If MakeCD does not automatically select a driver for your CD-ROM drive or your CD writer, or if MakeCD shows it as unknown, then read the following hints from Patrick:
MakeCD selects a suitable SCSI driver based on the vendor and drive ID of a SCSI or ATAPI drive. If your drive is marked as "unknown" this only means that you have to select the correct driver manually.
These are hints to find the correct driver:
- For CD writers the CDR_SCSI3_ATAPI.driver is usually the right choice if it is a modern (MMC compatible) SCSI drive or ATAPI drive.
- The CD_ROM.driver is suitable if you are absolutely sure that your CD-ROM does not support CDDA extraction with any of the other CD_#?.drivers.
- The CD_ATAPI.driver should be the right one for all ATAPI CD-ROMs, however, not all drives support audio reading (e.g. some Mitsumis don't). Please tell us if yours doesn't.
- The CD_Sony.driver should only be used if the CD_Plextor.driver fails with an error concerning the command MODE_SELECT. They both use the same command for CDDA extraction, but CD_Plextor.driver also sets the speed.
- The CD_ATAPI.driver might work for new SCSI CD-ROMs, too, because the commands used are part of the SCSI 3 standard. So if the driver you use at the moment allows CDDA extraction, but not speed settting, then you might try CD_ATAPI.driver.
Sometimes the same driver is able to accomplish something on different ways. Alternative ways might be necessary to work around problems of specific drives. For most known drives the driver already chooses the correct way automatically, but for unknown drives or drives with so far unknown bugs you can choose yourself. This is done by setting environment variables, e.g. with
setenv MAKECD_READ_MODE2_RAW=1.The following options are supported by all or some drivers:
- MAKECD_READ_MODE2_RAW (all drivers)
- Some drives deliver invalid data with block size 2336 (Sony 928E), others report checksum errors although they shouldn't use the checksums (Plextor PX-20TS). In both cases reading raw data still works, so MakeCD can read mode 2 tracks raw and throw away the unnecessary bytes alternatively. This workaround is enabled only for the Sony 928E, but not for any other drive, because some drives might read raw data slower and the additional processing requires more CPU time. On slow computers with fast drives the computer might perhaps even appear to be locked.
- MAKECD_WRITE_MODE2_MIXED (only CDR_SCSI3_ATAPI)
- Write mode 2 with block size 2332 instead of 2336. Necessary because writing with 2336 is optional and not all drives support it. Writing with 2336 is usually more suitable for copying because error correction codes and checksums are copied, too.
- MAKECD_BUF_MEM_TYPE (all drivers)
- You can restrict the memory MakeCD uses for reading and writing to a certain type of memory. Use
setenv MAKECD_READ_MODE2_RAW=xwithxbeing the decimal representation of the memory attributes you want to be required. Restricting this is hardly ever necessary.You can help us and other users by telling us your drive's ID, the correct SCSI driver for it and any of the workarounds above you had to use. MakeCD displays the complete ID in the settings window and the device selection requester. If you cannot snap the string there, you might also go to these windows, return to the main window and save the debug log with the menu item "Project/Write logfile...". It will contain the ID.
Please write to
patrick@core.de. Please tell me also if you have done tests with other drivers -- otherwise I won't know if e.g. the Plextor driver doesn't work while Sony does or if Plextor just wasn't tested. Thanks for your help!Patrick Ohly, 15.2.98
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