Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: dylan@cs.washington.edu (Dylan McNamee) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: AmiCDROM version 1.4 Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.applications Date: 8 Nov 1993 23:44:04 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 192 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <2bmlk4$6ca@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: dylan@cs.washington.edu (Dylan McNamee) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: CD-ROM, filesystem, multimedia, freeware PRODUCT NAME AmiCDROM version 1.4 BRIEF DESCRIPTION This is the first freely distributable CD-ROM filesystem for the Amiga. It supports the ISO-9660 standard, the Rockridge extensions, and Macintosh HFS. It includes source in C. It works. The program is available on the Aminet ftp sites in the file /pub/aminet/disk/cdrom/AmiCDROM-1.4.lha. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Frank Munkert Address: Zum Froschbruecklein 5 90411 Nuernberg Germany E-mail: ln_fmu@pki-nbg.philips.de LIST PRICE Free. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Any Amiga with a SCSI host adapter supporting "SCSI Direct." A SCSI CD-ROM drive. SOFTWARE Apparently works with AmigaDOS versions 1.3 through 2.1. (I tested it only on version 2.1.) COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 2500/30 Commodore 2091 SCSI controller Apple CD300 CD-ROM drive (see a previous comp.sys.amiga.reviews review of this excellent drive) Kickstart 2.04, Workbench 2.1 INSTALLATION For AmigaDOS versions previous to 2.1, installation consists of slightly modifying a supplied Mountlist template, adding it to your DEVS:Mountlist file, and then copying the cdrom-handler file to your L: directory. For DOS version 2.1 and above, installation consists of dragging the "CD0" icon into the DEVS:DosDrivers drawer, changing the icon's "info" to specify your CD-ROM's unit number, and copying cdrom-handler to L:. It would be nice to have an Installer script, for newer Amiga users; but even as is, installation is quite easy. REVIEW Once installed, AmiCDROM makes a CD-ROM drive accessible by an Amiga. Operation is transparent and fast. Once you mount the CD device (e.g., "mount CD0:"), discs inserted into the CD-ROM drive show up on the Amiga Workbench, accessible just like an ordinary read-only device. It works as advertised. I was able to read the following discs with AmiCDROM: Aminet CD-ROM (from Walnut Creek CD-ROM) Kodak's PhotoCD sampler (came with Apple CD300) Lost Treasures of Infocom 2 CD-ROM Lemmings CDTV Hypermedia's Fish Collection Various Mac HFS CD-ROMS Various MS-DOS & Windows CD-ROMS (junk I had lying around) DOCUMENTATION The archive comes with a "README" and a "doc" file. The doc file is slightly technical but very readable. A simple AmigaGuide help file would have been useful, but this is an excellent first effort. LIKES AND DISLIKES I am amazed by this program. It has always seemed strange that all the CD-ROM filesystems for the Amiga were commercial, but the situation has persisted for years, effectively adding $40 to $90 (US) to any CD-ROM purchase. This program eliminates that extra cost for most CD-ROM users. Even more amazing is that it comes with source code, virtually ensuring a continuing stream of improvements and support. Frank mentions in the documentation that Amiga protection bits are currently not supported, but will be added in a future version. In addition, the program does not support discs with the following features, simply because the author doesn't have access to discs with these attributes: - Interleaved mode (ISO) - Multi-disk volumes (ISO) - Multi-volume disks (ISO) - Logical blocks other than 2048 bytes (ISO) - Deep directory relocation (Rock Ridge) COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS The only other CD-ROM filesystem I have used is CDROM-FS, from Canadian Prototype Replicas. CDROM-FS supports one less filesystem (no HFS support) and the same set of CD-ROM drives. It has a bug which caused me to try AmiCDROM in the first place -- using "lha" to extract large archives directly from CD-ROM always hangs my Amiga. I haven't reported this bug to CPR, because I haven't been able to contact them. (I wrote a letter over a year ago, trying to get an updated version of the software, and never received a reply. My current version of CDROM-FS was updated by my dealer, after much hassle.) Aside from CPR's CDROM-FS bug, the products are quite similar, except for the following cosmetic differences: o CDROM-FS displays non-Amiga discs on Workbench with a fancy icon. AmiCDROM displays them with a generic disk icon. o CDROM-FS comes with an Installer script and AmigaGuide documentation, and AmiCDROM does not. o CDROM-FS comes with a program to control the playing of audio CD's. This program is much like Jukebox (available on the Aminet ftp sites) which I have found to be an excellent substitute. A bug in previous versions of AmiCDROM prevented audio CD programs from working, but it has been fixed. A previous version of AmiCDROM has been compared to other CD-ROM filesystems, and was found to be slower, due to lack of caching. The current version has added caching, but I haven't heard of any more recent benchmarks. BUGS I found no bugs. (One net reader reports some Enforcer hits, but hasn't been able to attribute them to AmiCDROM for sure.) VENDOR SUPPORT You get source code, and Frank's on the internet. Support just doesn't come better than that. In the past couple months, AmiCDROM has had three updates. CONCLUSIONS I'm amazed by this program. Out of nowhere, this program reduces the cost of almost every Amiga CD-ROM drive by $40. Frank should be thanked and commended for his efforts (I guess that's what I'm doing here...). Thanks Frank! I give it a hearty two thumbs up. On a scale of 1 to 5 shiny discs, I give AmiCDROM a solid 4.9. If it came with an Installer script and an AmigaGuide help file, this would raise my rating to 5. COPYRIGHT NOTICE None -- you may copy and redistribute this review as widely as you wish. Please don't spindle or mutilate though. Dylan McNamee dylan@cs.washington.edu --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews