Last minute notes on ExtenDOS
-----------------------------
Version: 1.21
Dated: 18 August 1994
Program versions on this diskette:
CD.BOS 1.6
EXTENDOS.PRG 1.4
TRACE.TTP 1.6
UNIDRIVE.DOS 1.5
UNI_BDDS.DOS 1.5
New features
------------
1. ExtenDOS now supports photoCD, both single-session and
multi-session, on many drives that have this hardware feature.
ExtenDOS does this by issuing an INQUIRY command to the device,
and using the data returned to identify the device so that it
can issue the appropriate command to support photoCD. The
drives that are recognised by ExtenDOS are listed in the
'Supported drives' section below. If your drive supports
photoCD but is not on the list, you may be able to use the D=
option (see below) to provide support. If you need more
assistance, please contact Anodyne Software.
IMPORTANT NOTE: earlier versions of ExtenDOS supported the
use of the PCD3401.TTP program to enable single-session
photoCD support on the Toshiba 3401. This program is not
required, and will not work, with this version of ExtenDOS.
Please do not use it.
2. All known problems have been fixed, as have all known
incompatibilities that can be fixed within ExtenDOS.
ExtenDOS now works with the following environments:
TOS (all versions)
MultiTOS (v1.04 tested)
Geneva (v1.02 tested)
Mag!X (v2.0 tested)
3. Bootup messages are now readable on a 40-column screen. Also,
if any errors are detected during bootup, ExtenDOS waits for
a keypress before continuing. This allows the user to read the
error messages.
4. UNIDRIVE.DOS now detects certain errors in the path table of a
CD-ROM, and automatically uses the alternate path table. This
allows UNIDRIVE.DOS to access certain CD-ROMs that previously
required UNI_BDDS.DOS, and so should simplify system setup for
many users. UNI_BDDS.DOS is still supplied since it may still
be required under some circumstances. Please reference Appendix
C of the manual for further discussion of UNI_BDDS.DOS use.
5. In addition to the options described in Appendix A of the manual,
the following options may be specified:
L=n
This is used in conjunction with the T= option, to control
tracing characteristics. The trace table contains various
pieces of information, including the command transmitted to
the device, the time the command was sent, whether or not
the command completed successfully, and so on. It also
contains the first part of the actual data transmitted to,
or received from, the device. The L= option specifies the
length of the data to be stored in the trace table. The
value of n must be between 16 and 128; the default value
is 16. In normal operation, you should specify 16, or omit
the option. In the event that you call us for support, you
may be asked to specify a different value to obtain more
information.
D=n
This is used to override automatic device recognition by
ExtenDOS, and thereby to tell ExtenDOS what commands to use
to access photoCD on an unrecognised drive. It is intended
to allow drives to be supported on an interim basis before
they are incorporated in the automatic recognition process.
The value of n is the device id of the CD-ROM drive that
uses the same SCSI command set as the unrecognised drive.
The value of n must be between 0 and 254; in addition, it
should be one of the values listed in the table of supported
drives. If this option is omitted, ExtenDOS will use
automatic device recognition to determine the SCSI command
set to use.
6. Version 1.21 fixes the following bugs in version 1.20:
. PhotoCD on the Falcon did not work correctly.
. The NEC25 drive was handled incorrectly.
. Path tables larger than the path buffer table (set by the
P= parameter) were not handled properly, resulting in
directories appearing empty when they weren't. The
occurrence of the problem was dependent on the value of
the P= parameter and the specific cd-rom being accessed.
Sample *BOS lines for CD.BOS
----------------------------
*BOS, C:\EXTENDOS\CD.BOS T=60 L=50, V:4
This tells ExtenDOS that CD.BOS is a driver for physical drive V, and
that it should be loaded from directory C:\EXTENDOS. It tells CD.BOS
that the CD-ROM drive is at address 4 on the ACSI DMA port (or on the
Falcon030 SCSI port), and that it should allocate memory for 60 trace
entries, each of which will have space for 50 bytes of CD-ROM data.
*BOS, D:\BOOT\CD.BOS D=10, W:14
This tells ExtenDOS that CD.BOS is a driver for physical drive W, and
that it should be loaded from directory D:\BOOT. It tells CD.BOS
that the CD-ROM drive is at address 6 on the SCSI port of a TT030 or
Falcon030, and (since the D= option is specified) to treat the device
at this address as though it were a Toshiba 3401 (see 'device ids'
below for a listing of device ids).
Device ids
----------
As described above, ExtenDOS recognises most common CD-ROM drives.
For recognised drives, single- or multi-session photoCDs are handled
automatically. If you know that your drive is photoCD-capable but
will not read a photoCD under ExtenDOS, or if you know that it is
multisession-capable but you can only access the first session, this
may be because ExtenDOS does not recognise the drive properly. You
may be able to resolve this by specifying the D= option on your *BOS
line in EXTENDOS.CNF.
In order to use the D= option, you need to know (or successfully
guess) which drive your drive behaves like. For example, if you
have an NEC drive, it may well behave like one of the supported
NEC drives, so you could specify D=20, or D=21, or D=22 (see the
description of the D= option for more details).
PLEASE NOTE: specifying the D= option cannot change the hardware
characteristics of your drive. It cannot make a drive photoCD-
compatible, or change a single-session drive into a multi-session
one. Its sole function is to supplement the automatic recognition
feature of ExtenDOS.
Please refer to 'Supported drives' for a list of device ids.
Supported drives
----------------
The following drives are supported by ExtenDOS; for each drive, the
corresponding device id is listed.
Device id Description PhotoCD support
--------- ----------- ---------------
0 All unrecognised drives See Note below
10 Toshiba 3401/4101 Multisession
11 Toshiba 3301 Single session
20 NEC 3X/84-1/74-1/38 (SCSI-2 mode) Multisession
21 NEC 3X/84-1/74-1/38 (SCSI-1), NEC 210 Multisession
22 NEC 84/74/37 Single session
23 NEC 82/80/77/72/35/25 None
30 Sony 561/Apple CD-300 Multisession
31 Sony 541/6211/8022 Single session
40 Texel 3028/5028 Multisession
41 Texel 3024/5024 Single session
50 Chinon 535 Multisession
51 Chinon 435 Single session
60 Apple PowerCD (Philips CDF080) Multisession
Note: If the drive is not recognised, ExtenDOS does not provide any
special photoCD support. Since many modern drives automatically
switch between standard CD-ROM and photoCD, they will support
single-session photoCD automatically. However, in all cases,
multisession support requires specific code within the driver.
Known restrictions and incompatibilities
----------------------------------------
1. If your SCSI CD-ROM is listed as supporting photoCD (see above),
and you are accessing it via the ACSI port, you SHOULD use a host
adapter card that is compatible with the ICD AdSCSI+ board.
This is required to send the commands needed by many such drives
to access photoCD. If you have another host adapter (such as an
Atari), you may not be able to access the CD-ROM at all, since
photoCD commands are sent the first time your CD-ROM is accessed.
If you do not need photoCD support, you can circumvent this
restriction by specifying D=0 in the *BOS line in EXTENDOS.CNF
(see above for the syntax and an example).
2. NeoDesk users: if you get a message that "data on the disk is
corrupted or damaged" when you double click on the CD-ROM drive
icon, or open a folder, turn off the option 'check for executable
bootsector' in NeoDesk/Set Preferences/More.
3. All of the components of ExtenDOS (EXTENDOS.PRG, CD.BOS, and
UNIDRIVE.DOS) must be loaded into ST RAM for normal operation.
If you have a system with alternate RAM (e.g. a TT030), do not
set the program flags to load ExtenDOS into TT RAM.
4. If a CD-ROM drive is defined as one of the 'normal' logical drives
(A through P), the CHEETAH file copier will exit with the message
"can't access BPB". This is a Cheetah problem. It examines each
of the drives A through P during initialisation, expecting them to
have a low-level file system with FATs and directories just like a
hard disk; this is not the case with a CD-ROM. The problem can be
circumvented by reinstalling the CD-ROM drive as a logical drive
between Q and Z.
If you have problems
--------------------
As always, if you are a registered user, you may call Anodyne Software
or send email to us for assistance. Before doing so, please read the
Troubleshooting section of the manual and follow the suggestions there.
Also, with this version of ExtenDOS, additional commands may be issued
to your drive for photoCD support. These commands vary from drive to
drive; if ExtenDOS misidentifies your drive, this could affect all
accesses to the drive, even for non-photoCD CD-ROMs. If you find that
you cannot access any CD-ROM, try specifying D=0 on your *BOS line
(see above for syntax and an example). This will prevent ExtenDOS
from issuing photoCD commands. If this resolves your problem, please
contact Anodyne Software so that we can provide a permanent fix.