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- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 28th April 1995
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Support Group Application Note
- Number: 273
- Issue: 0.4 **DRAFT**
- Author: DW
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- CD ROM Drives and their Handling under RISC OS Explained
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Notes:
- This Application Note details the interfacing of, and protocols underlying,
- CD ROM drives
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Applicable Hardware:
- All Acorn computers running RISC OS 3.1 or greater
-
- Related Application Notes:
- 266: Developing CD ROM products for Acorn machines
- 269: File transfer between Acorn and foreign platforms
-
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Copyright (C) 1995 Acorn Computers Limited
-
- Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this leaflet is
- true and correct at the time of printing. However, the products described in
- this leaflet are subject to continuous development and improvements and
- Acorn Computers Limited reserves the right to change its specifications at
- any time. Acorn Computers Limited cannot accept liability for any loss or
- damage arising from the use of any information or particulars in this
- leaflet. ACORN, ECONET and ARCHIMEDES are trademarks of Acorn Computers
- Limited.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Support Group
- Acorn Computers Limited
- Acorn House
- Vision Park
- Histon
- Cambridge
- CB4 4AE
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Table of Contents
-
- Introduction
-
- Interfacing CD ROM Drives
-
- Features of CD ROM Drives
-
- CD ROM Formatting Standards ("Coloured Books")
-
- CD ROM Data Storage Standards
-
- CDFS and CD ROM Drivers
-
- Accessing Data on CD ROMs Produced for Non-Acorn Platforms
-
- Troubleshooting
-
-
- Appendix A: Useful Contacts
- Appendix B: PhotoCD Mastering Bureaux
- Appendix C: References
-
-
-
- Introduction
- ------------
- Considering the amount of data which has to be stored in today's Multimedia
- applications (especially those incorporating moving video clips) it is often
- impractical to distribute the software as a set of floppy discs. For this
- reason, CD ROM is becoming an increasingly popular distribution medium. Even
- with the high storage capacity (typically 600 MB) of this medium, however,
- it is often necessary to feed the raw data through a compression system in
- order to fit it all on the disc.
-
- This application note aims to explain the terminology, interfacing, and
- current capabilities of CD ROM drives and their respective data standards,
- along with details of their software interfacing to RISC OS. Further data on
- other multimedia capturing and rendering devices, and associated data
- compression standards, is available in other supporting Application Notes.
-
- Interfacing CD ROM drives
- -------------------------
- Currently, there are four ways of connecting a CD ROM drive to an Acorn
- computer. These are:
-
- SCSI: Currently the most popular method. SCSI (Small Computer Systems
- Interface) is an industry-standard peripheral bus, which can move data
- around in parallel 8-bit chunks. More recently, SCSI 2 has begun to emerge
- as a standard on high-end systems, giving an effective near-doubling of data
- transfer speed. The SCSI bus standard allows up to 7 peripheral devices to
- be connected to the same bus; if you plan to have more than one CD ROM
- drive on a given machine, SCSI is the recommended option. The fastest SCSI
- cards available for Acorn machines can transfer data at a sustained 3.5 MB
- s-1 or so. Acorn SCSI interfaces can be fitted to the Archimedes 300 and 400
- series, the R140, A5000 and the Risc PC; the Archimedes 540 and R260 were
- supplied with a SCSI card as standard. The Acorn card supports ANSI X3.131
- 1986 and CCS X3T9.2/85-52 Revision 4B of the SCSI standards; check with your
- drive supplier for compatibility.
-
- IDE: The emerging standard for hard drive interfaces in desktop computers,
- with the exception of specialised workstations (which mostly use SCSI 2). A
- number of CD ROM drives equipped with IDE interfaces have been released onto
- the market, and it is one of these devices which is fitted in the Risc PC
- 600 CD. As IDE only supports a maximum of two peripheral devices on its data
- bus, it is only possible to have one IDE CD ROM drive if you already have an
- IDE hard disc. Bus data transfer speeds are on a par with SCSI 1. Suitable
- IDE interfaces are fitted as standard to the A4000, A5000 and Risc PC.
- Although the A3020 also has a suitable interface, cable length limitations
- imposed by the IDE timing specifications mean that a secondary interface
- must be used, as the physical size of the A3020 case requires that the drive
- be housed externally.
-
- Parallel: On Acorn machines equipped with a bidirectional parallel port
- (these machines being the A3010, A3020, A4000, A5000 and Risc PC), it is
- possible to interface a CD ROM drive to this port, and use a modified set of
- drivers to access the drive. The hardware interface between the drive and
- the computer usually has a "straight-through" parallel connector on it in
- addition to the CD ROM drive connector, so that a printer may be attached to
- the computer at the same time. The speed by which signal state can be
- changed on these lines is sufficiently high that data can be transferred at
- speed roughly equivalent to a SCSI 1 interface.
-
- Proprietary: Some third party vendors have developed proprietary interfaces
- for connecting CD ROM drives; the relevant third party should be contacted
- directly for the latest details regarding data transfer speeds and the
- number of drives which can be connected via such an interface.
-
-
-
- Features of CD ROM Drives
- -------------------------
- Speed
- In all cases of data transfer between peripheral and computer, there is
- always a "bottleneck," where one part of the system places a fundamental
- limit on the rate of data transfer. In the case of hard drives, the
- bottleneck is often the bus interface; this certainly became the case with
- fast, cached SCSI drives, hence the advent of SCSI 2. In the case of CD ROM
- drives, however, the physical mechanism of the CD ROM drive is the limiting
- factor.
-
- The first CD ROM drives were capable of a data access rate of 150K s-1; when
- compared with the bandwidth sustainable by the SCSI bus, for example, this
- is very slow. Successors to these drives were classed as "double speed," and
- implemented such techniques as read-ahead cacheing, increased disc rotation
- speed and multiple read heads to achieve 300K s-1 transfer. Subsequent
- refinements have resulted in "quad speed" drives, capable of 600K s-1; these
- are currently the state of the art, but still have a transfer rate well
- below the bus bandwidth of SCSI or IDE.
-
- Sessioning
- A CD ROM drive may be described as either "single session" or
- "multi-session." This distinguishes the capability of a drive's control
- logic to access multiple catalogues for different parts of the disc, as they
- were laid down at the time of mastering. As CD is a "write-once" medium, it
- is not possible to produce a file catalogue, write the files and catalogue
- to the disc, and then go back to the disc and add some more files without
- adding a complete new catalogue after the end of the previously written data
- to cater for the data being appended; in this circumstance, a "single
- session" drive would only be able to read the data defined in the first
- catalogue. Most modern drives are multi-session, but it is always wise to
- check with the supplier.
-
- Audio Output
- Most CD ROM drives are capable of outputting audio information extracted
- from Red Book Mode 0 (q.v.) CDs; this output is usually presented either at
- a mini-jack on the CD ROM drive suitable for driving a pair of 35 Ohm (input
- impedance) headphones, or (in the case of a drive fitted with an audio mixer
- board) on a header plug to feed into the unfiltered external audio output on
- the computer, or both. In the case of the Risc PC, the header plug can be
- fitted onto link LK14; this will also allow audio to be produced via the
- internal speaker.
-
- The quality of sound output from Red Book CDs by the CD ROM drive is
- determined solely by the Digital to Analogue Converters (DACs) built into
- it. In the case of White Book (q.v.) CD ROMs the audio is converted by the
- DAC unit on the appropriate expansion card fitted to the computer, and in
- the case of CD ROMs containing Replay movies or other application-based
- samples, the audio is converted by the on-board sound system. In all base
- configurations, the on-board sound system is built around an 8 bit
- logarithmic DAC, which gives sound output quality, after filtering, roughly
- equivalent to a 12 bit linear system. The Risc PC, however, may easily be
- upgraded to a true 16 bit linear audio system, giving CD quality
- reproduction. Audio upgrades for earlier machines are available via third
- parties.
-
-
- CD ROM formatting standards ("Coloured Books")
- ----------------------------------------------
- Red Book
- This is the formatting standard which covers "ordinary" audio CDs, and is
- defined by Philips and Sony. Dedicated audio data is recorded as CD-DA
- (Compact Disc Digital Audio) in PCM (Pulse Code Modulated) format. Red Book
- is the standard upon which all subsequent CD ROM standards are ultimately
- based.
-
- Red Book divides the disc into one or more audio tracks; each track normally
- comprises a single "track" in the musical sense. These tracks are further
- divided into sectors (also known as frames); each sector contains sufficient
- data to supply 1/75 second of music, which at the standard CD digitising
- rate of 44.1 kHz, works out as 2352 bytes.
-
- In addition to the 2352 bytes of audio data, Red Book provides two levels of
- error detection code (EDC) and error correction code (ECC) for each sector;
- if part of a sector cannot be read for some reason, the ECC can be used to
- reverse-engineer the data. Further to EDC and ECC, 98 control bytes are
- added to each sector; these bytes contain such information as timing data to
- enable an audio CD player to display the track playing time.
-
- All CD ROM drives which are compatible with Acorn machines are capable of
- playing Red Book audio via their own DACs, although most drives cannot allow
- the computer to "read" CD-DA directly. Acorn's CD ROM Filing System (CDFS)
- has facility to direct a drive to play a Red Book CD; either the appropriate
- CD ROM drive icon can be clicked on when the disc is loaded to start it
- playing from the beginning of the first track, or appropriate *commands may
- be passed to cause the drive to play a given section of audio (see the CDFS
- section below)
-
- Yellow Book
- This is the first set of standard definitions which detail the use of CDs to
- store computer data. Yellow Book is based on Red Book, and indeed Yellow
- Book Mode 0 supplies the same functionality as Red Book.
-
- The Yellow Book standard defines three data modes; CDFS is capable of
- handling all three, although not all CD ROM drives are capable of handling
- them all. A CD containing tracks consisting of more than one mode is termed
- a "mixed-mode CD."
-
- Mode 0: This mode is used to store CD-DA in PCM format. Most drives cannot
- "read" this data digitally and pass it to a computer, only play it.
-
- Mode 1: This mode is used to store data, and is the normal mode which data
- is stored in. The Red Book 2352 byte data area is split as follows:
-
- 12 bytes of synchronisation
- 4 bytes of header information
- 2048 bytes of user data
- 4 bytes of EDC
- 8 bytes of blanks
- 276 bytes of ECC
-
- Mode 1 has an additional layer of ECC, which is included to provide the
- increased reliability required to store computer data. This mode has an
- uncorrectable error rate of 1 x 10-12 (ie one bit in every 200 CD ROMs). As
- drives are capable of re-reading the data and correcting the information,
- the data is hardly ever totally unreadable.
-
- Mode 2: This is another data mode, designed particularly for storage of
- video picture data and compressed audio data. Mode 2 is used where the
- primary concern is density of data storage; by sacrificing most of the error
- correction capability, a Mode 2 disc can store 14% more user data than a
- Mode 1 disc. A 2352 byte sector is subdivided into:
-
- 12 bytes of synchronisation
- 4 bytes of header information
- 2336 bytes of user data
-
- The extended error correction codes are missing from this mode so the error
- recovery is not as good; the uncorrectable error rate is 1 x 10-9. This mode
- is not used as often as Mode 1.
-
- In all these modes, data is referenced by its position on the disc in units
- of minutes, seconds and frames; a frame is a Philips-defined time unit
- equivalent to 1/75 s.
-
- Mixed Mode discs
- As Red Book and Yellow Book use the same underlying sector size, it is
- possible to produce "mixed mode" discs containing both computer data and CD
- audio. The most common layout for a mixed mode disc is to have the first
- track as Yellow Book Mode 1 data, and the remaining tracks as Red Book PCM
- audio. The two most common methods used in Mixed Mode applications are:
-
- a) To initially load the program into the computer and run it, and then
- allow the computer to have continuous access to the audio tracks. The
- limitation with this scheme is that sufficient free RAM must be available
- for the computer to load all of the application executable and its
- associated data.
-
- b) To alternately read in portions of executable code and audio data. This
- relieves the memory constraint above, but entails more track seeking for the
- CD ROM drive and hence slower operation.
-
- CD ROM /XA (PhotoCD)
- This is a further extension of Yellow Book Mode 2. CD ROM /XA is distinct
- from Yellow Book Mode 2 in that it is specified as suitable for computer
- data, video data and compressed audio data. To do this, CD ROM /XA defines a
- new track format; an 8 byte subheader is included in the 2352 byte sector,
- so the sector takes the layout:
-
- 12 bytes of synchronisaton
- 4 bytes of header information
- 8 bytes of subheader information
- 2048 bytes of user data
- 4 byted of EDC
- 276 bytes of ECC
-
- CD ROM /XA is also known as Mode 2 Form 1; a slightly modified form of this
- (to allow discs to be read by Philips CD-i machines) is is the standard
- layout used in the Kodak PhotoCD system, hence CD ROM /XA is readable by
- Acorn CDFS 2.21. A further iteration of CD ROM /XA, Mode 2 Form 2, also
- exists; like Yellow Book Mode 2, this omits the ECC, and hence is rarely
- used.
-
- When compared to Mixed Mode discs, it is very important to note that a Mixed
- Mode disc is unable to access both computer data and audio simultaneously;
- data of different types must be on separate tracks. CD ROM /XA allows
- heterogeneous data types to be interleaved within the same track, hence
- allowing simultaneous access to executable code and audio; this is the
- principal advantage of this format.
-
- Green Book
- This is a proprietary standard used by Philips for encoding computer data,
- compressed audio and moving video (MPEG) CD ROMs for use with their own CD-i
- system. Currently, Acorn systems cannot access Green Book CD ROMs.
-
- White Book
- This is the new "Open Standard" for storage of digitised video. White Book
- discs use ISO 9660 (q.v.) filenames; the main thrust of the White Book
- standard is to produce an explicit file hierarchy and filename set,
- compliant with ISO 9660, into which all video data can be fitted.
-
- Moving video data distributed using the White Book standard can be accessed
- by CDFS; however, the movies can currently only be played at a suitable
- frame rate using the Movie Magic card (available from Computer Concepts) and
- a modified version of Acorn Replay. This modified version of Replay,
- supplied only with the card, does not incorporate movie-decoding capability
- within itself, but acts as the user interface to pass the movie data direct
- to the C-Cube CL450 MPEG decoder chip on the Movie Magic card.
-
- CD ROM data storage standards
- -----------------------------
- High Sierra
- This is the earliest standard format utilised by CD ROM for storing computer
- data in a hierarchical file structure. It has generally been superseded by
- ISO 9660, which itself evolved from an enhanced High Sierra standard. In
- addition to ISO 9660, CDFS is able to read most High Sierra CD ROMs.
-
- ISO9660
- This has become a de-facto standard as a logical format for information
- storage and retrieval. The standard defines a hierarchical filing structure
- for both files and directories. In order for all CD ROM supporting computers
- to be able to map the names of the files on the CD ROM to their own filing
- systems, file and directory names on ISO 9660 discs are restricted to:
-
- Capital letters "A-Z"
- Digits "0-9"
- Underscore "_"
-
- ISO 9660 Level 1 interchange format also restricts the naming system to:
-
- Filenames: Maximum of 8 characters
- Filename extensions: Maximum of 3 characters
- Directory names: Maximum of 8 characters (no name extensions permitted)
-
- To cater for RISC OS applications, which always exist in a directory
- beginning with a pling "!", CDs destined specifically for Acorn platforms
- are mastered with the initial pling replaced by an underscore. When
- accessing the directory structure of such a CD ROM, CDFS looks for any
- directories with names beginning with an underscore, and maps this
- underscore to a pling "on the fly" and before presenting the filer display
- to the user. Investigating such a CD ROM on another platform will therefore
- result in application directories being displayed with an initial
- underscore, and not a pling.
-
- PhotoCD (Image Pac)
- PhotoCDs are recorded in CD ROM /XA Mode 2 Form 1 format. Most of the disc
- is taken up by files containing picture data stored in Photo YCC, which is a
- Kodak-devised colour encoding metric. Each discrete image is stored 5 (or,
- exceptionally, 6) times on the disc at different resolutions; the copies of
- each image, once they have been fed through a visually-lossless Kodak
- compression system, form an Image Pac. The Acorn PhotoCD viewer application
- (!PhotoView) opens the Index on a PhotoCD, which contains the smallest image
- from each Image Pac, in order to build a contact sheet; when a picture is
- selected, the appropriate resolution of YCC image is selected from the Image
- Pac and rendered. Each Image Pac contains scans at the following
- resolutions:
-
- Base / 16 (thumbnail resolution) 128 x 192
- Base / 4 256 x 384
- Base (TV resolution) 512 x 768
- BaseX4 (HDTV) 1024 x 1536
- BaseX16 (photographic) 2048 x 3072
- BaseX64 (photographic) 4096 x 6144 (Pro Master PhotoCD only)
-
- PhotoCDs can be produced from ordinary 35mm slides or photographic
- negatives; in addition to mastering facilities provided by some high-street
- photographic processors, Kodak has set up a number of image transfer bureaux
- dedicated to producing PhotoCDs in quantity for the commercial market; these
- are listed in Appendix B.
-
- Others
- As detailed above, High Sierra, ISO 9660 and PhotoCD CD ROMs based on Yellow
- Book or CD ROM /XA can currently be accessed by Acorn machines, and CD ROM
- drives fitted to Acorn machines can play audio CDs which conform to the Red
- Book standard.
-
- Other formats also exist; Apple have a proprietary format (essentially,
- Yellow Book Mode 1 with their own HFS filing system on top instead of ISO
- 9660) which is used to produce CD ROMs for their hardware, and high-end
- dedicated workstations use further specialised formats such as RockRidge.
- There are also discussions to extend the ISO 9660 standard to cope with
- higher-capacity CD ROM discs which are under development.
-
- Currently Apple-formatted and RockRidge CDs cannot be accessed using Acorn
- hardware, and the extended ISO 9660 format has yet to be finalised. More
- detail on ISO 9660 Levels 2 and 3, and the extended standard once it becomes
- available, may be obtained from the British Standards Institute; see
- Appendix C for further details.
-
- CDFS and CD ROM Drivers
- -----------------------
- Supported Drives
- Most CD ROM drives support a common subset of fundamental commands for
- standard low-level operations. However, for more complex functions,
- particularly when accessing discs formatted to standards other than Red Book
- Mode 0, command sets differ between drives; this necessitates that each CD
- ROM drive have a driver module written for it to interface correctly to
- CDFS.
-
- The difference in command sets is most graphically illustrated
- by the fact that only some drives are capable of handling PhotoCD.
-
- Drivers are currently available from Acorn for the following SCSI CD ROM drives:
-
- Sony CDU6111, CDU6211, CDU541, CDU561
- Philips CM131, CM231
- Toshiba XM2200A, 3301
- Hitachi CDR1650S, CDR1750S
- Chinon CDS-431
-
- In addition, there is a modified version of the Sony driver, available via
- Acorn dealers, which will interface to the Apple CD-300.
-
- PhotoCD support is included with this modified Sony driver (the Apple drive
- is PhotoCD capable), and with the Sony driver (the CDU561 is PhotoCD
- capable).
-
- The IDE drive available for the Risc PC is a Panasonic CR 562B unit. This is
- a dual-speed PhotoCD capable drive, and is supplied with its own driver to
- enable CDFS to access the IDE interface.
-
- Other software drivers, and CD ROM drives, are available from third parties;
- please refer to Appendix A for more details.
-
- CDFS appears to the user as an ADFS-like filing system, and supports many of
- the standard FileCore-compliant commands. In addition, CDFS has a number of
- commands unique to itself: details of these follow:
-
- *CDDevices displays all the CD devices connected, their product name,
- capacity, SCSI ID (displayed as device, Logical Unit Number, and card) and
- firmware revision.
-
- *CDFS selects the CD-ROM filing system as the current filing system.
-
- *Configure CDROMBuffers sets the configured amount of memory reserved for
- CD-ROM buffering (maximum 512K). Syntax: *Configure CDROMBuffers <size>K
-
- *Configure CDROMDrives sets the configured number of CD-ROM drives
- recognised at power on. Syntax:*Configure CDROMDrives n
-
- *Eject activates the eject mechanism (where possible) in the CD ROM drive;
- this will eject any disc caddy present in the drive if it is a caddy type,
- or open the loading tray on a non-caddy drive. Syntax: *Eject [drive]
-
- *Lock prevents a CD being ejected from the drive, effectively disabling
- *Eject. Syntax: *Lock [drive]
-
- *PlayList lists the tracks - whether audio or data - on the disc in the
- given CD-ROM drive, together with (on Red Book CDs) their start time and the
- total CD time. Syntax:*PlayList [drive]
-
- *PlayMSF plays a piece of audio from the disc in the given CD-ROM drive. The
- start and stop times are specified in minutes, seconds and frames from the
- start of the disc. Syntax:*PlayMSF mins:secs:frames mins:secs:frames [drive]
-
- *Stop stops playing the disc in the given CD-ROM drive. Syntax:*Stop [drive]
-
- *Unlock reverses the effect of *Lock, re-enabling the functionality of
- *Eject. Syntax: *Unlock [drive]
-
-
-
- To configure the number of CD-ROM drives, type:
-
- *Configure CDROMDrives n
-
- where n is the number of drives (from 0 to 28).
-
- You will need to configure the size of the CD-ROM buffers, especially if you
- expect to be using a variety of CDs. Type:
-
- *Configure CDROMBuffers [size]K
-
- where size represents the size of the buffers in K, a number in the range
- 0-512. 64K or 128K is a good starting buffer size.
-
- Important: Incorrectly setting the number of drives causes the boot up
- procedure to take longer.
-
- Some Information on Driver Modules
- ----------------------------------
- Owing to the differences in command syntax and availability between the
- different supported CD ROM drives, CDFS does not communicate with a drive
- directly; it translates user-level calls into a series of SWI calls which
- are passed to an abstraction layer. This layer is in turn implemented by the
- driver module, which is responsible for interfacing to the firmware on the
- drive. As an example of what goes on at the abstraction layer level, the
- SWIs provided by the Toshiba driver are:
-
- cd_checkdrive
- cd_control
- cd_converttolba (logical block addressing)
- cd_converttomsf (Minutes, Seconds and Frames)
- cd_discused
- cd_driveready
- cd_drivestatus
- cd_inquiry
- cd_lasterror
- cd_opendrawer
- cd_prefetch
- cd_readdata
- cd_reset
- cd_seekto
- cd_stopdisc
- cd_version
- cd_identify
- cd_register
- cd_unregister
-
- Clearly, the task of writing a CD Driver module is not a trivial one; the
- command set above, for example, does not cover the PhotoCD extensions.
- Registered Developers wishing to develop CD ROM drivers should, at the
- outset, contact Acorn Developer Support.
-
- Multiple Drives on Different Interfaces
- ---------------------------------------
- It is possible to have multiple CD ROM drives connected using different
- interfaces; althouh as a rule it is not possible to have multiple SCSI
- interfaces in a given machine accessing CD ROM drives, it is perfectly
- acceptable to have both a chain of SCSI CD ROM drives and (for example) a CD
- ROM drive connected to an IDE interface (where fitted). What actually
- happens at boot-up is that the driver software, comprising a version of CDFS
- and copies of the relevant driver modules, for each interface loads in a
- sequence. The ordering of the sequence is determined by whether the code is
- on a podule ROM (in which case it loads first), or whether it is in the
- normal boot sequence, in which case it loads in the order specified. As is
- normal with relocatable modules, loading of multiple instantiations of a
- module causes successive overwrites, such that the version of the module
- which remains loaded once the boot sequence is complete is the last copy of
- the module to be explicitly loaded.
-
- Once loaded, the specific device driver modules remain loaded throughout the
- boot sequence, unless subsequently overwritten. When CDFS (version 2.20 or
- later) executes, it polls the loaded modules to check for the presence of a
- preamble sequence unique to a CD ROM driver module; if this is present in a
- given module, that module is invited to register with CDFS. Thus the
- last-loaded version of CDFS can recognise and interface with all the
- device-specific modules containing the preamble which were made available
- during a boot sequence, and hence drive any suitably connected CD ROM drive
- regardless of the physical interface. It is worth noting, however, that some
- early third-party driver modules did not have the correct preamble present,
- and therefore may produce unexpected results when interfacing to a current
- version of CDFS; if an interface which appears to have a suitable driver
- module refuses to interface with CDFS, contact the supplier of the driver
- module quoting the version number of the driver module in question and the
- version of CDFS.
-
- Accessing Data on CD ROMs Produced for Non-Acorn Hardware
- ---------------------------------------------------------
- One of the main benefits of standards such as ISO 9660 and the Coloured
- Books is that, provided you have a driver capable of reading these formats
- it should be possible to access data intended for use on other platforms.
-
- However, although the raw binary data can be accessed, it is not necessarily
- possible to make use of it. The likely possibilities are that files of
- common formats, such as plaintext and graphic formats of types translatable
- by !ChangeFSI, can be used; also Comma-separated variable (CSV) and
- Tab-separated variable (TSV) files can be used in Acorn-native applications
- which are specified to be able to read them. In addition, some third-party
- programs which perform file compression (eg !SparkFS from David Pilling and
- !ArcFS from VTI) can recognise and decompress a number of file archives of
- certain standard formats, eg UNIX tar. If you have such a program, it is
- worth checking on the formats it understands.
-
- Problems arise when custom filetypes or proprietary codecs are used in the
- software on the disc; as RISC OS cannot execute the binaries for the
- decompressors / translators in the manner of the platform they are intended
- for, it is not possible to extract and make use of files encoded in these
- ways purely using RISC OS. As some discs use proprietary codecs and others
- do not, Your Mileage May Vary; if you plan to extract data from a disc
- designed for another platform, check with the supplier of the disc that the
- data is in a format you can make use of. Acorn Customer Services Application
- Note 269 gives further detail on file transfer and translation.
-
-
- Troubleshooting
- ---------------
- In the case of CD ROM drives, it is fortunate that only a relatively small
- number of problems can arise, and none of these are fatal to the data
- medium. Perhaps the most common problems are:
-
- A SCSI CD ROM drive reports a target error on access.
- There are several reasons for this behaviour, and it is not possible to
- determine the root cause without examining the machine in question. Reasons
- for this mode of failure are:
-
- The SCSI bus is incorrectly terminated.
- Make sure that a pack of terminating resistors is present on both the first
- and last devices on the SCSI chain (the SCSI card will itself need to be
- terminated if it is in such a position), and nowhere else.
-
- Two or more SCSI devices have clashing device numbers.
- This can be diagnosed by issuing a *Devices command, and seeing if any of
- the returned descriptions appear at odds with the known types and sizes of
- peripherals on the bus. It is recommended practice, when only one or two CD
- ROM drives are present on the bus, to start numbering them from Device 6 and
- move upwards from there.
-
- The installed version of CDFS, or one of its dedicated drivers, is out of
- date.
- If a CD ROM drive responds correctly to a *Devices, and if it returns an
- apparently correct disc size using *Free when a CD ROM has been inserted, it
- is possible that the drivers are out of date. Contact the supplier of the
- driver for more details, stating the version numbers of both the driver in
- question and CDFS itself.
-
- !PhotoView reports an error "CDFS::0.$.PHOTO_CD.OVERVIEW/PCD not found"
- !PhotoView is not finding the file containing the index information for the
- pictures on the PhotoCD. First check that you have a PhotoCD in your drive.
- Corel Professional PhotoCDs do not have an Overview file on the disc;
- individual Image Pacs may, however, be accessed using !ChangeFSI. If your
- PhotoCD is not a Corel disc and the Overview file cannot be found, consult
- your PhotoCD's supplier.
-
- CD ROM access appears to be very slow
- Remember that CD ROM drives are not high access speed devices! If access is
- exceptionally slow, try increasing the buffer size allocated to CDFS. The
- "Configure" submenu accessible from the CD ROM icon bar menu facilitates
- this.
-
- Appendix A: Useful Contacts
- ---------------------------
- For SCSI, IDE, Parallel and Proprietary CD ROM drives, interfaces, and CDFS
- Drivers:
-
- Morley Electronics Limited
- Morley House
- West Chirton Industrial Estate
- North Shields
- Tyne and Wear
- NE29 7TY
- Tel: 091 257 6355
-
- Alsystems
- 47 Winchester Road
- Four Marks
- Alton
- Hampshire
- GU34 5HG
- Tel: 0420 561111
-
- Beebug Ltd
- 117 Hatfield Road
- St Albans
- Herts
- Tel: 0727 840303
-
- Computer Concepts
- Gaddesden Place
- Hemel Hempsted
- Herts
- HP2 6EX
- Tel: 0442 63933
-
- For MPEG rendering hardware (the Movie Magic card):
- Computer Concepts (address above)
-
- For Compression and Decompression software:
-
- David Pilling
- PO Box 22
- Thornton
- Cleveleys
- Blackpool
- FY5 1LR
-
- VTI
- The Shopwhyke Centre
- Shopwhyke Road
- Chichester
- West Sussex
- PO20 6GD
-
- Appendix B: PhotoCD Mastering Bureaux
- -------------------------------------
- UK commercial transfer services, sponsored by Kodak:
-
- Acorn Studios PLC Tel: 071 837 8667
- B & S Visual, Glasgow Tel: 041 221 8283
- Dunn's, Birmingham Tel: 021 200 3226
- Grant's, Dublin Tel: (from UK) 010 353 1 660 4288
- Laserbureau, London Tel; 071 486 9260
- Pro-Vision Digital Imaging Tel: 0532 454848
- Quadrant, Worcestershire Tel: 0527 71648
- Tapestry, London Tel: 071 437 1821
- Wace Group, London Tel: 071 739 0269
-
-
- Appendix C: Standards Documents
- -------------------------------
- For copies of the CD ROM Coloured Book (Red, Yellow and White) standards,
- and SCSI standards:
-
- BSI Standards
- Linford Wood
- Milton Keynes
- MK14 6LE
-
- Tel: 0908 221166
-