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The first for you to know: If you're planning to create your own CDs, you should get informed BEFOR (!!) buying a CD-writer is supported by which software. If you don't do this a supposed bargain can mutate to a bad buy. Not every writer is supported by the Amiga software packages or it has problems and produces "trash" CDs.
After long and in the end successful negotiations with a man who is known nearly world-wide a Ricoh MP6200S CD-RW-writer works in my Amiga since December 24 of the last year. This writer is a 2x2x6 device, which means that CD-RW and CD-R can be written with double speed and normal CDs can be read with sixfold speed.
Of course, the Amiga has no much use for a writer alone and so there was a need of the fitting software. I decided for MakeCD by Angela Schmidth and Patrick Ohly.
MakeCD is shareware. The usable demo version has only minor limitations and can be used for a judgement its power. Compared with the registered version the unregistered version has these limitations:
| · | When creating an image the name of the desired CD cannot |
| edited. The volume name is UNREGISTERED. | |
| In addition you cannot name the "publisher". | |
| · | There are no more than 10 tracks per CD-R allowed. |
| · | In the Disc-At-Once (DAO) mode you can only write in test mode. |
| (In Track-At-Once (TAO) mode the unregistered version of MakeCD | |
| is able to write in test mode as well as on CD-R.) | |
The CD-RW-writer was tested in combination with MakeCD on an A3000 with built-in SCSI-host adaptor, updateded SCSI chip (WD 08), 12 MB RAM and a 040/40 processor under CyberGFX v3 and a nearly completely used SCSI-system (6 connected devices).
2.1 Hardware
The writer can be added easily to the system as any SCSI device does. In addition to the mechanical mounting you have just to watch out for the fitting ID and the termination of the SCSI chain. Ready.
2.2 Installation software
MakeCD can be used without prior installation directly out of the unarchived lha archive (Aminet) resp. tar.gz package (disk), but a hard disk installation is useful.
This can be done easily and comfortable using the help of the installer. During the installation MakeCD and all its data are copied into its own directory on a hard drive (partition) of your choice.
In addition MakeCD offers some Goodies, which can be usful when using MakeCD.
The correct writer driver can be selected during the installation as well.
After a few minutes MakeCD found its new home on the hard disk and can be prepared for its mission.
3.1 Program interface
MakeCD uses the triton.library by Stefan Zeiger, so there appears the (standard) interface. The GUI is functional and clearly arranged even if a great number of windows and a nearly immense possibilites for the configuration can puzzle you on the first use.
If you are a beginner you should use the setting "Beginner" found in the window "Global environment" to keep the overview.
The activated online-help of the basic configuration is quite helpful, much like the bubble help in MUI programs.
Because MakeCD offers much manipulations for the design of the CD you want to write, there's just small example of how to burn a data CD.
3.2 Writing a CD (example for a data CD)
First you have to adapt MakeCD to the available hardware. In addition to the read and write device(s) there's e.g. the user level, additional buffer memory and the audio output (only important for the creation/test of material for audio-CDs).
Even if the manual explicitly informs about possible problems when using one SCSI-host adaptor for writer and hard disk(s), both could co-exists without any problems in this case.
It is absolutely recommended (not only if a problem occurs) to read the manual intensive. So you could avoid the one or other "trash" CD.
After choosing the fitting basic settings you can write your first CD.
For this MakeCD has to know, how many tracks should written on the CD and what for data have really to be in the tracks. A click on "New" creates the still empty track 1 "Data (Mode 1)".
Now you can inform MakeCD using the track options of which kind the data source and the data target have to be. You can specify as a source an image file, which was previously created by MakeCD, a track of a CD you want to copy, a file system (which means the contents of a hard disk/ drawer) or a block medium.
The desired target is directly the CD, an image file, which is to be created or a block medium.
In this example there are various hard disk partitions selected as sources.
MakeCD allows the choice of various boot options, so the completed CD is e.g. bootable on a CDTV or CDTV, if you use the expert mode.
For this purpose you need the correct trademark files, which aren't included with MakeCD, but can be found e.g. on the AMIGA Developer CD v1.1.
Now the tracks can be written.
If you want to make a CD-copy of your hard disk and there are many tiny files (collections of icons, postings of a newsgroup, etc.) it is recommended to crete an image file of this hard drive (partition), to avoid a buffer underflow during the writing.
A buffer underflow is a MCA for the writing process. And at least the current track is usually lost, except you use a CD-RW.
To avoid this danger MakeCD offers a test mode, in which the writter not really writes a CD and you can find out, if a buffer underflow was possible on your system.
4.1 CD-RW-writer
The Ricoh MP6200S (Firmware v2.20) works fine with MakeCD. Only with CD-RW it insists on double speed for writing these media.
In normal use and good ventilation the Ricoh MP6200S is a good writer.
After an uninterrupted use (various CD-RW write and erase cycles without interruption) the writer seemed to have thermal problems, because a medium could not be read correctly. But after a small interruption it was cooperating again. Audio-CD-R(W) are written without any harmful interference and judged by me as copies with good quality.
4.2 CD-R(W)-media
There were used branded as well as noname CD-R and CD-RW. The normal price for the media was around 3.00 DEM (approx. 1.53 Euro) for a CD-R and 10.00 DEM (approx. 5.10 Euro) for a CD-RW. All media could be written without errors. The CD-R media could be used with many CD-ROM and audio CD players.
Only an approx. 6 year old audio CD player didn't recognize the audio-CD-R written by myself.
More problematically are the RW-media, because there degree of reflection is about 15% compared with a pressed CD (CD-R are at approx. 70%). Many tested CD-ROM and audio-CD players are unable to recognize and to play these media. If your CD player is built in 1997 or younger you have a good chance to use the CD-RW media with this drive, too.
My audio CD player Sony CDP-XE320 didn't have any problems with these CD-RW media.
But my CD-ROM Panasonic CR-506B was unwilling to cooperate.
A CD-RW medium was erased and written for approx. 20 times, without any failure. But this didn't reach the maximum of 1000 write/ erase cycles, so I can't make any statement regarding the rewritability.
MakeCD and the Ricoh MP6200S are a good and powerful team. From the beginning CD-R and CD-RW could be created. But it you want to use all the possibilites of the program, you need a longer setting-in period.
A fine German documentation helps the user a lot. You just have to read it...
(Remark of the translator: I don't own MakeCD, so I don't know, if there's
an English documentation with the same quality.)
MakeCD supports all standard CD formats and is a good choice for the Amiga user.
The price of 75 DEM (approx. 38.27 Euro) for the TAO version, resp. 115 DEM (approx. 58.67 Euro) for the full version is alright, if you consider its power.
MakeCD and the additional files can be found
in the Aminet and on the Aminet- CDs unter
disk/cdrom/MakeCD.lha
(the version using for this test was 3.2a)
disk/cdrom/MakeCDdeutschC.lha
(German catalogue file)
disk/cdrom/MakeCDdeutschD.lha
(German documentation)
as well as on the MakeCD homepage with many tips, tricks & links
Uwe Pannecke
Uwe.Pannecke@t-online.de«
