PC-Test Pro/PCTESTPRO.iso/cdrom/cdwri/entp/readme.doc

Text File | 1995-03-11 | 17.4 KB | 304 lines

   This is documentation for the CDWRITER program.  This purpose
of this program is to demo the CDWRITER Tool Kit, also known as
the CDWRITER source code.  This program is a full blown, MS Windows,
CD mastering tool.  It creates ISO9660, CD Red Book audio and
Mixed Mode compact disks.  If one is new to CD mastering it is
reading the section "CD ROM Terminology" is recommended.
   To use this program a CD recorder must be connected to the
PC running this program, must be turned on, and must have a CD
WO disk in the tray.  Currently this program only supports the
Kodak/Phillips 2X CD recorders.  An ASPI manager must also be
loaded into memory for the program to work.  CDWRITER does not
talk directly to the SCSI card the recorder is attached to.  It
talks to a drive known as an APSI driver.  This way the program
will work with any SCSI card that comes with a SCSI driver.  Some
card manufactures charge extra for an APSI manager.  This driver
must be loaded before CDWRITER can be used.  Support for other
recorders will be added over time as the manufactures make the
recorders and technical documentation available to me.
   To purchase the source code to this program see the enclosed
license form.  Direct any question to the internet account [e-mail].
 Mail can be sent to the P. O. listed on the front of the program
and in the license document.

   The programs main screen contains five buttons:
(1) Close / Lock CD Tray
(2) Setup Menu / Options Selection
(3) Select File to Copy to CD
(4) Process
(5) CDWRITER Utilities
(6) Terminate CDWRITER

   When the program is first started it tries to allocate low
DOS memory so it can communicate with the ASPI driver.  Many programs
require a driver for the program be loaded before starting windows.
 These drivers allocate the low DOS memory before windows starts.
 The good thing about this method is the memory is always allocated
for the program to use.  The bad thing about this method is that
the memory is always allocated for the program to use, making
it unavailable for any other programs to use.  CDWRITER allocates
low DOS memory on the fly when it is started.  If you start CDWRITER
immediately after starting windows and have no other programs
running it should be able to find some free low DOS memory to
use.  If there are other programs running already then they may
have already allocated the low DOS memory.  If Windows has been
running for a while programs may have allocated low DOS memory
and not freed it properly when they terminated.  For this reason
it is best to exit and restart windows before starting CDWRITER.
 If the program can not allocate any low DOS memory it will give
some messages indicating the program and the main menu will appear.
 The program should be exited at this point since it can not be
used without the low DOS memory.
   Once the program has started it tries to find the CD Recorder
hooked up to the PC.  It searches each device on each SCSI card
for a write once device.  It selects the first write once device
found.  If a write once device other than a CD recorder is hooked
up to the PC it should be turned off and the PC rebooted before
starting CDWRITER.  Since CDWRITER talks to the ASPI manager not
to the device just turning of the device after the PC reboots
is not enough.  The device must be off before the PC reboots so
the ASPI manager never sees it.  If it is unable to find a CD
Recorder it will display some error messages and the program should
just be terminated.  Remember that this program only works with
the Kodak/Phillips 2X recorders.  If you try to use this program
with other recorders it will not work.  When the program starts
and finds a recorder.
   Once the program is started buttons (1), (5) and (6) will be

enabled.  Until the drive tray is locked only some of the utilities
under (5) will be available.  To lock the drive tray press (1).
 The drive will click a little and either button (1) will change
to read "Unlock/Open Drive Tray" or an error message will appear.
 If error messages appear and a disk is really in the drive then
try using (1) to Unlock/Open and then Close/Lock again.  Sometimes
this option has to be selected more than once before it will work
properly.  If the disk has been written to but not fixated both
error messages will be displayed and the button will change to
"Unlock/Open Drive Tray."  To fixate the disk at this point choose
option (5) and then press the fixate option.
   After the tray is successfully locked option (2) will become
enabled.  Option (2) allows program options to be selected.  The
various program setup options are described in detail later in
this document.  After option (2) has been used option (3) becomes
available (unless the verify option was selected in the program
setup).  Option (3) allows the user to select data and audio files
to write to the CD.  Note that audio files can only be written
to the first session of a mixed mode CD, and only when writing
directly to the recorder.  If an intermediate image file is being
created then audio files can not be specified.  After option (3)
has been used option (4) will become enabled.  This will process
the user requests as specified in options (2) and (3).  Once a
CD is being created the machine should be left alone.  Although
it is possible to play a computer game or work on a spread sheet
while cutting a CD, doing so will take CPU time away from CDWRITER.
 If CDWRITER can not sustain a high enough data transfer rate
the CD will be ruined.  This is described in more detail below.
 After the processing phase has completed a message will be presented
indicating that it is done.  At this point the program can be
exited or other options can be selected as when the program was
first started.

   Option (2) is used to enter the setup screen and specify exactly
what the program is to do.  It has four main modes of operation
corresponding to four radio control buttons on the setup screen.
 The first option is create a new image file.  This option will
create a new image file on disk.  The image will be placed into
the directory specified as the work directory at the top of the
setup screen.  This directory must not exist.
   The second option is write existing image file to CD.  The
work directory specified must be the same directory specified
when the image was created with the first option.  An image can
be written to several different CD-WO disks.  Each time the image
is to be written the volume descriptor must be specified using
the button labeled "Volume Desc."  If the recorder is a Kodak
recorder and the CD has a bar code on it then the correct bar
code will be written into the primary volume descriptor as specified
by the Kodak standard.

   The third option will write an image directly to a compact
disk.  With this option instead of creating an image in on step,
and writing it to a CD in a second step, the image is created
on  the fly and written directly to the CD.  This is the recommend
method since it is simpler.  Note that a 300kbs data transfer
rate must be maintained from the PC to the recorder as described
below.  If the PC is not very fast or files will be coming from
a network it would be best to create an image on the local PC
and write it to the CD in a second step.  The work directory specified
is used to hold some small files for the CD creation.  Some of
these files are used in option four as described below.
   The third option will verify that all the files written to
the were written correctly.  This does a DOS level verify and
can be quite time consuming.  The program will actually read each
file that was supposed to be written to the CD (as specified in
the work directory) and compare the contents to the file on the

CD.  The program will stop after 10 files are found that are different.
 This option uses DOS to open, read and close the files from both
the CD and the source disk drive.  For this reason the CD recorder
must have a CD-ROM driver loaded for it and MSCDEX must be aware
of it as a CD ROM.  Also sometimes it is necessary to reboot the
PC to get MSCDEX to reconize a newly added session on a compact
disk.  Currently before the verify begins the CD tray will be
opened.  The verify will begin and windows will reconize that
the drive tray is open.  A message retry or cancel will be presented.
 Close the drive tray and press retry.  This should reset MSCDEX
to read the new session, although this does not always work.
It is usually best to reboot the machine in between the create
and verify steps.
   There are several options that modify the behavior of the four
main program options.  The work directory specifies where to create
or find work files needed for the CD creation or verification.
 The "Last Session On CD" button will turn the CD-WO into a CD-ROM
when the CD is fixated.  After the CD is cut with this option
selected no more sessions can be appended to the CD.  In fact
the recorder will not reconize the CD as a CD-WO but will think
it is a CD-ROM.
   The option "Cleanup When Done" will cause all the files in
the work directly to be deleted and the work directory to be removed.
 If this is specified when creating a new image the image will
be deleted as soon as it is created making the process a waste
of time.  If this is specified for options 2 or 3 the work directory
will be deleted after the CD is cut and verification will not
be possible.
   The option "Ignore Previous Sessions" will cause the program
to ignore all the files on previous sessions.  The disk will look
like a new CD since directory entries for files in previous sessions
will not be included in the new session.  If this option is used
the files in previous sessions will not be accessible from standard
DOS commands.  Files from previous sessions can be accessed using
an option under the CDWRITER utilities menu.  This only works
for sessions created using CDWRITER.
   The option "Do Not Fixate" will cut the CD as normal but will
not fixate it when it is finished.  This could be used to add
additional tracks onto the CD using a program other than CDWRITER.
 There is an option for fixate a CD under the CDWRITER utilities
menu.  This should only be done by people who really know what
they are doing.
   The "Volume Desc" button allows the user to specify some of
the information in the CDs' primary volume descriptor.  This includes
the volume id that is displayed when using the DOS dir command.
 This button is only accessible when writing the first session
on the CD or when "Ignore Previous Sessions" has been selected.
   The "CD Drive" box contains a list of all the drives on the
PC.  This is used to tell the verify option which drive the CD
Recorder is mapped to.  This is only necessary when using the
verify option.
   The window on the bottom of the setup screen has a list of
all SCSI devices attached to the PC.  This can be used to select
a different CD recorder.

CD-ROM Terminology:

   A CD ROM is a small disk which information can be stored on.
 This information can be audio, video or data.  When data is stored
in a CD it is called a CD ROM.  CD ROM stands for compact disk
read only memory.
   Until the third quarter of 1993 there was no way for the average
computer user to archive and exchange large amounts of information
in a truly device independent and operating system independent
manner.  In order for two people to exchange information they
had to have similar machines and operating systems, or use proprietary

methods.  The CD ROM overcomes this problem by providing a standard
file system that is not unique to any vendor.  The name of this
file system is called the ISO9660 standard.  ISO stands for International
Standards Orginazation.  All new CD ROM drives and software can
read CD ROM's written using this standard.   Unfortunately, until
recently, there was no easy way to create a CD ROM.
   The CD writer is a hardware device that enables writing to
a CD.  The CD must be a special blank CD that is often called
a CD-WO (write once).   Once a CD-WO is written to It can be accessed
by any machine that is able to read an ISO9660 format CD ROM.
 In order for a CD writer to cut a CD special software is required.
 This software is usually bundled with the machine, although most
vendors will allow users to purchase the machine from them, and
the software somewhere else.
   Although a CD-WO can not be modified, it can be appended to.
  When information is appended to a CD with existing information
it becomes a multi-session CD.  Most CD writers support this feature
although many CD writer programs, as of yet, do not.  There are
many multi-session standards but the most widely accepted is the
Kodak multi-session standard that is used in the Kodak Photo CD
players.  Not all CD ROM readers support multi-session CD ROM's,
although that is quickly changing.  A standard CD ROM reader is
only able to read the first session of a CD ROM, including multi-session
CD ROM's.
   When appending sessions to a CD ROM the directory structure
is recreated and stored with the new session but the files remain
in the same locations.  Files in older sessions are superseded
by files in later sessions with the same name.  They are not actually
replaced, since the information can not be changed.  The old file
is just ignored.  An example of this is when the user does a full
backup to a new CD.  Each night he does an incremental backup
to that CD as another session.  After several incremental backups
the directory of the CD is displayed.  Only the most recent of
all files are displayed.  The older versions are just ignored.
 They are on the CD but not accessible by standard operating system
commands.  They can only be accessed through special utilities
(example: CDWRITER)..
   SCSI stands for "Small Computer System Interface."  To attach
a SCSI device to a PC the PC must be equipped with a SCSI adapter
card.  A SCSI adapter card can be used to control up to 7 devices.
 The CD writer is a SCSI device and will require a SCSI adapter
card.  Other devices like SCSI disk drives, and scanners can be
attached to the SCSI card.  The devices are "daisy chained" with
the cable coming out of the card, into a port on the device, and
back out another port on the same device.
   Many CD writer programs require that a device driver called
an ASPI manager be loaded in memory.  ASPI stands for Advanced
SCSI Programming Interface.  This is a device driver that normally
comes with a SCSI adapter card.  It is used as a middleman to
communicate with SCSI devices.  When using an ASPI manager the
writer software does not have to be tailored to each specific
adapter.  In a PC the ASPI manager is often loaded from the file
CONFIG.SYS in the root directory.  For example the syntax of the
command for an Adaptec 1540 SCSI adapter is "DEVICE=C:\SCSI\ASPI4DOS.SYS."
 This should be the first line in the file.
   There are two ways which authoring programs (CD recorder software)
cut CD's.  The first way is to create an intermediate image file.
 The image file contains the entire session to write to the CD.
 It is simply copied byte for byte to the CD after it is created.
 When creating an intermediate image file there must be enough
room on the system to store the entire image.  A compact  disk
can hold over 650MB.  This means an image file can become rather
large.  The other way to create a compact disk is to create the
image "on the fly" without creating an intermediate image file.
 The benefit of this is that it may be faster, and it will not
require the large amount of free of disk space required by an

image.  The disadvantage to this is that both the PC and the drives
the data is on must be very quick.  Once writer software begins
adding a session it must keep the buffer of the CD writer from
emptying.  Once the CD writer buffer empties the writer produces
a buffer under flow message and the CD is ruined.  A 2x (double
speed) writer requires a continuous data stream of 300kbs.  If
the image file is being created on the fly from many smaller files
the PC and hard drive may not be able to keep up with the writer.
 In this case a CD-WO is wasted.
   Some CD writers come with a bar code reader built in.  This
bar code reader is able to read the bar code on a CD if it is
present.  For example the Kodak CD's with InfoGuard have a 12
digit number present in human readable form and in bar code form.
 Some CD recording software can detect this bar code and place
it into the CD image when writing the first session (example:
CDWRITER).


Installing CDWRITER:

   CDWRITER comes on a disk with two files.  The file CDWRITER.EXE
is the actual program.  It should be placed a directory \CDWRITER
on the hard drive.  The file BWCC.DLL should be copied to \WINDOWS\SYSTEM\BWCC.DLL,
unless a more recient one exists.
   The Phillips and Kodak CD Writers require a continuous data
stream at 300kbs.  The PC being used to cut the CD must be able
to sustain over 300kbs from the disk drive, and at the same time,
to the CD writer.  CDWRITER has been tested successfully using
a 486DX-33 with an ISA bus, a Kodak 200 2x CD Writer, a 12ms 1Gig
SCSI Hard drive, and an Adaptec 1540 SCSI adapter card.  Both
the hard drive and the CD Writer were on the same adapter card.
 The CD was created using an interrmediate image file.  CDWRITER
requires an ASPI manager be present in memory.  When writing directly
to a CD two SCSI adapter cards are recomended.  One adapter card
for the hard drive and one for the CD recorder.