Welcome to Fractal's CD Burning Station, Version Pre1. ###################################################################### # # # You should be able to use the up and down arrows to view this help # # # # PRESS Q TO QUIT HELP # # # ###################################################################### 1. Running the program. The program is run by calling cds directly or through the PATH. If run from a different directory than the current, cds will attempt to locate itself and look for cds.conf or other config files in that same directory. You may specify a config file on the command line which may exist either in the current or the program directory. 2. Using the program. All commands are single key presses from the main menu. Q or q is for quit, even if its description is removed from the main menu in the config file; aside from that, any key can be assigned any action in the config file. 3. The main menu. There are normally 10 commands at the main menu (plus quit): ?: View the help file I: Get information about a disk in a reader. E: Erase re-writable disks in writer(s). R: Read a new image file from a disk in a reader. C: Change an image layout file. L: List available image files. W: Write disks from an image file to writer(s). T: Test (verify) a disk in a reader against a file. D: Delete an image file. S: System setup and information submenu. --------------------- Q: Quit this program. These choices will be explained in detail below. NOTE: drives may be defined as readers or writers in the config file (a drive may also be both), so different commands may present a different list of available drives. Also, when being asked for a filename, you may press the TAB key to autotype available filenames i.e. if you press 2 and all filenames that start with 2 also start with 2007, then the 007 will be typed for you. Don't worry if that puts a ".toc" on the end, it will be removed if it's not needed. ? = View the help file using the viewer command specified in the config file. The stock file assumes that "Q" will exit. I = Get info about a CD-ROM -- i.e. see if a disk is blank or see how many tracks are on an audio disk. E = Erase a re-writable disk. Some kinds of disks need to be formatted before use, or you can reformat a disk to use it over and over again. R = Read a disk from a reader drive to an image file on system. You will be asked to select a drive to read from. Select your drive from the available list by pressing your choice. Next you will be asked for the name to save as. When using names, a blank usually means cancel so just press enter to cancel the read erquest. If you don't enter a blank, the image of the disk will be saved under that name. Fresh reads are saved as THENAME.toc with data in THENAME.bin. The list of available toc files may appear at the top of the menu. C = Change a layout file (.toc). You will be asked which file. This is usually used to create modified copies of a disk. Using the .toc file, you can join/split audio tracks, or add to the content of a disk (like adding a Pro/Epilogue). L = List available CD images. This list will appear in your viewer program, usually use Q to quit. If you have turned on the option "AUTOSHOW" (AUTOSHOW=1 in config file) it's always on top of the menu. W = Write CDs. This is what it's all about! You will first select drive(s). This list is customized in setup and may include multiple write drives in one option. Next you will be asked to select an image to write, TAB key autos like in the NOTES above. NOTE: You cannot use a little x for a capital X and vice versa. NOTE: You CAN leave an extra . on the end, it will be removed. This is because TAB autocomplete can leave a . at the end. You will then be asked how many copies to write. If you're using a selected drive that is three writers, they will be written three at a time, a correctly written disk will eject at the end of the write. In case of a disk error, you can correct the remaining count at each pass if you need to. T = Test a disk against a file. You'd do this to verify a write if you suspect a problem, aer extra cautious, or you are trying a new brand of disks or something like that. You can usually be fairly confident that disks are OK if they were properly written and ejected by the write process. Note that you cannot test a disk layout that has been modified from its original read using "C". In this case, you could read a write of the modified disk again. D = Delete an image file. You only need to do this if you want to keep the aulist at the top of the menu clean or if you need to recover the disk space. You will be told how much disk space is remaining when you go to read a disk, or you can find out from the system configuration menu. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The system Configuration submenu has more choices that should generally only be done under the direction of tech support, but any option that says VIEW should be safe to do at any time (possible exception of list CD-Writers, which can be problematic, but only if another user is reading/writing a disk at the time). L = View available CD-ROM devices. This should not be done while other reads or writes are going as it may confuse the drives. If you are running multiple users, make sure noone else is logged in. D = View disk usage and free space. C = Cleanup any leftover test files. This should not be done if anyone else could be logged in and currently running a "test CD" compare. M = View memory usage and swap space. If there is swap space available, then it should be little used and mostly free -- otherwise you need to add RAM to the system. P = View the program code. Available for the curious or anyone brave or stupid enough to try to trace through a problem. V = View variable values. This shows all the program variables, as well as environment variables used by bash or login. It can be compared to the setup files to make sure things are as expected. S = View the configuration file. This should be the most recently run configuration file, but can be changed in config to disable edit. E = Edit the configuration file. Needless to say, this should never be attempted by the careless or uninformed. This file has been created by professional drivers on a closed course and should not be attempted at home. This is the end of the help file -- Press Q to quit help.