Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: s_walter@irav1.ira.uka.de (Thomas Baetzler) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: MINI-REVIEW: Xetec CDx CD-ROM filesystem Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.applications Date: 3 Sep 1993 14:00:04 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 250 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <267il4$rbr@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: s_walter@irav1.ira.uka.de (Thomas Baetzler) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: CD-ROM, filesystem, multimedia, commercial PRODUCT NAME Xetec CDx CD-ROM filesystem, version 1.651 BRIEF DESCRIPTION This is a CD-ROM filesystem for the Amiga family of computers, including CDTV emulation software and Photo CD support. The package includes two CD-ROM discs of freely redistributable software. The filesystem supports discs written in High Sierra, ISO 9660 (Level 1 and 2) and MacIntosh HFS format. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Xetec Address: 2804 Arnold Road Salina, KS 67401 Telephone: (913) 827-0685 (Customer Service) Fax: (913) 827-6023 BBS: (913) 827-1974 (Courier HST) LIST PRICE $50.00 (US) SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS The Xetec CD-ROM filesystem (Xetec CDFS) is intended to be used in conjunction with a suitable SCSI CD-ROM drive and a SCSI host adapter. The installation software gives the following (quite possibly incomplete) list of suitable SCSI host adapters: o A.L.F. 3 o Amiga 3000 o A2091/ A590 o California Access CA 2000 Malibu o GVP SCSI with Faaastrom drivers installed (Series II, A590, GForce) o ICD AdSCSI o IVS Trumpcard (Pro) (2.0+) o Microbotics Hardframe o Nexus 500/2000 o Xetec FastTrak/FastCard/FastCard Plus Basically, any host adapter supporting either the Commodore SCSI direct command (HD_SCSICMD) or block sizes of 2048 bytes using DoIO() will do. You can check for SCSI direct command compatibility using a tool like "SCSI-lister" (found on Aminet, in the disk/moni directory), or "SCSIutil" (found on Fish Disk 669). MakroSystem's Evolution (with 3.0 ROM) works with the Xetec CDFS in DoIO() mode. Thanks to Torsten 'Milano' Fruehauf for letting me test the CDFS on his Amiga. The installation software includes a list of compatible drives, too: o Chinon CDS 431 / 435 o DEC RRD 42 o DENON DRD 253 o Hitachi CDR 1750S / 3650 o Laser Magnetic (LMS) 210 / 212 / 214 / 231 / 234 o Matsushita CR 5xx series o NEC CDR 25 / 36 / 73 (83) / 74 (84) / 75 / 77 o Panasonic CR-501 / LK-MC 501 o Phillips CM 210 o Pioneer DRM-600 / DRM-604 X o Sony CDU 541 / 6110 / 6111 / 8001 / 8022 o Texel DM 3x1x / 3x2x / 3024 / 5x1x / 5x2x / 5024 o Toshiba XM 2100A / 2200A / 3101 BME / 3200B / 3201B / 3301 o other SCSI-II compliant CD-ROM drives Although not listed specifically, I'll take for granted that the Xetec CDFS supports state-of-the-art drives like Toshiba's XM 3401, NEC's CDR 74-1 or the Apple CD 300 (a.k.a. Sony CDU 561), too. The Xetec CDFS runs quite fine on either AmigaDOS 1.3 and 2.x. I have also verified compatibility with both 68000 and 68030 processors. COPY PROTECTION The Xetec CDFS driver software can be installed only from the original driver disk. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING My test setup includes: o Amiga 2000, ECS chipset, Kickstart 2.04, Workbench 2.1 o A2630 with 68030 accelerator with 4 MB of 32-bit memory o GVP Series II controller with 2 MB of 16-bit memory o NEC CDR-74 CD-ROM drive o WShell 2.0 installed as system shell. REVIEW The Xetec CDFS comes as a bundle containing the program disk, two CD-ROM discs, and the manual. The installation of the software takes a few minutes and is easy accomplished: once you've fired up the installation program, you just click around to specify your controller, drive type and options. The installation then copies all of the needed system files to their respective drawers, and creates a "XetecCDROM" drawer where it places your choice of support files. I was pleased to see that the installation is AmigaDOS 2.1/3.0 aware, which means that it creates a proper DosDriver icon instead of a Mountlist entry. The installation program, on the other hand, does not conform to Commodore Style Guide rules, so it looks a little bit outdated on my system. Once installed, the Xetec CDFS had no troubles running all my usual discs. I tried the usual set of mean tricks, like feeding it the non-ISO CDTV "Welcome Disk", and a CD-ROM mastered my Profit Press. The XA file structure on the first test disc was graciously ignored, and did not lead to a system crash. The second test case involves a very long volume name: the Profit Press CD-ROMs seem to be notorious for padding their discs' labels with "_" characters. The Xetec CDFS correctly truncated this label to 31 characters, thus enabling me to run SID 2.0 and the Magic File Requester, and possibly many more programs that tend to fail on those volume names. (Note: the volume name length should in theory not be limited, but I've been told that 31 plus a terminating 0x00 character is the standard set by Commodore's filesystems.) Next, I tried to determine any significant increase or decrease in performance in comparison to the AsimCDFS, which I regularly use. The only difference I could make out was a small speed increase on the Xetec CDFS when dealing with small files. On larger files, those differences smoothed out, so I'd say they're both approximately equivalent speedwise. I toyed around with the CDTV support a little bit, and was quite disappointed. I tried to get my "Defender of the Crown" to work, hoping that the CDTV emulation would play digital audio from CD. Well, no such luck. When I tried the supplied standard CDTV startup, it just bugged out on me, leaving me with a black screen and a spinning CD-ROM. Very impressive! I could get "Defender" to run by starting it manually from a shell, but then I still lacked digital audio. I did not pursue testing farther than this; mainly because I do not own other CDTV titles with digital audio tracks. Anyways, CD32 emulation is the word of the day, isn't it? :-) I was also unable to test Photo CD support since my CDR-74 drive steadfastly refuses to read PhotoCD XA. I would like to hear from other users of their experiences with the Xetec CDFS, as I had my review copy only for a limited time. DOCUMENTATION The Xetec CDFS comes with an A5 spiral bound Owners Manual of 64 pages. In the first half, it covers everything you need to know about the installation of a CD-ROM drive as well as the Xetec drivers. I found the instructions very easy to follow, so that even a novice should have no major problem with them. The rest of the manual explains about the supplied utility programs, MacIntosh HFS support, and CDTV emulation. Programming examples for the CDx.device and the ARexx port of the Xetec CDFS are found in the Programming and ARexx subdirectories of the Xetec drawer on your system disk. For ARexx Programmers, there's a short manual page detailing the supported commands of the Xetec CDFS function host. The usage of the commands is further illustrated in a bunch of well documented sample ARexx programs. The C programmer's support consists of a function list conforming to Commodore's "AutoDoc" layout, the necessary include files, and some example source code. LIKES AND DISLIKES The Xetec installation program is quite nice, but I would have preferred a more AmigaDOS 2.x-like approach. Why not install the software and drivers using an Installer script, and then have a real Preferences program where one can set options and such? I think selection of HFS forks using superscript 1 and 2 as file name suffixes is a little bit cryptic to say the least. But since I've yet to encounter HFS discs, I can live with that. Having the CDTV emulation around is surely nice - if it only would work properly in all circumstances. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS The Xetec CDFS 1.651 release compares quite favourably to the older Asimware AsimCDFS 1.1c. For one thing, the Xetex CDFS offers the potentially faster data transfer using the Dos.library's DoIO() function with 2 KB blocks. The ARexx function host of the Xetec CDFS offers a very complete command set which is in my opinion superior to that of AsimCDFS. [MODERATOR'S NOTE: AsimCDFS itself has no ARexx port, but the AsimTunes audio CD player program does. - Dan] However, one should bear in mind that the new Version 2.0 of AsimCDFS is about to be released. BUGS At least on my machine, the installation/preferences program fails to close its screen when terminating. VENDOR SUPPORT Xetec operates a BBS where registered users can obtain software updates as well as leave feedback to the makers of the Xetec CDFS. WARRANTY Xetec offers all registered customers one year of warranty on their CD-ROM system (obviously including the CD-ROM drive, if you purchased a bundled package). CONCLUSIONS The Xetec CDFS seems to be a good product, and if you're thinking of joining the ever growing group of Amiga CD-ROM owners, this should probably be among your choices. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1993 Thomas Baetzler. All rights reserved. You can contact me at: fhinf@iraul1.ira.uka.de (until October 1993) s_walter@irav1.ira.uka.de (send CC: to here please) Thomas.Baetzler@mil.ka.sub.org (slow but reliable) Medic BSS, 2:241/7454.2@fidonet (very slow but reliable) Thomas Baetzler, Herrenstr. 62, 76133 Karlsruhe, FRG Voice: ++49 (0)721 29872 Medic BBS: ++49 (0)721 496821 --- 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