALSO the showcase file providing an overview
flow-chart of the steps to make an SGI efs OR ISO or
Audio CD as well as the FAQ list
on "CDio Writing/Reading CDs and Recommended CD writers".
WriteCDR is written in a modular fashion, so it should be easy to add
support for additional writer types. Of course I would like to
encourage other developers to do that and to submit the resulting code
back so everyone can benefit from it. Please send any and all such
code changes to DTjanitor@sgi.com.
To create an audio CD with WriteCDR, you need 44100 HZ stereo AIFC files
that you can put on it. You can use ReadCD to read them off another CD
(you may have to observe copyright issues here) or any other tool that
can generate AIFC files. As long as they are 44100 HZ stereo and longer
than 4 seconds, they are OK.
To create a data CD with WriteCDR, you need a filesystem image file that you can put on it. Again, you can use ReadCD to read that image off another CD (observing any applicable copyright) or any other tool that can generate file system image files. Noteworthy tools besides ReadCD in that category are:
Note that CD writers must write the CD in one piece. If they do not
get a continuous data stream, they will wreck the disc and issue an
error code that will be displayed as-is (i.e. without a user-friendly
interpretation) by WriteCDR. On other words: If you get a cryptic
error message from WriteCDR, it usually means that there was too much
activity on your system to write the CD. You can try out the write
with the '-c' flag without the risk of wrecking a disc.
Using a slower write speed will increase your chances, but only single
user mode is really safe. Also note that the Yamaha CDR 100 can write
at 4x speed, but only has 512k of buffer, while the Sony CDU 920 can
only do 2x speed, but has 1M of buffer, so it will be 4 times less
sensitive to short interruptions of the data stream.
Here are a few cookbook-style usage examples.
ReadCD -v -w
WriteCDR -v -a *.aifc
ReadCD -v -w
WriteCDR -v 01.img
If you have both a CD-ROM and a CD-writer on the same machine,
AND the CD-ROM is faster than the writer, you may want to try
piping the ReadCD output directly into WriteCDR. I have not
tried this, so I do not know if it will work. If it does, it
will save you ~600 MB of scratch file space.
The pipeline should look like this
mkisofs -a -R -o usr_share.iso /usr/share
WriteCDR -v usr_share.iso
mkdir cd1 cd2
cd cd1
ReadCD -v -w -t1-5
File overview.sc contains an overview picture in showcase format, which shows the data flow for WriteCDR.
Both WriteCDR and ReadCD display a very detailed "usage" message when called with a bad parameter.
I'm including that text here for your convenience:
ReadCD [-a] [-b] [-d dev] [-p] [-t list] [-v] [-w]
Option Meaning
-a Process audio tracks.
If neither -b nor -a are specified, both will be
turned on.
-b Process binary (data, non-audio) tracks.
If neither -b nor -a are specified, both will be
turned on.
-d dev CD ROM device.
-d not specified: Use first available CD ROM
on controller 0.
-d U: Use CD ROM on SCSI
controller 0, unit U.
-d /dev/scsi/scCdUl0: Use CD ROM on SCSI
controller C, unit U.
-o write data to stdout (ignored for audio).
-p Play audio as it is being read.
-p turns on -a automatically.
-t list process listed tracks.
-t not specified: Process all tracks that
match -a and -b options.
-t list: Process 2-channel audio
tracks that match the list.
List may consist of
comma-separated single
track numbers and of
dash-separated start and
end track numbers.
-v Level of verbosity.
-v not specified: Error information only.
-v specified once: Status and Error
information.
-v specified twice: Debug, Status and Error
information.
-w Write audio tracks to AIFF-C files.
Track 'nn' goes to file 'nn.aifc'.
Write binary tracks to binary files.
Track 'nn' goes to file 'nn.img'.
WriteCDR [-a] [-c] [-d dev] [-i size] [-s n] [-v] file...
Option Meaning
-a Audio mode.
-a not specified: Create a data disc (CD-ROM).
-a specified: Create an audio disc (CD-DA).
See file... below.
-c Check mode.
-c not specified: Actually write to the CD-R
disc.
-c specified: Perform pseudo-writes.
Checks the data path, but
leaves CD-R disc unaltered.
-d dev CD writer device.
-d not specified: Use first available writer
on controller 0.
-d U: Use CD writer on SCSI
controller 0, unit U.
-d /dev/scsi/scCdUl0: Use CD writer on SCSI
controller C, unit U.
-i size Process stdin as first image file.
stdin must contain/supply exactly 'size' bytes of
data.
-i is not supported in audio mode.
-s n CD Writer speed.
-s not specified: Keep current CD writer speed.
-s 1: Single speed.
-s 2: 2x speed.
etc.
-v Level of verbosity.
-v not specified: Error information only.
-v specified once: Status and Error
information.
-v specified twice: Debug, Status and Error
information.
file... In audio mode, each of these files must contain
44100 Hz stereo audio data in AIFF-C format.
Each file is written to an individual audio track
and must therefore comprise at least 4 seconds of
audio data.
In data mode, the files are concatenated and
written to a single data track. WriteCDR does not
interpret the file contents in any way. The user
is responsible for meaningful contents, i.e. a
filesystem image. If '-i' is specified, stdin is
read first and must contain the specified number
of bytes.
Documentation
OR, ...