CD-ROM - INFORMATION OVERKILL - Part 6 Supplied by Brian Burke @~Concluded from last issue ================================================================== 40. Which drives will work with Kodak Photo CD? According to Kodak, the following drives are compatible. To view more than just the first recorded session, you need a multisession drive. Most of these drives are single session only. Magnavox CDD461 - single session CDD462RS - multi session Sony CDU-6205 - single session CDU-535 - single session CDU-561 - multi session NEC CDR-73 - single session CDR-37 - single session Apple 300CD - multi session The NEC CDR-74/84 works fine with PhotoCD. Older models that have a firmware revision of 1.0 should be sent back to NEC for a FREE refit, that upgrades the firmware to 1.0a, and may update some other components. NEC should be called at 1-(800)-388-8888, follow the recorded messages to get them to send the info required for the refit (or hit 6 then 1 to get there instantly). You will get your drive back in 3-4 business days. The Kodak Information Center is maintaining a file on the compuserve CDROM forum of compatible drives, and it has become quite extensive. They also specify compatible SCSI boards, drivers, and cable configurations. There are also a couple of subtle issues in compatibility that are still being worked out. For example, the NEC drives are single session compatible, but not multi. There are also drives which have been certified as compatible which are not XA, and there is some indication that this makes them useful for pictures alone, but not for mixed media Photo-CD productions in the future. ================================================================== 41. What is a multi-session CD drive? A CD has an "index" area which contains track details; this is what is read when you first stick an audio CD into a player. Photo-CDs have a separate index area each time they are written (because it is impossible to "update" the index area). A multisession drive is one that knows to look for multiple index areas. The full details are contained in the Philips/Sony/Kodak "Orange Book" standard for writable CDs. ================================================================== 42. How does Photo CD work? In a nut shell, 35mm film (negative, slide, B&W, internegative) is scanned by an image scanner and transfered to XA-formatted CD-ROM discs. These discs are manufactured by burning (writing) -- not by pressing. Each scanned image on the disc is kept in five resolutions. These five resolutions are called: Base/16, Base/4, Base, 4Base, and 16Base. As examples, Base/16 is one sixteenth the resolution of the "Base" image, and 16Base is sixteen times the resolution of "Base" (These are not simply larger picture elements. There are in increased number of scan lines). The 4Base and 16Base images are are compressed using Huffman encoding. You need the decompression software to pull the higher resolutions out of the image. You would typically need these higher resolutions if you want enlargements or if you intend to use an HDTV as a display device. ================================================================== 43. Where can I get some information about the Kodak Photo CD? To learn more about Photo CD products or other KODAK desktop color imaging products, contact Eastman Kodak Company at 1-800-242-2424 Ext 51 or 716-724-1021, ext. 53. Or send inquiries to the following address: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, Kodak Information Center, Dept. E. 343 State Street, Rochester, NY 14650-0811 There is an excellent article on PhotoCD in the Sept 92 issue of Photographic Magazine. Eastman Kodak Co recently released Photo CD Access, which is designed to allow users to integrate CD images into any Windows or Macintosh Application. Requires a CD ROM XA (Extended Architecture) drive. Most popular image formats are supported, including TIFF, GIF, TARGA and PICT. Kodak sells the software directly. $39.95, 1-800-242-2424. A developer's kit is available for $695 and includes source code as well as object for PC/MAC. The maximum resolution is 3072 X 2048, 24 bit color. ================================================================== 44. Where can I get maps of the US on CD-ROM? The USGS is producing a series of cds that contain 1:100,000 scale digital line graph (DLG) data. Presently, only Florida is available. Also, 1:2,000,000 DLG cd is available for the US. Call 1-800-USA-MAPS for more info. You can also get topo data (with AVHRR coverage) on CD-ROM for $32. This is DEM (30" elevation data) for the whole US. Contact: EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, SD 605-594-6507, or 6511 The Digital Chart of the World (DCW), produced by your Defense Mapping Agency, is generally acknowledged to be the best data set providing world-wide coverage. It is at a scale of about 1:1,000,000, and it is unlikely that you will find data at a larger scale for much of the world. At $200.00 for the set of 4 CD-ROMs and viewing data, it is considered to be a steal by most professional users, though it might be a bit of an overkill for domestic use. You can obtain it from: U S Geological Survey, Distribution Center, Building 810, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225 ================================================================== 45. Are any CD-ROM Jukeboxes available? There is a Pioneer DRM600 CD-ROM jukebox. It will hold 6 CDs in a cartridge, costs around $900-$1000, but has a slow drive. Pioneer also has a new drive coming out in December that is the same 6-CD changer, but with a 340ms, 600K/Sec drive in it. That will be more like $1400. It is available from: Kintronics Computer Products, 3 Westchester Plaza, Elmsford, NY 10523, 914-347-2530 or 800-431-1658 attention Neal Allen It is also distributed by Peripheral Solution, in Santa Cruz, 408-425-8280 ------------------------------------------------------------------ A jukebox that handles 240 discs is available from Kubik Technologies Ltd., 200-3900 Viking Way, Richmond, BC V6V 1V7, 604-273-0400, ------------------------------------------------------------------ There is a German firm called NSM that sells CD-jukeboxes for bars, etc. They have their fast 100-disk changer also available for consumer purposes and a CD-ROM version. In Holland it is sold by: LaserMusic Nederland, Leeuwenstein 44, 2627 AM Delft, the Netherlands. ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Lotus CD/Networker can have up to 28 CD-ROM drives installed in it. Lotus Development Corporation, 55 Cambridge Parkway, Cambridge, MA 02142. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Todd Enterprises has a box that can have up to 64 CD-ROM drives mounted. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Another jukebox is available from Microboards (MBi of America), 308 Broadway, PO Box 130, Carver MN 55315, 612/448-9800, 612/448-9806 (fax), contact Kathleen Davies. ================================================================== 46. Can I speed up my CD-ROM by using a cache? There are several programs that cache information from the CD-ROM onto your hard disk. Since magnetic discs are often more than 10 times faster than a CD-ROM, this can result in dramatic improvements under some circumstances. Most of the programs cache the directory information, so you can traverse subdirectories quickly. They also cache the most recently accessed blocks of data. So if you use the same files over and over, or access the same records in a database, your CD-ROM will seem much faster. But when you access the information for the first time, it will be just as slow as ever. SpeedCache+ from Future Systems has been recommended as a pretty good caching program. Future Systems, Inc, 0420 South 500 East, Bluffton, IN 46714, (219) 824-4963 On the Macintosh a prescanning (Directory, file attributes, icons, etc) cache to accelerate the Mac with CD-ROMs exists from two companies SpeedyCD 1.22 and FWB CD-ROM ToolKit 1.0. FWB seems much faster than SpeedyCD and can prescan any type of CD-ROM volumes (ProDos, Mac HFS, MS DOS, ISO9660, PhotoCD etc.) It prescans in the background. ================================================================== 47. Do you have any info about the CD-ROM filesystems for Amigas? The following information is taken from the Winter '93 "AC's Guide to the Commodre Amiga" (pages 112, 253, 262, 149) AsimCDFS This CD_ROM FIleSystem allows an Amiga/CDTV to access any ISO9660, HighSierra, or Mac HFS formatted disc. CDTV discs also accessible. Comes with FishMarket, a disc containing Fred Fish disks 1-637, and AsimTunes, an intuition-based AudioCD controller program with ARexx capability. Includes a manual and a painless install procedure. Supports a number of CD-ROM drives. Requires SCSI controller compatible with Commodore SCSI-Direct Standard. For 68000,010,020,030,040 processors. Minimum 512K, more recommended for buffering. AmigaDOS 1.3/2.0 compatible. $79.00 Asimware Innovations, 101 Country Club Dr, Hamilton, Ontario L8K 5W4, Canada, (416) 578- 4916 FAX(416) 578-3966 CDx Disk Set All software needed to attach a SCSI CD-ROM drive to most popular SCSI controllers, plus a printed manual and two CD-ROM discs (Fish & More Vols. I and II). Software consists of: CDxFileSystem for access to ISO 9660, High Sierra, and Mac HFS discs, CDTV emulation software to run most CDTV titles (1MB chip RAM recommended), audio CD player software, an assembly/C/Arexx-compatible device for developers, and more. NTSC/PAL compatible, Requires SCSI controller, SCSI CD-ROM drive. AmigaDOS 2.0 compatible. $50.00 Xetec, Inc., 2804 Arnold Road, Salina, KS 67401, (913) 827-0685, FAX(913) 827-6023 CDROM-FS CDROM-FS version 702 enables Amiga owners to connect most SCSI CD ROM drives to an Amiga with a SCSI interface. This software provides support for industry standard ISO 9660/High Sierra format CD ROM discs. It comes with clear concise instructions, making it easy to install and use. Requires A590, A2091, A3000, Microbotics Hardframe or GVP. $49.95. Canadian Prototype Replicas, P.O. Box 8, Breslau, Ontario, Canada N0B 1M0, (519) 884-4412 ================================================================== 48. What are some good references to CD-ROM reviews? Drive reviews: "PC-Computing" December 1992 "Macworld", October 1992 "PC-Computing", October 1992 "Computer Shopper", October 1992 --------------------------------------------------------- CD-ROM LAN Server reviews: "LAN Times", January 11, 1993 "PC Magazine", December 31, 1991 --------------------------------------------------------- Jan Schwenk, the president and CEO of Resource International, runs a BBS containing many CD-ROM reviews. The number is (817)-582-0672 at 8N1. Admission is free. ================================================================== 49. What is MPC level 1 & 2? The Multimedia PC marketing council has defined two data transfer standards. Level 1 states that a drive must achieve a transfer rate of 150K/second used with a minimum 286 processor at 10Mhz, 2Mb RAM, 30Meg Hard drive, VGA card and 8bit sound card Level 2 requires a minimum transfer rate of 300K/second which is the standard for Double Spped drives. Must be used with a minimum 486 processor, 4Meg RAM, 64K colours on a video card at 640 x 480, 160Meg Hard drive and a 16bit sound card - o -