1237a0306f30
tech



Hello Paul - 

--8<--cut 

PW> My setup met the listed requirements for os and hardware,
PW> to then have to get on the net and find a mess of updates
PW> just to get the sw to even *recognize* the drive, much less
PW> work w/ it.. 

There is a time vs reality factor hidden here in the shadows.
Computer technology used to double every 3 years. That rate is
probably more like every 1 year now. As a manufacturer of
peripherals the best you can do is package what you have at the
time of manufacture and then, knowing this package may languish
in warehouses and on store shelves, offer updates at a website.
I see no other way that the manuf could stay in business? 

PW>>> The cdrecord programs I've still not been able to do what
PW>>> I need w/ cd-rw blanks but otoh full speed cd-r burns
PW>>> haven't been a bust. (i need to be able to read files
PW>>> from a cd-rw disk in dos only and os/2 systems w/o a
PW>>> udf/packet driver) 

CA>> Your 'needs' are a bit unusual. Any time you're dealing
CA>> with recently developed technology you want a recent OS to
CA>> go with it if at all possible. 

PW> Why should I need the `latest and greatest' for something
PW> which others are already and have been doing for years. 

As one who uses legacy hardware and software daily, I feel your
pain I really do. 

I know after doing some ASM and C programming myself that
legacy hardware can do many of the same things newer hardware
is doing if the proper software is written to communicate with
the peripherals. The problem is, referring back to my example,
manuf must recover costs ASAP and shoot for the largest market
they can 'see' first. Many manuf do go back and write drivers
etc. for older hardware and I appreciate those that do. I can,
however, understand that some cannot afford to do this. This is
where GNU and opensource has filled a need but even then GNU
and opensource often neglect the very old legacy hardware in
favor of more recent hardware. 

PW> The ability to write to a cdrw blank the same format as a
PW> cdr blank isn't that complex a thing, and doesn't seem to
PW> be a problem for other people. 

Burning CDs and CDRWs is time-critical which does put this in
the category of "every programmer can't do it". Telecom
software was this way before well-tested libraries of
prewritten/tested code were available for free or at reasonable
cost. Before that only a handful of programmers could do
telecom really well. 

The reason it's not a problem for 'other people' is that
support of DOS was dropped by Microsoft and support of OS/2 for
home use was dropped by IBM some years ago. Few programmers see
an opportunity to be reimbursed for writing code for either DOS
or OS/2 at this time. The 'better' programmers don't write for
obsolete OS. 

PW> The only diff 'tween the media is that once I'm done
PW> getting the files from point a to point b I can wipe the
PW> cdrw disk and start over w/ a new batch of files. 

Understood. 

PW> Cheaper that way too. Figure reusing a cdrw blank 1000x vs
PW> using 1000 cdr blanks for temp data and it adds up. $$$$ is
PW> something I have to be *extremely* tight on these days. 

If you could allocate 700mb of your hard drive for archival
storage then periodically burn this to a CDR you could
eliminate the expense of the CDRW drive and CDRW CDs. :-) 

PW> When my g'mom passed away at the end of oct. 

Sorry to know that you have suffered a loss of a loved one. It
is a good thing that you have had the opportunity to spend time
together rather than to have been living separate lives. She is
resting now. 

PW> it cut the gross household income literally in half, the
PW> bills however didn't reciprocate one bit. I now have to
PW> manage on $552/mo. and so far each month has totaled closer
PW> to $750 in expenses each month. 

Loss of a loved one is near the top or _is_ the top of the list
of things that can stress us beyond our tolerance of it. Life
does not allow us time to recuperate and this can go badly. If
your expenses exceed your income you need assistance from a
friend or relative not as affected by this to help you find
solutions NOW before your options become too limited. 

--8<--cut 

PW> What I think the adaptec sw really needs is the right .inf
PW> for the drive so that '98 will see it as a cdrw on startup
PW> rather than just a 24x cd. (of all the drivers included for
PW> the usb and pcmcia stuff the one driver or .inf *not* found
PW> was one for the drive itself) :/ 

CA>> drive. Burning CDs is time-critical and any interruptions
CA>> or pauses will create coasters. CD burning is not
CA>> fault-tolerant, generally, but I see now many are
CA>> increasing the installed buffers in the CD burner itself
CA>> to ease this 'pain'. :-) 

PW> This is why I like CDRecord over adaptec. Neither of my
PW> cdrw's are advanced enough to have buffer underrun
PW> protection so it's easy to make a coaster if things aren't
PW> just so. W/ cdrecord however it doesn't matter what size
PW> the buffer is in the drive. 

I've been told good things about CDRecord but haven't tried it
since I've had no need. 

PW> But being it's originally a *nix program the docs are a
PW> little confusing abt some 

PW> Like how to make a multi os bootable cd. Seems you can make
PW> a self booting (el torito) cd that will let you choose from
PW> 255 diff os's to boot from. (way cool if you need a
PW> recovery cd for a mess of diff systems) Unfortunatly it
PW> doesn't explain *how* to do this. :/ 

I think I ran across a description of how FreeDOS was creating
their CD image for FreeDOS installs using 'el torito' somewhere
at the FreeDOS webpages. This might be helpful since it was
written for DOS users to understand the process? 

PW> Since you're into *nix you might give the package a look
PW> see. 

I'm not really 'into *nix' I just found a mini-install that is
easy to setup and use. I've been a long-time admirer of UNIX
but haven't had the need to justify the time to become familiar
with it. 

PW> (http://demosten.com/ should get you close) I'm using the
PW> '9x (cygwin) port... version.. 1.10 for cdrecord, 1.14 for
PW> mkisofs, 1.23 for cdda2wav, and 1.1b3 of the gui frontend.
PW> Dunno what the current versions are. 

With so few remaining 'gurus' in each echo I would suggest
trying to get information about this from usenet groups.
FreeDOS is using a bootable CD image for distributing FreeDOS
and there was mention of changing the format to a different,
but also, bootable CD format. If you could track down those
people they could explain it in terms more familiar to you? 

>
>        ,                                        ,
>      o/      Charles_Angelich  - DOS Ghost       \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >  www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/faf/  < \   __\__
 

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