On 9/28/05, Andrew Lentvorski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Neil Schneider wrote:
>
> > It seems odd that KPLUG ended up with a Windows based CD/DVD duplicator.
> >
> > I CC'ed this to the steering list.
>
> Is there a Linux-based one?
>
The CD/DVD duplicator runs on its own internal firmware. No
particular OS. It is all commanded by sequences of button pushes,
guided by words on a 2-line x 16 character LCD readout. Also guided
by reading the instruction book. In the simplest mode of operation,
you just put a master CD/DVD in the reader, put 1 to 3 blanks in the
writers, push the button, and wait for the results.
The support software that lets you import ISO images to the
duplicator's hard drive by a USB connection rather than just reading
them from an existing CD/DVD is Windows-based. The manufacturer of
the device doesn't seem to think it should be otherwise.
The only redeeming feature of the support software is that it lets you
attach up to a 13-character title to a stored image. So you can have
the display read out something like:
A: FC_4 disc 1
instead of the more austere
A:
I didn't choose this gadget, I am just trying to make the best use of it.
I believe that there is only one manufacturer of firmware-controlled
CD/DVD duplicators and we have one of their products. I will continue
to work on deconstructing the file format of the internal hard drive,
but not at a very rapid pace. I do know that CD images are stored one
per gigabyte (2^30 bytes) of the drive, at a fixed offset into that
space. Also the size of the image in 2kB blocks, and a couple of
other numbers and some tag information. Now that the support software
has been used to write some labels on the images, I will be able to
find the offset of the label in the gigabyte.
Given the complete structure of the stored image data, it would not be
very hard to write other software to replicate the functions of the
Windows-based support. Maybe even to add new functions, like
exporting ISO images as well as importing them.
carl
--
carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
[email protected]
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-steer
