From: rab@cdrom.com Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom,comp.multimedia,comp.publish.cdrom.multimedia,comp.publish.cdrom.hardware,comp.publish.cdrom.software,alt.answers,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: alt.cd-rom FAQ Followup-To: alt.cd-rom Reply-To: rab@cdrom.com Summary: Frequently asked questions about CD-ROMs Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Archive-name: cdrom-faq Last-modified: 1994/03/14 ========================= FAQ alt.cd-rom =================================== FAQ for the alt.cd-rom usenet newsgroup. This list is posted to alt.cd-rom every month. The latest version is available via anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com: /pub/cdrom/faq. If you do not have ftp capability, you can get the file by sending email to info@cdrom.com with the subject "FAQ". As a last resort, you can call 1-510-674-0783 and get it on a 3.5" MSDOS floppy for $6 ($1 + $5 S&H) Visa/MC/Amex. This file is freely redistributable. ============================================================================ 0. What is a CD-ROM? 1. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs? 1a. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs in North America? 1b. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs in Europe? 1c. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs in the Mid-East? 1d. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs in Asia? 1e. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs in Australia and New Zealand? 2. Can you recommend a good CD-ROM drive? 3. Where can I get caddies? 4. Are there any good periodicals and publications on CD-ROMs? 5. Why are CD-ROM drives so slow? 6. Is it important to have a fast CD-ROM? Does 300ms vs. 700ms really matter? 7. Is it important to buy a fully SCSI compatible drive? 8. Where can I get information on SCSI controllers for CD-ROM drives? 9. How much does it cost to make a CD-ROM? 10. I have a great idea for a CD-ROM but no money. What can I do? 11. Where can I get a CD-ROM published? 12. Where can I find equipment to make my own CD-ROMs? 13. Where can I get blank media for my CD-ROM recorder? 14. I have 10000 paper documents that I want to put on a CD-ROM. Who can help? 15. Are there any organizations of CD-ROM Publishers? 16. Where can I get more information about CD-ROM publishing? 17. How much information will fit on a CD-ROM? 18. Why doesn't MSCDEX work with DOS 5.0? 19. Where can I get the latest version of MSCDEX? 20. I bought a used drive at a garage sale. Where can I find a driver for it? 21. What is the difference between `High Sierra' and ISO-9660? 22. Where can I get a copy of the ISO-9660 standard? 23. What is an HFS disc? 24. Can you give a short explaination of ISO-9660? 25. What the heck does `Red Book' and `Yellow Book' mean? 26. What is CD-I? 27. What is CD-ROM/XA? 28. What are the Rock Ridge extensions? 28b.What systems support Rock Ridge? 29. What is ECMA 168? 30. Is a short technical introduction to these standards available? 31. Who comes up with these standards? Can I have any input to the process? 32. Are there any ftp sites with good stuff related to CD-ROMs? 33. How do I write an MSDOS program that can access a cdrom using MSCDEX? 34. How do I mount an ISO-9660 disc on a Sun? 35. How do I use a CD-ROM with OS/2? 36. Which CD-ROM Drives will work with MicroSoft Windows-NT? 37. How do I read an audio cd track as digital data? 39. Why do all the bundle deals require me to buy a drive? What if I already have a drive? 40. Are alt.cd-rom archives available anywhere? 41. What is the shelf-life of a CD-ROM? 42. How should I handle my CD-ROMs? How do I clean them? 43. Which drives will work with Kodak Photo CD? 44. What is a "Multisession" CD drive? 45. How does Photo CD work? 46. Where can I get more information about the Kodak Photo CD? 47. What are the lowest prices for getting my photo's put on Photo CD? 47. Where can I get maps of the US on CD-ROM? 48. How do I put a CD-ROM Drive on a Novell network? 49. Are any CD-ROM Jukeboxes available? 50. Can I speed up my CD-ROM by using a cache? 51. Do you have any info about the CD-ROM filesystems for Amigas? 53. What are some good references to CD-ROM reviews? 54. How do I read the UPC (universal product code?) from a CDROM? 55. How do I Put a CD-ROM driver on the Ethernet by using a unix system as a server and make it available to the PC and Mac. 56. Where can I find a full text retrieval engine for a CDROM I am making? 57. Is there any *FREE* CD-ROM mastering software, with full source code? 58. ???? Please send any other questions (and answers) that should be included in this FAQ to rab@cdrom.com. ========================================================================== 0. What is a CD-ROM? CD-ROM means "Compact Disc Read Only Memory". A CD-ROM is physically identical to a Digital Audio Compact Disc used in a CD player, but the bits recorded on it are interpreted as computer data instead of music. You need to buy a "CD-ROM Drive" and attach it to your computer in order to use CD-ROMs. A CD-ROM has several advantages over other forms of data storage, and a few disadvantages. A CD-ROM can hold about 650 megabytes of data, the equivalent of thousands of floppy discs. CD-ROMs are not damaged by magnetic fields or the xrays in airport scanners. The data on a CD-ROM can be accessed much faster than a tape, but CD-ROMs are 10 to 20 times slower than hard discs. You cannot write to a CD-ROM. You buy a disc with the data already recorded on it. There are thousands of titles available. ========================================================================== 1. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs? Jim Raehl has compiled an excellent list of sources for inexpensive CD-ROMs. His list is periodically posted to alt.cd-rom, and is available via anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com:/cdrom/faq_disc. You can get a list of about 85 CD-ROM titles by sending a blank message to CD-ROM@micromed.net.netcom.com [ Several people have had trouble getting the list, so I have made it available for anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com:/cdrom/micro.med ] ========================================================================== 1a. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs in North America? --------------------------------- Buckmaster Publishing Route 3, Box 56 Mineral, VA 23117 703-894-5777 or 800-282-5628 A ham radio callbook database and 5000 public domain programs: $50 --------------------------------- Bureau of Electronic Publishing 141 New Road Parsippany, NJ 07054 1 800 828-4766, 201-808-2700, Fax: 201-808-2676 Publish lots of CD-ROM titles. Call them for a catalog. ---------------------------------- CD-ROM Access 27361 Moody Road Los Altos, CA 94022 (415) 941-6424 Voice/FAX kirk.jensen@spacebbs.com ---------------------------------- CD-ROM INC 1667 Cole Blvd, Suite 400 Golden, CO 80401 1 800 821-5245 Many discs, drives and accessories. ------------------------------------ The CD-ROM Source PO Box 20158 Indianapolis, IN 46220 Phone: (317) 251-9833 ------------------------------------ CDROMS Unlimited P.O. Box 7476 Fremont, CA 94537-7476 1 510 795-4286 Call for catalog ------------------------------------ CD-ROM User's Group Post Office Box 2400 Santa Barbara, CA 93120 805-965-0265 Bundle of 10 discs for $99. ------------------------------------ Compustuff 2759 Medina Rd., Plaza 71 Medina, OH 44258 216-725-7729 ------------------------------------ Computer Man 18546 Sherman Way, Suite B Reseda, CA 91335 818-609-0556 ------------------------------------ Computers At Large 18728 Cabernet Drive Saratoga, CA 95070-3561 (408)255-1081, (408)255-2388 - FAX ------------------------------------ Crazy Bob ERM Electronic Liquidators 50 New Salem Street Wakefield, MA 01880 Order line: 800-776-5865, 617-246-6767 ------------------------------------ EBSCO Subscription Services (CD-ROM Handbook) P.O.Box 325 Topsfield, MA 01983 508-887-6667 800-221-1826 508-887-3923 (Fax) ------------------------------------ EDUCORP 7434 Trade Street San Diego, CA92121-2410 1-800-843-9497 ------------------------------------ Faxon Co., Inc. (Access Faxon) 15 Southwest Park Westwood, MA 02090 617-329-3350 800-225-6055 617-461-1862 (Fax) ------------------------------------ Knowledge Media 436 Nunneley Rd Suite B Paradise, CA 95969 +1 916 872 3826, +1 916 872 3826 FAX, email: pbenson@ecst.csuchico.edu Graphics software CD-ROM, Audio Resource Library CDROM ------------------------------------ MediaNet Technologies 3227 Sieber Way San Jose, CA 95111 Tel : 800-688-6721 Fax : 408-229-9318 CD Titles, CDROM Drives, Sound cards. Catalog (call or use ftp): ftp.rahul.net:/pub/medianet/medianet.inf On-sale items: ftp.rahul.net:/pub/medianet/medianet.sales ------------------------------------ Mr. CD Rom PO Box 1087 Winter Garden, FL 34777 800-444-MRCD, 407-877-3834 FAX ------------------------------------ NASA Space Science Data Center Code 933.4 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD USA 20771 Phone (voice) 301 286 6695 request@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov CDROMs of data from Voyager, Magellan and Viking for $6 each. ftp: explorer.arc.nasa.gov in the directory /pub/SPACE ------------------------------------ Nautilus 7001 Discovery Blvd Dublin, OH 43017-8066 1-800-637-3472 Provides a CD-ROM of the month subscription. 13 CD-ROM's for $138. ------------------------------------ Oxford University Press 2001 Evans Rd Cary, North Carolina 27513 800 451-7556 Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM ------------------------------------ Pacific HiTech, Inc. 4530 Fortuna Way Salt Lake City, UT 84124 (800) 765-8369, (801) 278-2042, FAX: (801) 278-2666 71175.3152@CompuServe.com, pht@applelink.com Info-Mac Sumex-aim Macintosh CDROM ------------------------------------ PCJ Computing 323 TN Nursery Rd. Cleveland, TN 37311 Voice (615) 339-0235 Fax (615) 479-1047 BBS (615) 478-2890 US Orders (800) 547-7817 douglas.carpenter@cld9.com ------------------------------------ Prime Time Freeware 370 Altair Way, Suite 150 Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (408) 433-9662, (408) 433 0727 FAX, ptf@cfcl.com UNIX-related freeware on CD-ROM ------------------------------------ ProComp Computer 12503 Sherman Way No. Hollywood CA 91605 ------------------------------------ Profit Press 2956 N. Campbell Ave. Tucson, AZ 85719 1-800-843-7990, 602-577-9624 FAX, 602-299-0693 BBS MEGA-Rom, 600+ meg MSDOS, $79 ------------------------------------ Raynbow Software, Inc. P. O. Box 327 Rapid City, SD 57709 (605) 394-8227, louis@ce.ucsc.edu, CompuServe: 70410,413 5000 GIFs on CD-ROM with Search Engine for $55 ------------------------------------ Reed Reference Publishing Bowker Electronic Publishing 121 Chanlon Road New Providence, NJ 07974 1-800-323-3288 908-464-6800, 212-645-9700, 1-800-323-3328, info@bowker.com "Books in Print" on CD-ROM, bi-monthly subscription $1095, w/reviews $1595 ------------------------------------ ROM-BO 1300 Mohawk Blvd Springfield, OR 97477 800-536-DISK ------------------------------------ Sound Electro Flight 4545 Industrial St. 5N Simi Valley, CA 93063 800-279-4824 ------------------------------------ TCM Computing (703) 439-8032 Rt. 2 Box 130 (703) 439-8237 Fax Midland, Va. 22728 (703) 439-3060 BBS ray.herold@channel1.com Night Owl CD-ROMM ------------------------------------ TechCity 17706 Chatsworth St. Granada Hills, CA 91344 ------------------------------------ TigerSoftware 800 Douglas Entrance Executive Tower, 7th FLoor Coral Gables, Florida 33134 24-hour FAX: (305) 529-2990 ------------------------------------ Updata Publications, Inc. (CD-ROM Guide) 1736 Westwood Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90024 310-474-5900 800-882-2844 310-474-4095 (Fax) ------------------------------------ Walnut Creek CDROM 1547 Palos Verdes Mall, Suite 260 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 1 800 786-9907, 1 510 674-0783, 1 510 674-0821 FAX, info@cdrom.com Snapshots of major internet archives on CD-ROM ------------------------------------ Wayzata Technology Inc. P.O. Box 807 Grand Rapids MN 55744 1 800 735-7321 Call for catalog ------------------------------------ Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated PO Box 8418 Berkeley CA 94707-8418 (510) 526-7531, fax: (510) 528-8508, yggdrasil@netcom.com Linux Operating system on CD-ROM ========================================================================== 1b. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs in Europe? ------------------------------------ Apex Software PO Box 174 Battle East Sussex TN33 9AQ International: +44-424-830025 (voice or fax), UK: 0424-830025 (voice or fax) email: vincea@cix.compulink.co.uk ------------------------------------ BECO Link Ltd. Jindrisska 276 530 02 Pardubice Czech Republic Tel/Fax: +42 40-518 566 ------------------------------------ British Software Licensing 280 (T/L) West Princes Street Woodlands Glasgow G4 9EU United Kingdom +44-41-339-7264, Fax +44-41-334-1675, graham@gimble.demon.co.uk ------------------------------------ CD-ROM Jacob Aarstrasse 98 CH-3005 Bern Switzerland +41 31 21-34-11, FAX +41 31 21-30-55 ------------------------------------ CD ROM (UK) Ltd 8 Sheep St, Highworth Swindon, Wiltshire SN6 7AA United Kingdom 44-0793-861146, 44-0793-765331 (Fax) ------------------------------------ directMedia Mail-Order GmbH Gockelweg 14 D-1000 Berlin 47 Voice +49 30 6690022-0 Fax +49 30 6644112 mbartos@comware.mhs.compuserve.com ------------------------------------ EBSCO Subscription Services 3 Tyers Gate London SE1 3HX United Kingdom 44-71-357-7516 ------------------------------------ Faxon Europe, B.V. Postbus 197 1000 AD Amsterdam The Netherlands 31 (20) 565 93 00, +31 (20) 691 17 35 9 (fax) ------------------------------------ Micro Haus Limited P.O. Box 149 Gloucester GL3 4EF United Kingdom ------------------------------------ Mountain Rose Multi Media Kikkerveen 331 3205 XC Spijkenisse The Netherlands Phone: +31 1880 33083 / Fax: +31 1880 41551 / Email: sterbbs@sus.eur.nl ------------------------------------ Public Domain & Shareware Library Winscombe House, Beacon Road. Crowborough, Sussex, TN6 1UL, United Kingdom +44 892 663298, +44 892 667473 FAX Libris Britannia, an entire library of PD/Shareware on CD-ROM ------------------------------------ STARCOM International Computer Services Limburggasse 45 A-9073 Klagenfurt-Viktring Austria +43 (463) 29 67 22, +43 (463) 29 67 24 FAX ------------------------------------ UNICA Ltd 39a Hall St, Stockport Cheshire, SK1 4DA, UK +44 61 429 0241, +44 61 477 2910 FAX ------------------------------------ WasaWare Oy Harri Valkama Palosaarentie 31 SF-65200 VAASA Finland Telephone +358 61 317 3365, Fax: +358 61 317 3025, Email: hv@uwasa.fi ========================================================================== 1c. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs in the Mid-East? ACTCOM - ACTive COMmunications Ltd PO Box 5402, Haifa 31054, Israel +972-4-676115, +972-4-676088 (FAX) E-mail: office@actcom.com ========================================================================== 1d. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs in Asia? ------------------------------------ Cache Computer Shop 29, G/Fl., Golden Shopping Centre 146-152 Fuk Wah st., Shamshuipo Kowloon Hong Kong Voice: (852) 361-9975, FAX: (852) 387-9935 ------------------------------------ Pacific HiTech 1-18-16 Nomura Building 10F Nishi Shinjuku Tokyo 160 Japan +18-3-3345-9215, FAX: +81-3-3345-9216 101223.1660@compuserve.com, pht@applelink.com ------------------------------------ Software Studio Shop 217 Olympia Shopping Center 255 King's Road North Point Hong Kong +852 510 7470 FAX ------------------------------------ Uniforce System Ltd. Rm 1103, Asia Orient Tower Town Place 33 Lockhart Road Wanchai Hong Kong Voice: +(852)520-0552, Fax: +(852)441-8069 +(852)528-5238 uniforce@hk.net ========================================================================== 1e. What are some good sources of CD-ROM discs in Australia/New Zealand? ------------------------------------ CompuCD GPO Box 1624 Canberra City ACT 2601 Australia fax: +61 06 2319771 ------------------------------------ Ilb Computing 48 Nebo Drive Figtree Heights NSW 2525 Australia +61 42 28 5827 ------------------------------------ Logicware 1 Riverbank Off. Vil. Cnr 1st St. & O'Shea Ter. Katherine, N'rn Terr. 0850 Australia fax: +61 89 72 3412 ------------------------------------ PC Junction (NZ) P.O Box 5197 Wellington New Zealand BBS: +64 4 566-2157 V32b, + 64 4 566-6728 V32b Fax: + 64 4 471-1941 Voice: +64 4 566-3601 david.benfell@stargate.gen.nz Over 500 CD-ROM Titles Available via Mail Order ------------------------------------ Shareware Distribution NZ Freepost 3637 PO Box 2009 Wellington New Zealand BBS: +64 4 5642269 V32b (8 lines), clear@actrix.gen.nz Voice/Fax NZ Toll Free 0508 55 66 55, or +64 4 564-5307 ========================================================================== 2. Can you recommend a good CD-ROM drive? ------------------------------------ The most highly recommended drive is the Toshiba TXM-3401. It is a very fast and very reliable drive. It is reasonably priced, but you will also need to buy a SCSI controller card if you don't already have one. This drive will work with MSDOS, Windows, OS/2, Windows-NT, Linux, Unix, Macintosh, and Amiga. ------------------------------------ The NEC CD-ROM drives 336,37,73,74,83, etc. have received many favorable recommendations. NEC CD-ROM drive information can be FAX'ed to you. Call NEC Fastfacts at 800-366-0476, and then follow the directions. You will be prompted for a Catalog or Product Number. Catalog Number 2 is for CD-ROM and Product Number 730101 is for the CRD-73M and 730100 is for the CDR-73. Similarly for the CDR-37. No information was available on the CD-74. You will be prompted for your 10-digit FAX number and your local voice telephone number. If you haven't received your FAX with 30 minutes try again. For international callers, the Fastfacts FAX number is +1 708 860-9500x2621. You can get documents, and drivers, from the NEC BBS at +1 508 635-4706. ------------------------------------ You can get information on Mitsumi drives by calling their US HQ at (516) 752-7730. The Mitsumi office dealing with the SouthEast is in Dallas. (214) 550-7300, FAX: (214) 550-7424. In California, call (408) 970-0700. A FAQ on Mitsumi drives is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com: /cdrom/drives/mitsumi.faq. ----------------------------------- A FAQ on the Pioneer DRM-604X is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com: /cdrom/drm_604x.faq ----------------------------------- Here is a matrix of information on a number of CD-ROM drives. Please send me any additions or corrections. Column A. Manufactuer B. Model Number C. Internal/External/Both D. Caddies N=No, S=Sony, P=Philips, X=NEC, O=Other E. Seek time in milliseconds F. Transfer rate in kilobytes/second G. SCSI - N/Y/2-scsi 2 H. CDROM XA / PhotoCD compatable (N=No, S=Single-Session, M=multi-session) I. OS/2 Compatible - Y/N J. Windows NT Compatible - Y/N K. MPC Compatible - Y/N L. Quicktime Compatible - Y/N M. N. Approximate Street Price, in US dollars O. Recommended #yes/#no (Send email to recommend either yes or no) P. Phone # Q. Comments A B C D E F G H I J K L M N 0 P Q ===== ======== = = === === = = = = = = = === === ============ ========== Apple CD 150 E S --- 150 Y S - - - Y - 400 0/1 408-996-1010 buy CD 300 Apple CD 300 E S 295 300 Y M - - 2 Y - 400 1/0 408-996-1010 Sony 8003A Apple CD 300i I S --- 300 Y M - - - Y - 400 1/0 408-996-1010 Very nice Apple CD SC - S --- --- Y - - - - - - --- 0/0 408-996-1010 Apple CD SC+ - S --- --- Y - - - - - - --- 0/0 408-996-1010 CDRM Inc CR 1000i - - --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 303-231-9373 Chinon CDS-431 I - --- 150 - - - Y - - - --- 0/1 310-533-0274 Chinon CDX-431 E - --- 150 - - - Y - - - --- 0/1 310-533-0274 Chinon 435 E S 350 150 Y S - - Y Y - --- 0/0 310-533-0274 Chinon 435 I S 350 150 Y S - - Y Y - 369 0/0 310-533-0274 Chinon 431 - S 350 --- Y S - Y Y Y - --- 0/0 310-533-0274 Chinon CDX-535 E S 280 300 2 M - Y 2 Y - --- 0/0 310-533-0274 Chinon CDS-535 I S 280 300 2 M - Y 2 Y - --- 0/0 310-533-1727-fax Denon DRD-253 - - --- --- - - - Y - - - --- 0/0 201-575-7810 Hitachi CDR-1700S - - --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 415-589-8300 Hitachi CDR-1702 E N 450 40 N N N N N N 200 0/1 415-589-8300 Obsolete Hitachi CDR-1750S - - --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 415-589-8300 Hitachi CDR-1900 E S 280 307 N M - - Y - - --- 0/0 415-589-8300 Hitachi CDR-3600 - - --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 415-589-8300 ===== ======== = = === === = = = = = = = === === ============ ========== A B C D E F G H I J K L M N 0 P Q ===== ======== = = === === = = = = = = = === === ============ ========== Hitachi CDR-3650 I S 350 50 Y N - - N - - 300 1/0 415-589-8300 workhorse Hitachi CDR-3700 I - 300 --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 415-589-8300 Hitachi CDR-3750 - - --- --- - - - Y - - - --- 0/0 415-589-8300 Hitachi CDR-6700 I S 280 307 N M - - Y - - --- 0/0 415-589-8300 Magnavox CDD461RS E N 700 --- - - - - - - - 329 0/0 ------------ Magnavox CDD462RS E N 400 --- - M - - Y - - --- 0/0 ------------ Matsushita CD-521 I S 390 150 N S - - - - - 299 1/0 ------------ Mitsumi - N 500 150 N - N N - N - 169 0/3 516-752-7730 Mitsumi CRMC-LU005S I N 350 150 N M - - Y - - 199 5/3 516-752-7730 Mitsumi FX-001-D I N 280 300 - M - - - - - --- 1/0 516-752-7730 MtOptech SI-680 - - --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 303-444-2851 Ruggedized NEC 55J I S 400 300 Y M - - Y - - 299 1/0 800-388-8888 NEC CDR-25 E N 650 150 2 S - - Y - - 400 0/0 800-632-4636 Portable NEC MultiS-38 E N 400 300 2 M - - - - - --- 0/0 800-632-4636 Portable NEC CDR 36 - - 500 150 Y - - - - - - --- 0/0 508-264-8000 Portable NEC CDR 37 - - 450 150 - - - - - - - --- 0/0 508-264-8000 Portable NEC CDR-73 E S 300 150 Y - - - - - - 649 0/0 508-264-8000 NEC CDR-73M E S 280 300 Y - - Y - - - --- 0/0 508-264-8000 Fast NEC CDR-74 E S 300 300 - S - Y - Y - --- 0/0 508-635-4706(bbs) NEC CDR-74-1 E S 280 300 2 M - Y - Y - --- 0/0 508-264-8000 NEC CDR-80 - X --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 508-264-8000 NEC CDR-83 I S 300 150 Y - - - - - - 599 0/0 508-264-8000 NEC CDR-83M I S 280 300 Y - - Y - - - --- 0/0 508-264-8000 NEC CDR-84 I S 300 300 - S - Y - Y - --- 0/0 508-264-8000 NEC CDR-84-1 I S 280 300 2 M - - - Y - 519 0/0 508-264-8000 ===== ======== = = === === = = = = = = = === === ============ ========== A B C D E F G H I J K L M N 0 P Q ===== ======== = = === === = = = = = = = === === ============ ========== NEC CDXG1 E - 500 --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 508-264-8000 Panasonic CR-533B I N 400 300 Y M - - 2 - - --- 0/0 Panasonic CR-562B I N 320 300 N M - Y 2 - - 250 1/0 Philips CDD-461 E N --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 615-521-4499 Philips CDI-601 E - --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 615-521-4499 Philips CDI-602 E - --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 615-521-4499 Philips CM205 I N 375 150 N N N - - - - --- 1/0 615-521-4499 Philips CM205 I N 375 150 N N N - - - - --- 1/0 615-521-4499 Philips CM206 I N 325 307 N M - - 2 - - --- 1/0 615-521-4499 Pioneer DRM-600 E O 600 150 Y S - Y - - - 925 1/0 408-988-1702 jukebox(x6) Pioneer DRM-604X E O 300 600 Y S Y Y - - - 1.2 2/0 bbs4087482150 jukebox(x6) Procom PICDL I N 375 150 N - - - - - - --- 0/0 800-800-8600 Procom PXCDL E N 375 150 N - - - - - - --- 0/0 800-800-8600 Sanyo ROM 3000 E S 650 40 N N N N N N - --- 0/1 801-225-6888 slow Sony CDU-31A I N 490 150 N S - Y Y - - 250 0/3 800-352-7669 unreliable Sony CDU-531 I S 380 150 N S - - - - - --- 0/0 800-352-7669 Sony CDU-535 I S 340 150 N S - - - - - 200 0/1 408-944-4335 Sony CDU-541 I S 380 150 Y S - Y - - - --- 0/0 408-434-6644 Sony CDU-561 I S 300 300 Y M - Y 2 Y - --- 0/0 408-434-6644 on new Mac Sony CDU-6201 E S 380 150 N S - - - - - --- 0/0 408-434-6644 extrnCDU-531 Sony CDU-6205 - - --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 408-434-6644 Sony CDU-6211 - S --- 150 Y - - Y - - - --- 0/0 408-434-6644 Sony CDU-7204 - - --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 408-434-6644 Sony CDU-7205 E S 340 150 N S - - - - - --- 0/0 408-434-6644 extrnCDU-535 Sony CDU-7211 E S 380 150 Y S - - - - - --- 0/0 408-434-6644 extrnCDU-541 ===== ======== = = === === = = = = = = = === === ============ ========== A B C D E F G H I J K L M N 0 P Q ===== ======== = = === === = = = = = = = === === ============ ========== Sony CDU-8012 - S --- 150 Y S - - - - - --- 0/0 408-434-6644 SunCD Talon TA-100 - - 360 150 - - - - - - - --- 0/0 ------------ Talon TA-200 - - 280 300 - - - - - - - --- 0/0 ------------ Tandy CDR-1000 I N 800 175 N N - - - - - 200 1/0 817-390-3700 Nice, Cheap Texel DM3021 I S 340 150 Y - - - - - - --- 0/0 800-886-3935 Texel DM3024 I S 265 300 Y M - - 2 - - 439 1/0 800-886-3935 Texel DM3028 I S 240 335 2 M - - 2 - - 299 1/0 800-886-3935 Texel DM5021 E S 340 150 Y - - Y - - - --- 0/0 800-886-3935 extrn DM3021 Texel DM5024 E S 265 300 Y M - Y 2 - - 549 0/0 800-886-3935 extrn DM3024 Texel DM5028 E S 240 335 2 M - - 2 - - --- 0/0 800-886-3935 extrn DM3028 Toshiba TXM-3201A E S 350 150 Y N - - Y - - 250 1/0 714-455-0407 Toshiba TXM-3300 - - --- --- - - - - - - - --- 0/0 714-455-0407 Toshiba TXM-3301 - - 325 150 Y - - - - - - --- 0/0 714-455-0407 Toshiba TXM-3301B I S 325 150 Y M - Y Y - - 499 4/0 714-455-0407 Works great Toshiba TXM-3301BC I S 325 150 2 M - Y - - - 499 1/0 714-455-0407 Toshiba TXM-3301E1 E S 325 150 Y - - Y - - - --- 0/0 714-455-0407 Toshiba TXM-3401 I S 200 330 2 M Y Y 2 - - 399 7/0 714-583-3000 Very fast ===== ======== = = === === = = = = = = = === === ============ ========== A B C D E F G H I J K L M N 0 P Q The NeXT CD-ROM is a Sony CDU-541. The Sony CDU-6211 is the same as the Sony CDU-7211. ========================================================================== 3. Where can I get caddies? Here are a few sources of caddies: --------------------------------------------------------------- CD-ROM INC 1667 Cole Blvd Suite 400 Golden, CO 80401 1 800 821-5245 Call for the latest price. ---------------------------------------------------------------- EDUCORP 7434 Trade Street San Diego, CA 92121-2410 1-800-843-9497 $55 for 10 ---------------------------------------------------------------- QB Products 1260 Karl Court Wauconda, IL 60084 1 800 323-6856 +1 708 487-3333 Sony Caddies "Made in USA", 10 for $54, 1000 for $3900 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Walnut Creek CDROM 1547 Palos Verdes Mall, Suite 260 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 1 800 786-9907, +1 510 674-0783, +1 510 674-0821 FAX Sony caddies "Made in Japan" - $4.95 each, $450 for 100 Philips Caddies - $4.95 each, $450 for 100 ========================================================================== 4. Are there any good periodicals and publications on CD-ROMs? ------------------------------------------------------------ A catalog describing CD-ROM publications and the "Multimedia and Videodisc Monitor" newsletter is available from Future Systems P.O. Box 26 Falls Church, VA 22040 Telephone 800-323-DISC or 703-241-1799 One of their books contains a list of about 1500 CD-ROM's. ------------------------------------------------------------ CD-ROM Professional is a bi-monthly magazine with product reviews, technical articles, industry news, etc. This is a "must read" for anyone in the CD-ROM business. $39.95/year CD-ROM Professional Magazine 462 Danbury Road Wilton, CT 06897 1 800 248-8466 ------------------------------------------------------------ "CD-ROM Collecion Builder's Toolkit, 1992 Edition" Paul T. Nicholls Eight Bit Books, Weston, CT ISBN: 0-910-96502-1 $39.95 ------------------------------------------------------------ CD-ROMS IN PRINT 1992 An International Guide to CD-ROM, CD-I, CDTV & Electronic Book Products Meckler Publishing 11 Ferry Lane West Westport, CT 06880 ------------------------------------------------------------ Newsgroups and mailing lists: On the internet, the best source of information is the newsgroup alt.cd-rom, which is linked to the BITNET list CDROM-L. Those subscribing to CDROM-L may now choose to receive a daily digest of CDROM-L postings or an index to the daily digest. From the index one may easily request the full text of a posting. To receive the INDEX, send the following note to listserv@uccvma or listserv@uccvma.ucop.edu (the subject is ignored): set cdrom-L index To receive the DIGEST, send the following: set cdrom-L digest ***DO NOT*** send to cdrom-L. Because of the high noise level of this list, I recommend that people try the index. The newsgroup aus.cdrom provides a forum for discussion of cdrom related issues to Australian users that are otherwise lost in the morass of postings in the US based groups. The internet newsgroup comp.multimedia is a good source of information on multimedia topics. CDROMLAN (available on usenet as bit.listserv.cdromlan) covers the use of CD-ROM products on local area or wide area networks. You can join the list be sending the following command to LISTSERV@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU: SUBSCRIBE CDROMLAN Your full name CD-ROMs are in heavy use in libraries and government document repositories, both for access to indexes and for distribution of government data. The relevant lists are PACS-L (bit.listserv.pacs-l) and GOVDOC-L (bit.listserv.govdoc-l). Send to LISTSERV@PSUVM.PSU.EDU: SUBSCRIBE GOVDOC-L Your full name Send to LISTSERV%UHUPVM1.BITNET@VM1.NODAK.EDU SUBSCRIBE PACS-L Your full name Discussions of music on CD can be found in rec.music.cd. -------- For those who are contemplating buying a CD-ROM drive or just getting your feet wet, Tony Thomas wrote a pamphlet on the subject which he will be glad to send you FREE OF CHARGE while supplies last. To receive "GETTING STARTED WITH CD-ROM", send a self-addressed, stamped #10 envelope with 29 cents US postage to: Tony Thomas 4421 Granada Blvd. #415 Warrensville Heights, OH 44128 Topics covered include: How to Buy a CD-ROM Drive Different Types of Drives What You Need Setup A list of suppliers of CD-ROM hardware and software is also included. ========================================================================== 5. Why are CD-ROM drives so slow? Compact discs were originally designed for music. When you are listening to "Willie Nelson's Greatest Hits", you are accessing the data sequentially and at a very regular speed. The only time you need to seek is when you decide to skip over a song, or back up and listen to "Always on my Mind" one more time. In order to fit as much music as possible onto the disc, the data is recorded at the same linear density near the outer edge of the disc as it is near the center, so there is more information in the outside tracks than in the inside tracks. In order to deliver a steady rate of data, the linear velocity of the disc moving under the head is constant, so the angular velocity of the disc changes when the head moves from the center toward the outside tracks. This is no big deal when you are playing music, but when you are trying to do random access to a CD-ROM, the need to accelerate and decelerate the disc is the biggest obstacle to making it faster. Most magnetic discs spin at a constant angular velocity, so the data density decreases toward the outside of the disk, but seeks are faster. A few other reasons that CD-ROMs are slow: Optical disc heads tend to be heavier than magnetic disk heads, so they have more inertia, and take longer to stablize onto a new track. Many CD-ROMs contain too much data to make effective use of RAM caches. As time goes by, CD-ROM drives will get a little faster, but don't expect any miracles. ========================================================================== 6. Is it important to have a fast CD-ROM? Does 300ms vs 700ms really matter? It depends on what applications you will be using. Many CD-ROMs are just big archives of stuff, and you can copy individual programs to your hard disk before using them so speed is not really very important. But if you are going to be using large ramdom-access databases, or any kind of interactive multi-media applications, then the speed difference is very noticeable. ========================================================================== 7. Is it important to buy a fully SCSI compatible drive? Several CD-ROM drives only support a sub-set of SCSI, and usually come with their own semi-SCSI controller card. Full SCSI compatible drives usually cost more, but are better if you already have a SCSI controller and want to daisy chain several devices, or if you want to be able to use the drive on different machine types. ========================================================================== 8. Where can I get information on SCSI controllers for CD-ROM drives? Many SCSI drive vendors recommend the Adaptec 1542-B SCSI Card. The phone number for Adaptec is 800-959-7274 or 408-945-2550. BusLogic (formerly BusTek) makes a very extensive line of SCSI cards for ISA, EISA, MCA, and VL bus systems. Their ISA, EISA, and MCA cards are register compatible with Adaptec's boards and hence have excellent driver support. Their number is (408)492-9090. All modern Macintosh computers have SCSI built-in. Macintosh users should insure that the CD-ROM drive they intend to buy is supported on Macintosh machines by the vendor; many vendors recommend "FWB CD-ROM Toolkit", which can generate high-performance drivers that include cacheing (see [50]) for a modest price. Trantor has a BBS at 510-656-5159. Set modem to 8 bits data, 1 stop bit and no parity. You can get product information, and their latest drivers there. [ If anyone sends me info on other scsi controllers, I will include the info here. ] ========================================================================== 9. How much does it cost to make a CD-ROM? You can get a master made for about $1000, and then about $1 per disc for duplication. So to make 1000 discs, it will cost you about ($1000 + (1000 * $1)) = $2000. Publishers often have `first-timer' specials with steep discounts off the list price. For instance, DMI recently had a special of mastering, 50 discs, and two hours of tech support for $750. If you only want a few discs, you can have single ISO-9660 `one-offs' made for about $200 for the first disc, and $100 for additional copies. ========================================================================== 10. I have a great idea for a CD-ROM but no money. What can I do? You can author a CD-ROM, and have someone else publish it and pay you royalties. One company that does this is Walnut Creek CDROM. Their author guidelines are available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com in the file /pub/cdrom/author.txt. ========================================================================== 11. Where can I get a CD-ROM published? I have used both of these companies, and highly recommend either: Digital Audio Disc Corporation 1800 North Fruitridge Avenue Terre Haute, IN 47803 812-462-8100, 812-466-9125 FAX Disc Manufacturing Inc. 4905 Moores Mill Road Huntsville, AL 35810 800-433-DISC, 205-859-9042, 205-859-9932 FAX DADC is a subsidiary of Sony, and DMI is a subsidiary of Philips. A more detailed list of 25 publishers in 8 countries is available via anonymous ftp in ftp.cdrom.com:/cdrom/publshrs. There are now over 10 manufacturing facilities active in CDROM in North America, and another growing collection of write-once service bureaus. These are listed in MFG.TXT in Lib #8 of the Compuserve CDROM Forum. If you only want to make one disc, or just a few copies, there are several companies that offer this service: North America: Catalogic 2685 Marine Way, Suite 1220 Mountain View, CA 94043 voice: (415) 961-4649 fax: (415) 964-2027 email: sales@catalogic.com Client Services OptiScribe Corporation 110 Pleasant Street Marlborough, MA 01752 voice (508) 481-7255, fax (508) 481-7455 Data Conversion, Multimedia, CD-ROM Production Services Compact Disc Services Inc. 1821 Saratoga Ave. Saratoga, CA 95070 (408) 741-4770, (408) 867-0518 FAX, cdsi@netcom.com The One-Off CD Shop MidSouth, Inc. 109-C Jefferson Street N Huntsville, AL 35801 (205) 534-3050 FAX (205) 539-9238 Prices range upwards from $115.00 for less than 40 MB delivered on a single item of input media (i.e., one tape, or one Syquest disk, etc.) to $230 for 650 MB also on a single item of input. Optical Media International San Jose, CA (408) 376-3511, 408-376-3519 FAX, omi@applelink.apple.com ISO-9660, Mac HFS, Call for price PRU 10310 Main St. #361 Fairfax, VA 22030 703-354-8377 Special prices for sysops Young Minds Inc. 1910 Orange Tree Lane, Suite 300 Redlands, CA 92374 909 335-1350, 909 798-0488 FAX, yngmnds!ayoung@ucrmath.ucr.edu Rock Ridge (Unix) Europe: Information Inception 6 Gravel Road Farnborough, Hants, GU14 6JJ, UK tel: (0252) 371118, fax: (0252) 513050, 100115.3440@CompuServe.COM ISO-9660, MAC HFS, call for price ========================================================================== 12. Where can I find equipment to make my own CD-ROMs? If you want to do single copy `one-offs', or low volume CD production, there are recorders announced by JVC, Philips, Sony, Yamaha, Pinnacle Micro, and Ricoh. JVC Personal ROM-Maker $12500 (complete system, including software) Philips CDD-521 $5500 (+ $1900 for software) Pinnacle Micro $3995 ISO 9660 and HFS software for Macs Ricoh $3895 Sony CDW-900E $10000 (???) Yamaha $5000 Kodak remarkets the Philips drive as their PCD Writer 200. Several people have complained about the Pinnacle Micro product being unreliable and hard to use. Here are some phone numbers you can call for more info: Kodak 1-800-CD-KODAK (1-800-235-6325) JVC Product Information: +1 714 965-2610 Philips Consumer Electronics: +1 615 475-8869 Pinnacle Micro 1 800 553-7070, +1-714-727-1913 (fax) Ricoh +1-408-432-8800, Japan: +81-45(477)1594 Ger: +49-2131-669004 Aus: +61-28946033 Sony Computer Peripheral Products: 1 800 352-7669 Yamaha, Systems Technology Division +1 408/437-3133 Fax: +1 408/437-8791 You can buy the Philips drive with CDGEN software for ISO-9660 discs from DataDisc (1-800-328-2347, FAX: +1 703-347-9085) for $7895. They recommend that you use it with the Adaptec 1542 SCSI Card. Optical Media International (1-408-376-3511, omi@applelink.apple.com) has Macintosh HFS premastering software for the Philips CDD-521. The program is called "QuickTOPiX" and the cost is $2500. The JVC drive comes with software for making ISO-9960, Apple HFS, and hybrid ISO-9660/HFS discs. [ If anyone knows anything more about these hybrid discs, please let me and I will include the information here.] Additional third party integrators are: Meridian Data 408-438-3100; CD-ROM Strategies 714-733-3378; and Interactive Support Group 818-709-7387. Here is a list of software vendors CD-ROM Strategies CD-GEN 1 714 733-3378 DataDisc CD-Gen 1 800 328-2347 Dataware Technologies, Inc. CD Make 1 510 942-3111 JVC RomMaker 1 714 965-2610 Meridain Data CD Publisher 1 408 438-3100 OnLine Business Systems CD-Formatter ? ??? ???-???? Optical Media International Topix 1 408 376-3511 PoINT Software and Systems CDWRITE ? ??? ???-???? Young Minds, Inc. CD Studio 1 909 335-1350 Authoring Software: Authorware, Inc. Authorware pro 1 612-921-8555 Dataware Technologies, Inc. CD Author 1 510 942-3111 Dataware Technologies, Inc. ReferenceSet 1 510 942-3111 Electronic Text Corporation WordCruncher ? ??? ???-???? Executive Technologies, Inc. Search Express 1 205-933-5494 Executive Technologies CD-Author 1 205-933-5494 Folio Corporation Folio Previews 1 800 228-3934/801 375-3700 Hewlett-Packard Laserretrieve 1 800-752-0900 I-MODE Retrieval Systems, Inc. I-SEARCH ? ??? ???-???? Image Storage/Retrieval Systm ISRS App Dev 1 800-524-0897 Knowledge Access International KAware 1 415-969-0606 Nimbus Information Systems Romware ? ??? ???-???? OnLine Business Systems CD-Build ? ??? ???-???? Quantum Access, Inc. Quantum Leap 1 713-622-3211 Reference Technology 1 303-449-4157 Retrieval Technologies, Inc. re:Search ? ??? ???-???? Textware Corporation Textware ? ??? ???-???? TMS, Inc. Innerview 1 405-377-0880 There are several usenet groups dedicated to CDROM publishing: comp.publish.cdrom.hardware comp.publish.cdrom.software comp.publish.cdrom.multimedia The November issue (I think) of New Media magazine is their 1994 Tool Guide. One section is devoted to cd-rom recording systems, and has information on about 20 systems covering the Mac, PC, and Unix platforms. The October issue of the New Media had an article about recordable CD technology. The February 1993 issue of Byte magazine also had an article on that subject. That might be easier to find at your local library. "The CD-Recordable Bible: An Essential Guide for Any Business" is available for $24.95 plus $3 postage and handling (US/Canada) from Eight Bit Books, 462 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897-2126.You can call in your order to (800) 248-8466 or FAX it to (203) 761-1444. ============================================================================= 13. Where can I get blank media for my CD-ROM recorder? The blank discs for CD Recorders are not the same as a normal CD. The metal data surface is gold instead of aluminum. The recorder uses a high powered laser to modify a dye layer which is between the gold and the plastic. This dye is somewhat photo sensitive so write once CDs should be stored in a dark place. They should be stored in an area that does not rise above 40 Celsius (104 F). It takes about half an hour to burn each disc. The blanks come in two sizes. 63 minute, and 74 minute. The time refers to the amount of digital audio that can be recorded. Since DA is read from the discs at a constant rate of 150 kb/sec, it is easy to calculate the amount of data they will hold. The 63' discs will hold about 580 meg, and the 74' discs will hold about 660 meg. Here are several sources for blank discs: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opti-Mag Inc. +1-302-738-2903, FAX: +1-302-738-2904 TDK 74 minute CD-R Qty Price 50 $17.00 each 100 $16.50 200 $16.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Athana sells 74' media for $17.50. 63' media is about a buck less. +1-310-320-4581, FAX: +1-310-212-5458. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Laser Resources sells Mitsui Toatsu CD-R blanks: 1-9 10-99 100-999 1000+ 63' $18 $17.50 $16.50 call 74' $20 $18.50 $17.50 call Phone +1-310-324-4444x16, ask for Mike. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- DataDisc (1-800-328-2347, 1-703-347-9085 FAX). 74 minute $27 quantity 10. 63 minute $19 quantity 25. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The One-Off CD Shop MidSouth, Inc. 109-C Jefferson Street N Huntsville, AL 35801 (205) 534-3050 FAX (205) 539-9238 QTY CD-R 63 CD-R 74 1-9 $23.00 $25.00 10-49 $22.75 $24.75 50-99 $22.50 $24.50 100-499 $20.75 $22.75 500+ $19.50 $21.50 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- DataWare (1-510-942-3111, ask for Jeff Caplan). 74 minute (650 meg) blanks for $31 quantity ten, $29 quantity 100, and $27 quantity 500. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonic Solutions 415-485-4800. Their April 1992 price list shows CD-R74 quantity 100 as $27.50, CD-R63 quantity 100 as $25.00. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The U.S. sales office for DIC (a Japanese ink and chemical company) can be reached at 201-224-9344. DIC claims a useful life in excess of 75 years for their discs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- APDC sells blanks discs, magneto-optical disks, 8mm and 4mm tapes. 800-522-7232, ask for Susan Bradley. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kodak also sells them. Call 800-242-2424. Prices aren't very good for small quantities, but they are a pretty good deal if you buy in bulk. Kodak media will not work with many recorders. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Knowledge Access, $170 for 10 kodak CD-R disks $300 for one "One-off" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mitsui Toatsu: The product name for their disks is Airy. Their advertising literature claims that the accelerated aging tests indicate a life of up to 240 years assuming storage at 25C. The Warranty on the jewel case is for 1 year from date of purchase. Japan 03-3592-4774 United States 212-867-6330 Germany 211-320458 U.K. 71-976-1180 ========================================================================== 14. I have 10000 paper documents that I want to put on a CD-ROM. Who can help? There are several companies that will do large scale scanning, OCRing, and data entry. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Compact Disc Services Inc. 1821 Saratoga Ave. Saratoga, CA 95070 (408) 741-4770, (408) 867-0518 FAX, cdsi@netcom.com Will do very large scale scanning, OCRing, and data entry and modification. Also scanning in the graphics and doing cutting and pasting on almost each page. They can handle 10000 pages per week. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Agro Computer Systems can process several thousand pages a day, and claims an error rate of less than 10E-6. The standard price is 55 cents per 1000 characters, or $550 per megabyte. For more information contact Mr. G. M. Mahindra Agro Computer Systems 28 Lalbagh (Mission) Road Bangalore 560 027 India Phone: +91 812 235083, FAX: +91 812 2241158 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Innodata does data entry, scanning, SGML or custom coding, indexing, abstracting, and programming. They work with any kind of source, incl. microfile and microfiche. Innodata Corporation Innodata Corp. 180 Salcedo St. 2600 Cabover Dr. Legaspi Village Hanover, MD 21076 Makati, Manila 1-718-625-7750 Repuplic of the Philippines 1-718-522-7624 FAX ========================================================================== 15. Are there any organizations of CD-ROM Publishers? The Optical Publishing Association is a non-profit trade and professional organization for CDROM and other digital media publishers. They have been around since 1988, publishing newsletters and backgrounders for publishers, and promoting profitable practices for the business. OPA, PO Box 21268, Columbus OH 43221 USA, 614/442-8805, 614/442-8815 (fax) CIS address 71333,1114, 71333.1114@compuserve.com, AppleLink r.bowers. ========================================================================== 16. Where can I get more information about CD-ROM publishing? Subscribe to CD-ROM Professional Magazine, 1 800 248-8466, $39.95/year There is a mailing list devoted to CD-ROM publishing. For more information send a message to Mail-Server@knex.via.mind.org with the word "HELP" in the body of the email text. The cdpub digest archives are available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/cdrom/cdpub. There are several files pertaining to CD-ROM publishing available for anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com. There is a book called "PUBLISH YOURSELF ON CD-ROM" by Fabrizio Caffarelli and Dierdre Straughan. It includes a cd-rom with a copy of EasyCD, a cd-rom formatter that runs under Windows. For Macintosh, read "The Apple CD-ROM Handbook", Addison-Wesley, 92, (144 pages). A guide to planning, creating, and producing a CD-ROM. ========================================================================== 17. How much information will fit on a CD-ROM? It depends on the drive. Almost all CD-ROM drives will handle up to 620 megabytes with no problems. Many newer drives can read discs with over 700 megs. The CD-ROM Users Group (see above) has a diagnostic CD-ROM that will tell you how much information your drive can handle. ========================================================================== 18. Why doesn't MSCDEX work with DOS 5.0? You must use SETVER with MS-DOS 5.0, to make MSCDEX 2.20 work properly. Otherwise you will get an incorrect DOS version message. See the MS-DOS 5.0 documentation on how to use SETVER. MSCDEX 2.21 works with MS-DOS 5.0 without SETVER. ========================================================================== 19. Where can I get the latest version of MSCDEX? Call MS BBS at 206-936-4082. Choose F for file library, S UPDATES, F to list files, then D MSCDEX.ZIP to download the file. (Microsoft may have deleted this file.) You can get the latest version of MSCDEX (2.21) in a self-extracting zip archive via anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com:/cdrom/cdext.exe. It is also available in the MSL library on CompuServe, as CDEXT.EXE. ========================================================================== 20. I bought a used drive at a garage sale. Where can I find a driver for it? Many CD-ROM manufacturers maintain BBS's where you might be able to find drivers for their drives: NEC BBS: +1 508 635-6328 Philips BBS: +1 719-593-4081 Sony BBS: +1 408 955-5107 Pioneer: +1 408 748 2105 (9600/HST/8N1) ========================================================================== 21. What is the difference between `High Sierra' and ISO-9660? Not much. When the standard was first proposed, it was given the name "High Sierra'. Later it was adopted as an offical standard, with a few minor modifications, and was designated ISO-9660. Usually when someone says "High Sierra", they really mean ISO-9660. You can get a copy of the High Sierra Spec from the author for $30. Howard Kaikow 65 Spring Cove Road PO Box 1333 Nashua, NH 03061-1333 USA voice: +1 603 889 8616 fax: +1 603 880 1319 email: kaikow@standards.com Howard is also the principal author of ISO-9660. He is available for consulting. ========================================================================== 22. Where can I get a copy of the ISO-9660 standard? You can order a copy of the ISO-9660 standard from ANSI Attn: Sales 11 West 42nd Street New York, NY 10036 212-642-4900 Cost to US destinations is $50, plus $6 shipping. They now accept Visa/MC orders over the phone. Another source of a wide variety of standards documents is Global Engineering. Their service is often faster than ANSI, but they charge more ($104 for ISO-9660). They also have offices in Europe and Asia. Global Engineering Documents 15 Inverness Way East Englewood, CO 80112-5704 (800) 854-7179 (same) (303) 792-2181 fax (303) 792-2192 ISO standards may be purchased from a country's national standards body. In the USA, this is ANSI, in the UK it is BSI (British Standards Institute in London), in Switzerland, SNV (in Zurich), DIN in Germany, AFNOR in France, JSA in Japan, etc. ========================================================================== 23. What is an HFS disc? HFS is the Macintosh's Hierarchical Filing System. It is unrelated to High Sierra and ISO-9660 formats. Most CD-ROMs intended for the Macintosh are created in the HFS format, since HFS supports the Mac's resource and data forks and file information. The freely distributable filing system AmiCDROM is able to read HFS disks on an Amiga. AmiCDROM is freeware, and is available by anonymous FTP from any Aminet site, including ftp.cdrom.com in the directory /pub/aminet/disk/cdrom. The Aminet archive is also available on CDROM for $29.95 from Walnut Creek CDROM, 1-800-786-9907, info@cdrom.com. There are drivers made by AsimWare (AsimCDFS) and Xetec that allows HFS discs to be read on an Amiga. There is a list of differences that the drivers contends with, such as non-standard characters and 32 character filenames (Amiga supports only 30). ------ "New Inside Macintosh: Files" published by Addison-Wesley, has the most complete description of HFS format. Inside Macintosh: Files By Apple Computer, Inc. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company ISBN 0-201-63244-6 In Chapter 2, the section on "Data Organization on Volumes" pages 2-52 to 2-76 contains as complete a description of HFS as is available. This book can be ordered from APDA (Apple Programmers & Developers Association) or any bookstore. APDA P.O. Box 319 Buffalo, NY 14207-0319 1-800-282-2732 U.S. 1-800-637-0029 Canada (716) 871-6555 International (716) 871-6511 Fax AppleLink APDA America Online APDA CompuServe 76666,2405 Internet APDA@applelink.apple.com ========================================================================== 24. Can you give a short explaination of ISO-9660? ISO-9660 is an international standard that defines a filesystem for CD-ROMs. Almost all systems support ISO-9660. Level one ISO-9660 is similar to an MS-DOS filesystem. Filenames are limited to eight single-case characters, a dot, and a three character extension. Filenames cannot contain special characters, (no hyphens, tildes, equals, or pluses). Only single case letters, numbers, and underscores. Directory names cannot have the three digit extension, just eight single-case characters. All alphabetics are in UPPER case; some software maps this to lower case. Either the file name or the extension may be empty, but not both ("F." and ".E" are both legal file names). There is a "File Version Number" which can range from 1-32767, and is separated from the extension by a semi-colon. The file version number is ignored on many systems. Here are some examples of legal and illegal filenames: Legal Illegal Why TEST_1C.TXT TEST-1C.TXT hyphen TEST1C.TXT TEST 1C.TXT space TEST.1C TEST.1C.TXT more than 1 period README Readme not single case Subdirectories are allowed to nest up to eight levels deep. Level two ISO-9660 allows longer filenames, up to 32 characters. But many of the other restrictions still apply. Level two discs are not usable on some systems, particularly MS-DOS. ========================================================================== 25. What the heck does `Red Book', `Yellow Book', etc. mean? "Red Book" is the common name of the "Compact Disc Digital Audio Standard". When a disc conforms to the red book standard, it will usually have "digital audio" printed below the "disc" logo. Most music CDs conform to this standard. "Yellow Book" is the standard for CD-ROM. When a disc conforms to the yellow book, it will usually say "data storage" beneath the "disc" logo. "Green Book" is the CD-I (compact disc interactive) standard. "Orange Book" is the standard for write-once compact discs. "Blue Book" is the standard for LaserDisc. ** You can get the Red Book and Yellow Book from ANSI Attn: Sales 1430 Broadway New York, NY 10018 (212) 642-4900 Red Book: CEI IEC 908 Yellow Book: ISO 10149:1989 You can get the Green Book from American CD-I Association 11111 Santa Monica, Suite 750 Los Angeles, CA 90025 (213) 444-6619 The Orange Book is still proprietary to Philips and Sony, and available only to their licensees. [If anyone can tell me where the other standards are available, I will include that information here.] ** [ "Blue Book" may be apochryphal. Pioneer reportly has a pre-mastering guide that may or may not have a blue cover, but it is not a statement of the LD standard. The only standards found so far are IEC-857 (NTSC) or IEC-856 (PAL). In the US, the only reliable source for these is Global Engr Documents. They aren't cheap. '857 only covers the analog portions of LD. It does not include digital audio, TOC, LD-ROM, LD+G, CDV-5 or anything peculiar to Laser Karaoke. ] ========================================================================== 26. What is CD-I? CD-I means "Compact Disc Interactive". It is meant to provide a standard platform for mass consumer interactive multimedia applications. So it is more akin to CD-DA, in that it is a full specification for both the data/code _and_ standalone playback hardware: a CD-I player has a CPU, RAM, ROM, OS, and audio/video/(MPEG) decoders built into it. Portable players add an LCD screen and speakers/phonejacks. If you want information about Philips CD-I products, you can call these numbers: US: Consumer hotline: 800-845-7301 For nearest store: 800-223-7772 Developers hotline: 800-234-5484 UK: Philips CD-I hotline: 0800-885-885 "Discovering CD-I" is a book available for $45 from: "Discovering CD-I" Microware Systems Corporation 1900 NW 114th Street Des Moines, IA 50325-7077 1-800-475-9000 There are three books by Philips IMS and published by Addison Wesley: "Introducing CD-I" ISBN 0-201-62748-5 "The CD-I Production Handbook" ISBN 0-201-62750-7 "The CD-I Design Handbook" ISBN 0-201-62749-3 Lex van Sonderen periodically posts a CD-I FAQ to comp.multimedia. The latest version of this FAQ is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com: /cdrom/cdi.faq. Elektroson provides software for producing CD-I titles. North America: tel +1-215-660-9038, fax +1-215-667-9387 Europe: tel 31-40-515065, fax 31-40-514920, Elektro@sci.kun.nl ========================================================================== 27. What is CD-ROM/XA? CD-ROM/XA is an extension to the Yellow Book Standard. A track on a CD-ROM/XA disc can contain computer data, compressed audio data, and video/picture data. Many CD-ROM drives do not support CD-ROM/XA. CD-ROM/XA extends CD-ROM by adding some of the CD-I disc features (such as using Mode 2 tracks with interleaved compressed-audio and other data). Thus CD-ROM/XA (eXtended Architecture) is often called the "Bridge" format between CD-ROM and CD-I... though the relationship is mostly the sector types. CD-ROM/XA applications still require specific code for each target platform. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CDROM-XA specifies a `bridge format' so that a CDROM-XA disc can be read on a CD-I player as well as on a PC under MSCDEX (provided that you use a conforming (.SYS) driver. On a normal yellow-book CDROM, a data track contains only mode-1 data sectors. On a CDROM-XA, a (the) data track contains only mode-2 data sectors. A mode-2 sector can be of two formats, form-1 and form-2. A form-1 sector contains 2048 bytes of user data, together with EDC and ECC bytes. A form-2 sector contains 2324 bytes of raw data (e.g. ADPCM audio or video data). If the device driver delivers 2048 bytes of data when MSCDEX asks for it, regardless whether the sector is mode-1 or mode-2/form-1, the PC is CDROM-XA compatible. ========================================================================== 28. What are the Rock Ridge extensions? The Rock Ridge extensions use some undefined fields in the ISO-9660 standard to allow full Unix-like filenames, symbolic links, and deep directories. "Rock Ridge" is named after the town in the movie "Blazing Saddles" for no particular reason. The latest revision of the RRIP/SUSP is 1.10; the draft version of these documents is available by e-mail from cdfsf@ymi.com or ftp at ftp.cdrom.com (/pub/rockridge/new). Any comments regarding the Rock Ridge or System Use Sharing Protocol documents should be addressed to cdfsf@ymi.com. For information on Rock Ridge at Sun, try rrinfo@Eng.Sun.COM or cdgroup@fantasy.eng.sun.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eric Youngdale has written a Gnu-ware ISO-9660+Rockridge formatter. It has been tested on both Linux and SunOS 4.1.3. You can ftp it from ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/cdrom/mkisofs-1.00.tar.gz. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kodak's Build-It product, which is basically a system for authoring Portfolio Photo CDs, can also author non-Photo-CD ISO 9660 discs, with or without the Rock Ridge extensions. It runs on SunOS 4.1.3, and requires a SPARCStation 2 or SPARCStation 10 with at least 64 megs of RAM. It requires the Kodak PCD Writer 200, and a second SCSI port for the writer. Information about Build-It can be obtained by anonymous FTP from the Kodak FTP server, ftp.kodak.com, in the directory photo-cd/portfolio. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Young Minds Inc. has Unix based Rock Ridge premastering software: Young Minds Inc. 1910 Orange Tree Lane Suite 300 Redlands, CA 92374 909 335-1350 909 798-0488 FAX yngmnds!ayoung@ucrmath.ucr.edu ========================================================================== 28b. Which systems support Rock Ridge OS Version === ==== Linux 0.98 FreeBSD 1.0 386BSD ??? BSDI BSD/386 V0.9.3 SunOS 4.1.2 Solaris 1.0 NeXT 3.1 SVR4.2 DG/UX 3.00 The "Version" is the first version that included official support for R.R. Please let me know any other systems that include R.R. support. I am also interested in any plans to support R.R. in the near future. ------ Under Novell NetWare 3.11, Micro Design's SCSI Express (Version 1.3.0) supports mounting Rock Ridge CD-ROMs as standard NetWare mountable volumes. Then through NetWare NFS, any UNIX client can access the CD-ROMs (including access to the RockRidge attributes). Also DOS, OS/2, and MAC clients can access the same CD-ROMs. ========================================================================== 29. What is ECMA 168? ECMA 168 is a volume and file format standard for write-once CD and CD-ROM. It was approved as a European standard by the ECMA General Assembly in June of 1992. It provides for full Orange Book functionality, including multisession recording, track-at-once recording, and packet recording. When used with an Orange Book writer, this will allow write-once CD to be used more like a general-purpose storage peripheral than is possible using ISO 9660. ECMA 168 also incorporates the functionality of Rock Ridge: the ability to use Unix-style filenames, Unix permissions, and deep directory hierarchies. Much thought was put into character set issues, and ECMA 168 accommodates multiple-byte character sets such as ISO 10646. Although ECMA 168 is not upward-compatible with ISO 9660, it is possible to write a "conformant disc" containing both sets of volume and file structures. If such a disc is Yellow Book compatible (a CD-ROM or a CD-WO written disc-at-once), it could be read on either an ISO 9660 system or an ECMA 168 system. There are many common elements between ECMA 168 and ECMA 167, which is a new standard intended primarily for WORM and erasable optical disks. Hopefully this will encourage developers to support both standards. The title of the standard is "Volume and File Structure of Read-Only and Write-Once Compact Disc Media for Information Interchange". This standard expands upon the ISO-9660 CD-ROM standard. At the current time, I do not know of any companies which support ECMA 168 in their products. A new draft international standard on CD-ROM/CD-WO format: ISO/IEC DIS 13490 Volume and File Structure of Read-only and Write-once Compact Disc Media for Information Interchange is currently undergoing letter ballot process and voting may end at end of August, 1993. DIS 13490 is also the ECMA Standard 168, which is derived from the Frankfurt Group proposal. Copies of this draft standard should be available at the ANSI or ECMA office. DIS 13490 is designed to support both the CD-ROM (yellow book) and CD-WO (orange book) conforming media. In addition, DIS 13490 removed many unnecessary restrictions of ISO 9660, and is compatible with ISO 9660 at the directory and file structures level. DIS 13490 conforming discs can also be made to be read by both ISO 9660 and DIS 13490 conforming receiving systems. The ECMA 168 specification is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com in the directory pub/cdrom/ecma168. ========================================================================== 30. Is a short technical introduction to these standards available? The file ftp.apple.com(130.43.2.3): /pub/cd-rom/cd-rom.summary gives a short techie introduction to compact disc technology. ---- There is a good short general article on CD-Rom and its's many variations (CD-XA, CD-I, CDTV, PhotoCD) called MULTIMEDIA IN A MUDDLE by Barry Fox in the New Scientist (London, ISSN# 0262-4079) vol. 131 no. 1787 (Sep 21, 1991) pp.35-38 ---- There is a very good article by Bill and Lynne Jolitz "Inside the ISO-9660 Filesystem Format" in the December 1992 Dr. Dobbs Journal. Detailed source code examples are provided. They are planning followup articles covering Rock Ridge, CDI and CDROM-XA. ---- The SAMS book "Principles of Digital Audio" by Ken C. Pohlmann (ISBN 0-672-22634-0) deals primarily with audio CDs but there are sections dealing with CD-ROM, CD-I, DVI, CD-V, CD-WO, Erasable CD, CD + G and CD + MIDI. ---- There is a good brief explaination of all these standards in the paper "Compact Disc Terminology" Nancy Klocko Disc Manufacturing Inc. 1409 Foulk Road, Suite 202 Wilmington, DE 19803 1-800-433-DISC Here is some information from the paper: Standards: Red Book == CD-Audio Yellow Book == CD-ROM Mode-1 is for computer data Mode-2 is for compressed audio data and video/picture data CD-ROM/XA == an EXTENSION to Yellow Book and defines a new type of track. CD-ROM Mode 2, XA Format, is used for computer data, compressed audio data, and video/picture data. A CD-ROM / XA track may interleave Mode 2 compressed audio and Mode 2 data sectors. Additional hardware is needed to separate these when playing the disc. The hardware is programmed to separate the audio from the data, decompress the audio and play it out through the audio jacks. At the same time, the hardware passes the data to the computer. NOTE: Additional hardware is needed to play a CD-ROM / XA disc. Several vendors offer an XA interface board that will allow an existing CD-ROM drive to play CD-ROM / XA discs. Green Book == Compact Disc Interactive (CD-I) Orange Book == Recordable Compact disc Standard Part I - CD-MO (Magneto Optical) Consists of optional Pre-Mastered (READ-ONLY) area and a Recordable (re-writable) user area. Part II - CD-WO (Write Once) Orange Book Part II also defines a second type of CD-WO disk called a "Hybrid Disc". This disc consists of a Pre-recorded Area and a Recordable Area. The Pre-recorded area is a READ ONLY area where the information is manufactured into the disc. (This area is written per the Red, Yellow, and Green Book specifications, and can be played on any CD-Player.) The Recordable areas are where additional recordings can be made in one or more sessions. Only the first session on the disc is readable by todays CD-Players; additional software will be needed to read the additional sessions. A TOC (Table of Contents) is written during each recording session. Disc will have multiple TOCs, one for each recording session. Photo-CD is an example of a "Hybrid Disc". CD-Bridge Disc The CD-Bridge Disc defines a way to add additional information in a CD-ROM / XA track in order to allow the track to be played on a CD-I player. the result is a disc that can be played on both a CD-I player connected to a TV set and on a CD-ROM / XA player connected to a computer. An example of a CD-Bridge Disc is the new Photo-CD disc. The Photo-CD disc will be playable in CD-I players, Kodak's Photo CD players and in computers using CD-ROM/XA drives. Photo-CD The Photo CDs will be Mode 2 Form 1 sectors per the CD-ROM / XA specifications. The disc will be written per the Orange Book Part II "Hybrid Disc" specifications. This will allow photographs to be written to the disc in several different sessions. Additionally, the disc will use the CD-Bridge disc format to allow the disc to be readable by both CD-I and CD-ROM / XA players. The photographs written to the disc in the first session will use the ISO 9660 format. These photographs will be readable with the existing CD-ROM / XA players connected to a computer running new software written for the Photo CD picture structure. Additionally, the photographs will be displayable on CD-I Players and Photo CD Players connected to a TV set. Photographs written to disc after the first session will be displayable on CD-I Players and Photo CD players. New software and/or firmware will be needed to read these additional photographs with existing CD-ROM/XA players. ========================================================================== 31. Who comes up with these standards? Can I have any input to the process? In the case of the colored books, they have been developed by engineers within Philips and Sony. Few people outside these companies have input into the process. The file format standards (ISO 9660, Rock Ridge, and ECMA 168) have all been developed originally by ad-hoc groups of interested people from various companies in the industry, then have been submitted to established standards organizations (ECMA, ANSI, ISO) for further work there. The CD-ROM Architecture Working Group is an official Standards working Group under the auspices of the IEEE Computer Society by way of the Standards Committee for Optical Disks and Multimedia Platforms (SCODMP) chaired and sponsored by Dr. Lawrence Welsch, PhD. Mike Rubinfeld is presently the Chair of the working group. They are working in accordance with a Project Authorization Request (PAR) for the development of a CD-ROM architecture profile that hopefully will be made into an international standard. The PAR was approved by the Standards Activity Board (SAB) of the IEEE/CS last June and the Architecture Profile will probably be ready for balloting by August, 1993. For more information, contact: Mike Rubinfeld NIST Bldg. 225, MS:B266 Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (301) 975-3064 Email: miker@mml.ncsl.nist.gov ========================================================================== 32. Are there any ftp sites with good stuff related to CD-ROMs? A couple of sites with cdrom related stuff are ftp.cdrom.com (192.153.46.2): /cdrom [ This site is maintained by me. ] Get the file cdrom/README for a list of files. cs.uwp.edu (131.210.1.4): /pub/cdrom ========================================================================== 33. How do I write an MSDOS program that can access a cdrom using MSCDEX? The MSCDEX interface documentation is available on the Microsoft Programmer's Library CD-ROM. This also has detailed specifications for drivers that talk to MSCDEX. It even provides solutions to a number of sticky problems. The file mscdex21.zip contains Microsoft's info on how to talk to the CD-ROM extensions (MSCDEX.EXE) and a sample DOS application which is crude but effective in playing audio tracks. This file is available via anonymous ftp from ftp.cica.indiana.edu:/pub/pc/win3/uploads/mscdex21.zip or cdrom.com:/cdrom/mscdex21.zip. MSCDEX programming information can be found in INTER31?.ZIP. Ralf Brown's interrupt bible. The information is very complete. The interrupt list is available via anonymous ftp from Simtel20 (wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) or from the mirror site wuarchive.wustl.edu: /mirrors/msdos/info/inter31?.zip. There is a book by Ray Duncan (Microsoft Press) detailing all extensions to Dos (XMS, LIM EMS, MSCDEX etc..) which should be available in book stores. The title is "MS-DOS EXTENSIONS" ISBN 1-55615-212-4. ========================================================================== 34. How do I mount an ISO-9660 disc on a Sun? a. SunOS 4.1.x: Su to root and run this command, # mount -r -t hsfs /dev/sr0 /cdrom or even better, put the following line in your /etc/fstab /dev/sr0 /cdrom hsfs ro 0 0 and then run # mount /cdrom Don Trimmer, of Delta Microsystems, has written a program that allows safe mount/umount operations without requiring super user permissions. You can get his program by anonymous ftp from cdrom.com:/cdrom/mount.c b. Sun Solaris 2.2 and later Just insert the CD-ROM in the drive. If it's a HSFS format disk, it will get mounted automatically (under /cdrom). If it's a UNIX fileystem format, it will also get mounted automatically. It it's an audio disk, nothing will happen UNLESS you have enabled audio CD's, by uncommenting or adding this line to the end of /etc/rmmount.conf and restarted "vold": action cdrom action_workman.so /bin/workman (changing /bin/workman to wherever workman or some other Audio CD player program is located). Actions are being developed for other types of CD's. ========================================================================== 35. How do I use a cdrom with OS/2? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CD-ROM Players Directly Supported by OS/2 2.1 GA: CD Technology T3301 Hitachi CDR-1650 Hitachi CDR-1750 Hitachi CDR-3650 Hitachi CDR-3750 IBM CD-ROM I IBM CD-ROM II NEC 25 NEC 36 NEC 37 NEC 72 NEC 74 NEC 82 NEC 83 NEC 84 NEC Multispin 38 NEC Multispin 74 NEC Multispin 84 Panasonic CR-501 Panasonic LK-MC501S Pioneer DRM-600 Pioneer DRM-604X Sony CDU-541 Sony CDU-561 Sony CDU-6111 Sony CDU-6211 Sony CDU-7211 Texel DM-3021 Texel DM-5021 Toshiba 3201 Toshiba 3301 Toshiba 3401 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Other CD-ROM Players that work with OS/2 2.1 GA but are unlisted: Apple CD-300 (uses Sony CDU-561 driver?) Toshiba 4101 (uses Toshiba 3401 driver) .... Note: The new NEC 3x drives reportedly use the Multispin 74/84 drivers. Someone please confirm this. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Additional CD-ROM Players supported via external drivers: Apple CD-150 CDU8002A.ZIP Chinon 431 CHINONCD.ZIP Chinon 435 CHINONCD.ZIP Chinon 535 CHINONCD.ZIP Mitsumi FX001D MITFX.ZIP Mitsumi LU002 MITLU002.ZIP Mitsumi LU005S MITLU002.ZIP Panasonic 562 SBCD2PAN.ZIP Panasonic 563B SBCD2PAN.ZIP Philips CM-205 LMS205.ZIP Philips CM-206 LMS206.ZIP Sony CDU-31A SONY31A.ZIP Sony CDU-31A-2 SONY31A.ZIP Sony CDU-531 SONY535.ZIP or CDU535.ZIP Sony CDU-535 SONY535.ZIP or CDU535.ZIP Sony CDU-8002A CDU8002A.ZIP ----------------------------------------------------------------------- OS/2 now also has excellent driver support through Corel SCSI and Corel SCSI Pro. The Corel package supports most CD-ROM, CD-Recorders, WORM and MO drives for both DOS and OS/2. Comput-ability seems to have Corel SCSI on perpetual sale at around $65. ========================================================================== 36. Which CD-ROM Drives will work with Microsoft(r) Windows NT(tm)? This section of the Usenet alt.cd-rom FAQ lists the SCSI host adapters, SCSI CD-ROM drives, and multimedia audio adapters which are supported by Microsoft Windows NT. This information is a subset of the document "Microsoft(r) Windows NT(tm) Beta March 1993 Hardware Compatibility List Update"; the complete version of thie document is available on Compuserve, in either WinNT forum library #1 or MSWin32 library #17. These adapters and peripherals have passed Windows NT compatibility testing as of May 1993. This list is a subset of the hardware we expect to support in the final product and was current at the time it was published. If your hardware is not listed below, contact your hardware manufacturer for more information. We have not tested every computer and/or device in all possible configurations. While we have endeavored to supply as complete and accurate a list as possible, MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE COMPLETENESS AND ACCURACY OF THIS LIST. This list does not constitute an endorsement of any particular manufacturer. Microsoft and BallPoint are registered trademarks, and Windows and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other product names and trademarks are property of their respective owners. SCSI(r) Host Adapters --------------------- The following SCSI adapters have been tested with the following drives (except as noted): CD Technologies CD Porta-Drive T-3301, NEC Intersect CDR-74, Micropolis 1924, Peripheral Land Infinity 88, ArchiveST 4000 DAT. Adaptec(tm) AHA-1510 Adaptec AHA-1520 Adaptec AHA-1522 Adaptec AHA-1540B [2] Adaptec AHA-1542B [2] Adaptec AHA-1542C Adaptec AHA-1640 Adaptec AHA-1740 [3] Adaptec AHA-1742 [3] Adaptec AHA-1740A [4] Adaptec AHA-1742A [4] Adaptec AIC-6260 [5] BusLogic BT-542B BusLogic BT-545S BusLogic BT-640A BusLogic BT-646S BusLogic BT-742A BusLogic BT-747S DPT PM2011b (incl. cache) DPT PM2012b (incl. cache) Future Domain MCS-600 (Future Domain's phone number: +1-714-253-0400) Future Domain MCS-700 Future Domain TMC-845 [6] Future Domain TMC-850 Future Domain TMC-850M(ER) Future Domain TMC-860 Future Domain TMC-860M Future Domain TMC-885 Future Domain TMC-1650 Future Domain TMC-1660 Future Domain TMC-1670 Future Domain TMC-1680 Future Domain TMC-7000EX IBM PS/2 Microchannel SCSI Host Adapter [7] IBM PS/2 Microchannel SCSI Host Adapter (with cache) Maynard 16-Bit SCSI Adapter [8] NCR 53C700 SCSI Adapter NCR 53C710 SCSI Adapter NCR 53C90 SCSI Controller [9,10] NCR 53C94 SCSI Controller [11] Olivetti ESC-1 Olivetti ESC-2 [12] Trantor T-128 [13,14,6] Trantor T-130b [13,6] UltraStor 14f [15] UltraStor 24f [16] UltraStor 34f UltraStor 124f [17] Native SCSI adapter on MIPS ARC/R4000 systems from ACER, MIPS and Olivetti SCSI CD-ROM Drives ------------------ The following CD-ROM drives have been tested with the following adapters: Adaptec AHA-1542b, AHA-1640 and AHA-1740A; Future Domain TMC-1670 and TMC-850M; IBM PS/2 Microchannel SCSI Host Adapter (with cache); UltraStor 24f. CD-Technology CD Porta-Drive T-3301 Toshiba TXM-3301-based CD-Technology CD Porta-Drive T-3401 Toshiba TXM-3401 Chinon CDX-431 [18] COMPAQ DualSpeed Sony CDU-561-based Creative Labs Sound Blaster Pro sound card with a proprietary interface to Panasonic CD-ROMs DEC RRD 42-DA Sony CDU-541-based Denonr DRD 253 Hitachir CDR-1750S [19] IBM 3510 IBM Enhanced Internal CDROM II Drive 32G2958 Toshiba TXM-3401-based IBM Enhanced External CDROM II Drive 3510005 Toshiba TXM-3401-based IBM PS/2 CDROM II Drive Toshiba TXM-3301-based Matsushita CR-501B Panasonic Matsushita CR-521 Panasonic Matsushita CR-561 Panasonic NEC Intersect CDR-73M NEC Intersect CDR-83M NEC Intersect CDR-74 NEC Intersect CDR-84 Panasonicr CR-501B [18] Philips CM-215 Pioneerr DRM-600 [20] Procom Technology MCD-DS Toshiba TXM-3401-based Sony CDU-541 [21] Sony CDU-6211 Sony CDU-7211 Texel DM-5021 [18] Toshiba TXM-3201 old model, replaced by TXM-3301 Toshiba TXM-3301 Toshiba TXM-3401 Multimedia Audio Adapters ------------------------- The following audio adapters have undergone preliminary testing. Creative Labs SoundBlaster(tm) 1.x Creative Labs SoundBlaster Pro(tm) [26] Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum [26,27] Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum-16 [26,27] Media Vision Thunder Board [26] Microsoft Windows(tm) Sound System Native sound adapter on MIPS ARC/R4000 systems from ACER and MIPS Relavent footnotes (2-21,26,27) ------------------------------- 2 Tested with firmware revisions 3.10 and 3.20. 3 This adapter must be configured for 5 MB/second asynchronous I/O to work with listed CD-ROM drives from NEC. 4 This adapter must be configured for 5 MB/second asynchronous I/O to work with listed CD-ROM drives from Chinon, Hitachi and NEC. 5 Tested with Unisys PW2Advantage 3256 (Flemington). 6 To use this adapter, at least one device on the bus must provide termination power. 7 This adapter does not support 4mm DAT drives. 8 The Maynard SCSI Controller can be used as a general purpose SCSI controller for all tasks except CD Setup. To install Windows NT with this adapter, use the WINNT.EXE Setup method. 9 Tested with NCR System 3000 Model 3320 and Compaq Portable 486c. 10 The NCR System 3000 Model 3320 with this SCSI controller does not support tape backup. 11 Tested with NCR System 3000 Model 3350. 12 This adapter must be configured for asynchronous I/O to work with NEC Intersect CDR-73(M) and Pioneer DRM-600 CD-ROM drives. 13 This adapter is supported only on IRQ 5. 14 This adapter does not support tape drives. 15 Contact UltraStor for an upgrade if you encounter CD-ROM problems. 16 Contact UltraStor for an upgrade if you encounter tape drive problems. 17 The UltraStor 124f is a RAID controller. It supports hard drives and removable media drives only. 18 CD audio is not supported on this drive. 19 Soft (recoverable) errors may occur when used with Future Domain 8xx series adapters. 20 The Adaptec AHA-1640 only supports a single compact disc when used with this CD-ROM drive. 21 CD Audio is not supported on Sony CD-ROM drives when used with the Adaptec AHA-1640. 26 Supported in SoundBlaster 1.x emulation mode only. 27 The external MIDI connector on this adapter is not supported. ========================================================================== 37. How do I read an audio cd track as digital data? Most CD-ROM drives cannot decode audio information. There are firmware and data path reasons why it doesn't work. The following drives have can do digital audio extraction over the SCSI bus: Apple 300, 300i (Sony CDU-8003, CDU-8003A) Apple's "New" CD (Matsushita CR-8004) Chinon CDS-535 (note: needs v2.0 firmware "Q20" or "R20") NEC CDR 500, CDR 510, CDR 600 (MultiSpin 3x series) NEC CDR 400 (MultiSpin 3xp portable) NEC CDR 900 (MultiSpin 4x Pro quadruple speed) NEC CDR 84-1 (74-1) only with special new firmware upgrade from NEC Sony CDU-561 Toshiba XM 3301TE (Silicon Graphics version) Toshiba XM 3401TA, XM 3401B Toshiba XM 3401TE (Silicon Graphics, and Sun versions) Toshiba XM 4101TA The Hitachi 6750S might, if the rumors prove true On an Amiga, you may use the program 'cddarip' to extract audio data from a Toshiba TXM-3401 drive. The program 'PlayCDDA' reads any audio track from an audio disk in a Toshiba TXM-3401 drive and reproduces the digitized sound on the Amiga's internal loudspeaker. Both programs are freely distributable, and can are available via anonymous FTP from any Aminet site, e.g. ftp.cdrom.com in the directory /pub/aminet/disk/cdrom. On a Macintosh you can put the CD into an Apple 300 CD-ROM, and using QuickTime 1.6, record the music (at 44KHz) to your (hopefully very large) hard drive as a QT soundtrack. At that point there are a number of tools available to edit and massage the sound, and change the file format into something else. For the Toshiba drives, you issue a MODE SELECT command with density code 0x82 and then all read's with an lba inside a digital audio track will return 2352 bytes audio samples / block. There are several ways to read digital audio from Sony CDU 561 and Sony CDU 8003 mechanisms. Note that the technique of merely setting the density (0x82) using MODE SELECT SCSI command as on Toshiba TXM-3401s will not work. Here are three ways to read digital audio Red Book standard audio track data across the SCSI bus into your computer complete with all sound processing already performed (For example the CIRC routine already run and the output is LRLRLR pairs of 16 bit digital audio samples 2352 bytes per CD-ROM block. Method 1 : READ CD-DA scsi command 0xD8 Byte 0: D8 1: 0 2: <4th most significant byte of logical block address> 3: <3rd byte> 4: <2nd> 5: <1st, lowest of the address> 6: <4th most significant byte of transfer length 7: <3rd byte> 8: <2nd> 9: <1st, lowest of the number of contiguos blocks to transfer> 10: (0 == normal 2352, other values are 01, 02, 03) 11: Method 2 : READ CD-DA MSF scsi command 0xD9 byte 0: D9 1: 0 2: 0 3: 4: 5: 6: 0 7: 8: 9: 10: (0 == normal 2352 each, other values are 01, 02, 03) 11: For this one you will need to remember how to convert MSF to logical (LBA) address to set the SCSI transfer length correctly to avoid the Mac SCSI manager reporting a phase error. to calculate the number of bytes total you will get use the formula: ((Me-Ms)*60*75 + (Se-Ss) * 75 + (Fe-Fs)) * (2352) Method 3 : MODE SELECT (6) 0x15 This is a very complex topic to discuss, but if you know how to use the SCSI mode select page commands the third more direct (and jitter filled) method to get digital audio across the SCSI bus on the new SONY devices is to set the block length of the volatile settings in the 6th 7th and 8th bytes of the Block descriptor section of a MODE select list with 0 or more pages (12 bytes for none) to a setting of either 2352, 2368, or 2448. You want 2352, but I have not tried this technique and Sony recommends the special streaming commands. WARNING: for high quality use large transfers but QUICKLY reissue another command as soon as a command is completed. The head must never come to a rest for 100% pure results. ------- The format of a CD-DA sector, that the Toshiba TXM-3401 returns, is not too complicated: each sector contains 2352 bytes, these are devided into 588 16-bit signed stereo samples of 4 bytes each. The 16-bit samples are returned in 'low byte first' (i386, ...) byte order. The 16-bit samples in the sector are intended alternating for the left and right channel, starting with the left channel. struct cdda_sector { struct cdda_sample { char left_channel_lsb; char left_channel_msb; char right_channel_lsb; char right_channel_msb; } samples[588]; }; ------- If you want to do low-level SCSI programming, call Toshiba Direct at 1-800-678-4373. The document is entitled "Toshiba CD-ROM, SCSI-2 Interface Specifications, Ver. 6.0, Issued Jul., 1992". The cost is $7.64 + $4 shipping. Note that this is extremely technical material, and won't be useful to the average user. ========================================================================== 39. Why do all the bundle deals require me to buy a drive? What if I already have a drive? Many disc producers sell outdated or surplus discs at steep discounts to be bundled with new drives. The theory is that the new drive owner will find the discs useful, and order the latest version at full price. There are some bundle deals that do not require you to buy a new drive. For instance, the CD-ROM User's Group (see above) has a bundle of ten discs for $99. ========================================================================== 40. Are alt.cd-rom archives available anywhere? Starting in January 1994, the archives for the following newsgroups are available via anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com in the directory /pub/cdrom/usenet: alt.cd-rom aus.cdrom aus.computers.cdrom bit.listserv.cdrom-l bit.listserv.cdromlan comp.publish.cdrom.hardware comp.publish.cdrom.multimedia comp.publish.cdrom.software comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.cd-rom de.alt.cdrom unibase.bitnet.cdromlan You can retrieve old alt.cd-rom articles via email: For a list of files available, send the message INDEX CDROM-L as the first line of your e-mail message to: LISTSERV@UCCVMA.BITNET or the Internet form of address: LISTSERV@UCCVMA.UCOP.EDU To retrieve an archived message, send the e-mail message GET CDROM-L LOGyymm or SENDME CDROM-L LOGyymm as above where yymm is the year and month of the archive wanted. e.g. LOG9110 = Log of October 91 messages. ========================================================================== 41. What is the shelf-life of a CD-ROM? If a CD-ROM is not manufactured properly, the lifetime can be very short, perhaps only a few years. This can happen if the edge of the disc is not properly sealed, and oxygen reaches the metal surface. If the disc is manufactured properly, it will last a very long time. Most CD-ROMs should last for more than a human lifetime. Philips has proposed new standards for testing CD-ROMs that are expected to result in discs that will enjoy a life span of more than a thousand years. For more information see Fox, Barry "CD Makers Perform in Unison to Stop the Rot" New Scientist 134(1815) (April 4, 1992):19. The laser used in a CD-ROM drive is very low power, and does not harm the disc in any way. Reading the disc will not shorten the lifetime. ========================================================================== 42. How should I handle my CD-ROMs? How do I clean them? Wash your hands before contact with the disc. If available, wear lint-free cloth gloves, finger cots, or talc-free latex gloves. If you must wipe the disc, do so with a soft, dry, lint-free cloth in a radial motion- that is from the inner to the outer hub- not in a circular motion around the disc like you might do for a phonograph record. The most devastating scratches are those which occur along a circular arc of the disc which can obscure a long stream of pits. Certain cleaning agents and solvents can damage the discs. Some of these include: gasoline, paint thinners, benzine, acetone, carbon tetrachloride, chlorinated cleaning solvents, ammonia, and household detergents which contain ammonia. Do not clean with a water soaked cloth. The use of Isopropyl alcohol, the ingredient in many commercial CD cleaning products, as well as certain waxes and acrylic liquids, is still questionable. Do not clean the label side of the disc. Use of a CD-ROM caddy is highly recommended during transport and operation. Limit the amount of physical contact with the disc. Always handle the disc by the outer edge and/or the inner (hole) edge. Never touch the data surface. Discs like to "live" in the same conditions that people do; that is: They don't like to be manhandled They don't like exposure to temperature extremes They don't like exposure to excess humidity They don't like exposure to high intensity UV light ========================================================================== 43. Which drives will work with Kodak Photo CD? The following drives offer full Multisession Photo CD Support: ---------------------------- Apple 300, 300i (Sony CDU-8003, CDU-8003A) Apple PowerCD (Philips CDF080) Chinon CDS-535 MDI LaserBank 600CDX NEC CDR-38 NEC CDR-84-1 (CDR-74-1) NEC CDR 400 (MultiSpin 3xp portable) NEC CDR 500, CDR 510, CDR 600 (MultiSpin 3x series) NEC CDR 900 (MultiSpin 4x Pro quadruple speed) Philips/LMS CM 215 Philips CM 4xx Philips CM 44x Sony CDU-561 TEAC CD-50 Texel DM-5024 (DM-3024) Texel DM-5028 (DM-3028) Toshiba XM 3401TA (XM 3401B) Toshiba XM 3401TE (Silicon Graphics version, Sun version) Toshiba XM 4101TA The NEC CDR-74/84 works fine with PhotoCD. Older models that have a firmware revision of 1.0 should be sent back to NEC for a FREE refit, that upgrades the firmware to 1.0a, and may update some other components. NEC should be called at 1-(800)-388-8888 follow the recorded messages to get them to sent the info required for the refit (or hit 6 then 1 to get there instantly). You will get your drive back in 3-4 business days. The Kodak Information Center is maintaining a file on the compuserve CDROM forum of compatible drives, and it has become quite extensive. They also specify compatible SCSI boards, drivers, and cable configurations. There are also a couple of subtle issues in compatibility that are still being worked out. For example, the NEC drives are single session compatible, but not multi. There are also drives which have been certified as compatible which are not XA, and there is some indication that this makes them useful for pictures alone, but not for mixed media Photo-CD productions in the future. ========================================================================== 44. What is a multisession CD drive? A CD has an "index" area which contains track details; this is what is read when you first stick an audio CD into a player. Photo-CDs have a separate index area each time they are written (because it is impossible to "update" the index area). A multisession drive is one that knows to look for multiple index areas. The full details are contained in the Philips/Sony/Kodak "Orange Book" standard for writable CDs. ========================================================================== 45. How does Photo CD work? In a nut shell, 35mm film (negative, slide, B&W, internegative) is scanned by an image scanner and transfered to XA-formatted CD-ROM discs. These discs are manufactured by burning (writing) -- not by pressing. Each scanned image on the disc is kept in five resolutions. These five resolutions are called: Base/16, Base/4, Base, 4Base, and 16Base. As examples, Base/16 is one sixteenth the resolution of the "Base" image, and 16Base is sixteen times the resolution of "Base". (These are not simply larger picture elements. There are in increased number of scan lines.) The 4Base and 16Base images are are compressed using Huffman encoding. You need the decompression software to pull the higher resolutions out of the image. You would typically need these higher resolutions if you want enlargements or if you intend to use an HDTV as a display device. ========================================================================== 46. Where can I get some information about the Kodak Photo CD? To learn more about Photo CD products or other KODAK desktop color imaging products, contact Eastman Kodak Company at 1-800-242-2424 Ext 51 or 716-724-1021, ext. 53. Or send inquiries to the following address: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY Kodak Information Center Dept. E. 343 State Street Rochester, NY 14650-0811 Information about PhotoCD is available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com:/cdrom/photo_cd, and from ftp.kodak.com:/pub/photo-cd. There is an excellent article on PhotoCD in the Sept 92 issue of Photographic Magazine. Eastman Kodak Co recently released Photo CD Access, which is designed to allow users to integrate CD images into any Windows or Macintosh Application. Requires a CD ROM XA (Extended Architecture) drive. Most popular image formats are supported, including TIFF, GIF, TARGA and PICT. Kodak sells the software directly. $39.95, 1-800-242-2424. A developer's kit is available for $695 and includes source code as well as object for PC/MAC. -------------------- Dick Phillip's Photo-CD application for NeXTs is now loaded in the pub/next/submissions directory at sonata.cc.purdue.edu. The following files are available: pCD0.3.4..README pCD0.3.4.tar.compressed application README.pCD photo_cd.tar.Z test data - simulated photo-CD photo_cd.tar.Z.README -------------------- The maximum resolution is 3072 X 2048, 24 bit color. ========================================================================== 47. What are the lowest prices for getting my photo's put on Photo CD? In the U.S. you can put photos on Photo CD for $0.59 per image from "LazerQuick" in Beaverton, OR. 1-800-937-9196, 1-503-644-9196. Fedco stores (LA area) charges $14.99 to develop a 24 exp and create a new photo CD. To add developed negatives to an exsisting CD it's $0.56 each negative. Ritz Camera is slighty higher. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- In Germany: Photo Porst Falbenholzweg 1 91126 Schwabach Germany phone: [+49](9122)793-1 fax: [+49](9122)793-259 DM 16,- for the CD DM 4,95 for the production DM 1,39 for < 49 photos DM 1,29 for 50-74 photos DM 1,19 for > 75 photos For a complete Photo CD with 100 photos this gives a price of DM 139,95 which would be about US $ 84. ========================================================================== 47. Where can I get maps of the US on CD-ROM? The USGS is producing a series of cds that contain 1:100,000 scale digital line graph (DLG) data. Presently, only Florida is available. Also, 1:2,000,000 DLG cd is available for the US. Call 1-800-USA-MAPS for more info. You can also get topo data (with AVHRR coverage) on CD-ROM for $32. This is DEM (30" elevation data) for the whole US. Contact: EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, SD 605-594-6507, or 6511 The Digital Chart of the World (DCW), produced by your Defense Mapping Agency, is generally acknowledged to be the best data set providing world-wide coverage. It is at a scale of about 1:1 000 000, and it is unlikely that you will find data at a larger scale for much of the world. At $200.00 for the set of 4 CD-ROMs and viewing data, it is considered to be a steal by most professional users, though it might be a bit of an overkill for domestic use. You can obtain it from: U S Geological Survey Distribution Center Building 810 Box 25286 Denver, CO 80225 ========================================================================== 48. How do I put a CD-ROM Drive on a Novell network? --------- 1. SCSI Express. Corel Corp. SCSI drives only, NLM only. 2. OptiNet by OnLine in Germantown, MD. Both NLM and separate CD-Server. Any type of drive supported. Up to 128 drives per server. 3. CD-Net by Meridian in Colorado. Software only version of the Meridian CD-Server. Used to be limited to 21 drives, but may have been upgraded. Not sure if NLM version is currently available. Also, CBIS has a hardware/software solution that supports up to 21 drives per server. No NLM. All the packages run about $700 for 8 users or less. [ If anyone has used any of these products, and would like to recommend yes or no, please let me know.] --------- Corel sells a SCSI driver package that include NLM's to put worm drives, CD-Roms etc on a 3.1+ server. The package also includes dos drivers for just about every device you would want to connect to SCSI. Only costs about $70. ========================================================================== 49. Are any CD-ROM Jukeboxes available? There is a Pioneer DRM600 CD-ROM jukebox. It will hold 6 CD's in a cartridge, costs around $900-$1000, but has a slow drive. Pioneer also has a new drive coming out in December that is the same 6-CD changer, but with a 340ms, 600K/Sec drive in it. That will be more like $1400. It is available from: Kintronics Computer Products 3 Westchester Plaza Elmsford, NY 10523 914-347-2530 or 800-431-1658 attention Neal Allen It is also distributed by Peripheral Solution, in Santa Cruz, 408-425-8280 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A jukebox that handles 240 discs is available from Kubik Technologies Ltd. 200-3900 Viking Way Richmond, BC V6V 1V7 604-273-0400 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is a German firm called NSM that sells CD-jukeboxes for bars, etc. They have their fast 100-disk changer also available for consumer purposes and a CD-ROM version. In Holland it is sold by: LaserMusic Nederland Leeuwenstein 44 2627 AM Delft, the Netherlands. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Lotus CD/Networker can have up to 28 CD-ROM drives installed in it. Lotus Development Corporation, 55 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA 02142. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Todd Enterprises has a box that can have up to 64 CD-ROM drives mounted. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Another jukebox is available from Microboards (MBi of America), 308 Broadway, PO Box 130, Carver MN 55315, 612/448-9800, 612/448-9806 (fax), contact Kathleen Davies ========================================================================== 50. Can I speed up my CD-ROM by using a cache? There are several programs that cache information from the CD-ROM onto your hard disk. Since magnetic discs are often more than 10 times faster than a CD-ROM, this can result in dramatic improvements under some circumstances. Most of the programs cache the directory information, so you can traverse subdirectories quickly. They also cache the most recently accessed blocks of data. So if you use the same files over and over, or access the same records in a database, your CD-ROM will seem much faster. But when you access the information for the first time, it will be just as slow as ever. SpeedCache+ from Future Systems has been recommended as a pretty good caching program. Future Systems, Inc 0420 South 500 East Bluffton, IN 46714 (219) 824-4963 ------ On the Macintosh a prescanning (Directory, file atrributes, icons, etc) cache to accelerate the Mac with CD-ROMs exists from two companies SpeedyCD 1.22 and FWB CD-ROM ToolKit 1.0. FWB seems much faster than SpeedyCD and can prescan any type of CD-ROM volumes (ProDos, Mac HFS, MS DOS, ISO9660, PhotoCD etc.) It prescans in the background. ========================================================================== 51. Do you have any info about the CD-ROM filesystems for Amigas? AmiCDROM This CDROM filesystem allows an Amiga with SCSI port to access any ISO 9660, Rockridge or Mac HFS disk. CDTV disks are also accessible. Contains support for AudioCDs. AmiCDROM is freeware, and is available by anonymous FTP from any Aminet site, including ftp.cdrom.com in the directory /pub/aminet/disk/cdrom. The following information is taken from the Winter '93 "AC's Guide to the Commodre Amiga" (pages 112, 253, 262, 149) AsimCDFS This CD_ROM FIleSystem allows an Amiga/CDTV to access any ISO9660, HighSierra, or Mac HFS formatted disc. CDTV discs also accessible. Comes with FishMarket, a disc containing Fred Fish disks 1-637, and AsimTunes, an intuition-based AudioCD controller program with ARexx capability. Includes a manual and a painless install procedure. Supports a number of CD-ROM drives. Requires SCSI controller compatible with Commodore SCSI-Direct Standard. For 68000,010,020, 030,040 processors. Minimum 512K, more recommended for buffering. AmigaDOS 1.3/2.0 compatible. $79.00 Asimware Innovations, 101 Country Club Dr, Hamilton, Ontario L8K 5W4, Canada, (416) 578- 4916 FAX(416) 578-3966 CDx Disk Set All software needed to attach a SCSI CD-ROM drive to most popular SCSI controllers, plus a printed manual and two CD-ROM discs (Fish & More Vols. I and II). Software consists of: CDxFileSystem for access to ISO 9660, High Sierra, and Mac HFS discs, CDTV emulation software to run most CDTV titles (1MB chip RAM recommended), audio CD player software, an assembly/C/Arexx-compatible device for developers, and more. NTSC/PAL compatible, Requires SCSI controller, SCSI CD-ROM drive. AmigaDOS 2.0 compatible. $50.00 Xetec, Inc., 2804 Arnold Road, Salina, KS 67401, (913) 827-0685, FAX(913) 827-6023 CDROM-FS CDROM-FS version 702 enables Amiga owners to connect most SCSI CD ROM drives to an Amiga with a SCSI interface. This software provides support for industry standard ISO 9660/High Sierra format CD ROM discs. It comes with clear concise instructions, making it easy to install and use. Requires A590, A2091, A3000, Microbotics Hardframe or GVP. $49.95. Canadian Prototype Replicas, P.O. Box 8, Breslau, Ontario, Canada N0B 1M0, (519) 884-4412 ========================================================================== 53. What are some good references to CD-ROM reviews? Reviews of many CDROMs are available by anonymous ftp from ftp.cdrom.com in /pub/cdrom/reviews. --------------------------------------------------------- Drive reviews: "PC-Computing" December 1992 "Macworld", October 1992 "PC-Computing", October 1992 "Computer Shopper", October 1992 --------------------------------------------------------- CD-ROM LAN Server reviews: "LAN Times", January 11, 1993 "PC Magazine", December 31, 1991 --------------------------------------------------------- Jan Schwenk, the president and CEO of Resource International, runs a BBS containing many CD-ROM reviews. The number is (817)-582-0672 at 8N1. Admission is free. ========================================================================== 54. How do I put a CD-ROM Drive on a Ethernet by using a unix system (e.g. a SUN ) as a server and PCs as clients. Edmund J. Sutcliffe writes: If you mount an ISO format CD-ROM on you sun using the commands previously mentioned in Question 34 and export it to the network using # exportfs /cdrom It is then made available for mounting using NFS to other devices. The PC can mount the CD-ROM using any NFS Client including Sun's PC-NFS. (This is the product we use) Most PC search software requires the presence of MSCDEX to work with the CD-ROM. Daniel Churchman of Digital Solutions Pty Ltd, of Queensland Australia wrote a simplistic MSCDEX faker called MXSUB in May 1990 which they release under GNU Public License in January '92. This work well with early versions of the search software.Colin Ian King wrote a small quantitiy of C code which fakes the MSCDEX extensions required by many PC packages. He also produced a list of which search software used which MSCDEX functions. This code is released under GNU Public license and is available from ftp.york.ac.uk in /pub/cd-rom, via anonymous FTP. This faker can work with an Microsoft Compatible Network which can see CD-ROMs. It is also necessary sometimes to set the volume label of the NFS mounted drive. "Malcolm E. Sherrington" in an article in the proceeding of the UKUUG confernce of January '93 talks about the problems in doing this. He wrote a program call NFSLABEL to label PC-NFS mounted Network Drives. However, this code was slow to be release and Robert Turner wrote similar code called LABELNFS which is available in source form. All this code is available from ftp.york.ac.uk in /pub/pc-nfs. This code has been sucessfully used with BRS/Search SilverPlatter and WilsonDisk search software. The only CD-ROM search software which has been made available to me for testing purpose, on the Macintosh is SilverPlatters SPIRS. We have a GatorCS/Rack running GatorShare, an Apple Filing Protocol to NFS convert. (For more info mail support@cayman.com) This allows the Macs to see NFS file store as Appleshare Volumes. To mount CD-ROM to the Mac you must do the following: 1) mount the CD-ROM on a Mac using a local CD-ROM. This will give you the Volume Name of the CD-ROM as seen to the Mac. 2) mount the CD-ROM on the NFS server. 3) Using GatorKeeper, the management software for GatorShare create a new AppleShare Volume called the same name as the volume when the CD-ROM was mounted locally. This volume should mount the CD-ROM exported from the NFS server but the DESKTOP file should be create on some other section of NFS disk as it cannot be created on the CD-ROM. GatorKeeper will confirm the volume creation and then uses can mount the Volumes using the Chooser as usual. The user community can now mount the CD-ROM over the network to their Mac just like any other network volume and the SPIRS search software can us it. It is possible to Automate this mount and search software to make it transparent to the user and so limit usuage. It should be noted that it is important to license approriately copies of the CD-ROMs before exporting them generally over the network. You might also want to restrict access to appropriate netgroups. Also license locking the search software satisfies certain companies, but not all. ========================================================================== 54. How do I read the UPC (universal product code?) from a CDROM? The precense of the UPC on a CD is optional, although all the audio CDs have one. CDROMs might not have a UPC, however. There's an MSCDEX function to get the UPC (int 2F, AX=0x1510, CX=, ES:BX= with the request header filled with the IOCTL INPUT command 14 (get UPC)). The MSCDEX documentation (chapters 10 and 11) will give you more information. ========================================================================== 55. How do I Put a CD-ROM driver on the Ethernet by using a unix system as a server and make it available to the PC and Mac. Edmund J. Sutcliffe writes: If you mount an ISO format CD-ROM on you sun using the commands previously mentioned in Question 34 and export it to the network using # exportfs /cdrom It is then made available for mounting using NFS to other devices. The PC can mount the CD-ROM using any NFS Client including Sun's PC-NFS. (This is the product we use) Most PC search software requires the presence of MSCDEX to work with the CD-ROM. Daniel Churchman of Digital Solutions Pty Ltd, of Queensland Australia wrote a simplistic MSCDEX faker called MXSUB in May 1990 which they release under GNU Public License in January '92. This work well with early versions of the search software.Colin Ian King wrote a small quantitiy of C code which fakes the MSCDEX extensions required by many PC packages. He also produced a list of which search software used which MSCDEX functions. This code is released under GNU Public license and is available from ftp.york.ac.uk in /pub/cd-rom, via anonymous FTP. This faker can work with an Microsoft Compatible Network which can see CD-ROMs. It is also necessary sometimes to set the volume label of the NFS mounted drive. "Malcolm E. Sherrington" in an article in the proceeding of the UKUUG confernce of January '93 talks about the problems in doing this. He wrote a program call NFSLABEL to label PC-NFS mounted Network Drives. However, this code was slow to be release and Robert Turner wrote similar code called LABELNFS which is available in source form. All this code is available from ftp.york.ac.uk in /pub/pc-nfs. This code has been sucessfully used with BRS/Search SilverPlatter and WilsonDisk search software. The only CD-ROM search software which has been made available to me for testing purpose, on the Macintosh is SilverPlatters SPIRS. We have a GatorCS/Rack running GatorShare, an Apple Filing Protocol to NFS convert. (For more info mail support@cayman.com) This allows the Macs to see NFS file store as Appleshare Volumes. To mount CD-ROM to the Mac you must do the following: 1) mount the CD-ROM on a Mac using a local CD-ROM. This will give you the Volume Name of the CD-ROM as seen to the Mac. 2) mount the CD-ROM on the NFS server. 3) Using GatorKeeper, the management software for GatorShare create a new AppleShare Volume called the same name as the volume when the CD-ROM was mounted locally. This volume should mount the CD-ROM exported from the NFS server but the DESKTOP file should be create on some other section of NFS disk as it cannot be created on the CD-ROM. GatorKeeper will confirm the volume creation and then uses can mount the Volumes using the Chooser as usual. The user community can now mount the CD-ROM over the network to their Mac just like any other network volume and the SPIRS search software can us it. It is possible to Automate this mount and search software to make it transparent to the user and so limit usuage. It should be noted that it is important to license approriately copies of the CD-ROMs before exporting them generally over the network. You might also want to restrict access to appropriate netgroups. Also license locking the search software satisfies certain companies, but not all. ------- I hope the above is of use to you. I have been working on this problem for 18 months on and off and finally I have got round to documenting it as above. All the code mentions is Public Domain. If you wish to mirror it please feel free as we only have limited Internet access. New updates appear about every 2 or 3 months. ============================================================================= 56. Where can I find a full text retrieval engine for a CDROM I am making? Here is a list of Full-Text Retrieval Engines from the CD-PUB FAQ. ROMWARE: Nimbus 800.782.0778 US (0600) 890682 UK for Europe 804.985.1100 US FTR: Sony PDSC 408.372.2812 US re:Search MicroRetrieval Corporation 617.577.1574 USA Fax: 617.577.9517 Dataware Dataware Technologies 617.621.0820 US Fax: 617.621.0307 Views 3.0 Folio Corporation 801.375.3700 US Fax: 801.374.5753 FullText SDK Fulcrum Technologies 613.238.1761 Canada Fax: 613.238.7695 I-SEARCH I-Mode Retrieval Systems 914.968.7008 US Fax: 914.968.9340 WorldView Interleaf Corporation 617.290.0710 US Fax: 617.290.4943 KRS Knowledge Set Corporation 408 738-3400 US Fax: 415.968.9962 OptiWare Online Computer Systems 301.428.3700 US Fax: 301.428.2903 WPL Personal Library Software MacPL 301.990.1155 US Fax: 301.963.9738 MasterView TMS Inc 405.377.0880 US Fax: 405.377.0452 MicroKey MicroKey Inc. 800.521.3575 US Fax: 714.258.3215 ============================================================================= 57. Is there any *FREE* CD-ROM mastering software, with full source code? Eric Youngdale has written a Gnu-ware ISO-9660+Rockridge formatter. It has been tested on both Linux and SunOS 4.1.3. You can ftp it from ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/cdrom/mkisofs-1.00.tar.gz. It is also on the Yggdrasil Linux CDROM, which sells for $49. You can call Yggdrasil at +1 (510) 526-7531. =============================================================================