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USB DVD/CD-ROM Drive and eCS?

Started by BigWarpGuy, 2007.11.27, 15:43:29

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BigWarpGuy

http://www.usbgeek.com/prod_detail.php?prod_id=0663
"Features & Specifications:

USB powered - no AC adapter needed
Compliant with USB 2.0 specifications(backward compatible with USB 1.1)
Plug and play- no additional software drivers required
8x DVD read, 24x CD/CDR/CD-RW read
Support Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Suitable for notebooks, mobile PC, and desktop.
Size: 13.2 x 13.3 x 17.5mm
Weight: 303gm
Package includes:

USB 2.0 DVD/CD-ROM Slim External Drive
USB Cable.
USB/PS2 power cable
User's Manual
"
Will this work with eCS? I know eCS has USB support for cd drives but will it work with an USB 2.0?  ???

Pete

Hi

I don't see why not - eCS has USB2.0 support.

Note that it is "Compliant with USB 2.0 specifications(backward compatible with USB 1.1)" which means that if used on a USB1.1 system it will be slow.

Also note that the claim "Plug and play- no additional software drivers required" probably only applies to using it as a reading device - every cd/dvd writer that I have ever installed in Windows has required extra software installed before it can be used as a writer of any sort.

Must admit I'm not that up on Windows, maybe some writer software is included with XP onwards?


Does your hardware have USB2.0 Controllers? - and How many?

Use USBcfg to check you have your USB devices configured correctly  http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/system/usbcfgb7a.zip

You should be able to format blank dvd rw discs (not r discs) with the UDF file system and use those discs as very large removable floppies  ie no Partitions allowed.

I think both dvddao and RSJ should be able to write to the device.

Before you purchase make sure that all involved drivers - IDE, Danis, USB - and any software that you plan to use with the device are at the current level.

Regards

Pete



Saijin_Naib

Yes, XP and Vista can write CDs directly from Explorer and Windows Media Player, no extra software needed.


RobertM

#3
Quote from: Pete on 2007.11.27, 19:16:00
Also note that the claim "Plug and play- no additional software drivers required" probably only applies to using it as a reading device - every cd/dvd writer that I have ever installed in Windows has required extra software installed before it can be used as a writer of any sort.

Must admit I'm not that up on Windows, maybe some writer software is included with XP onwards?

Correct... Windows, out of the box, comes with a licensed (by MS) Third Party CD burning software. Most XP systems that were built in the last few years came with DVD burning/playing software - not because it came with Windows, but because the machine had a DVD Burner/Player in it, and the OEM installed a DVD Software Suite (Nero, Sonic or Roxxio usually). The CD support through explorer is by one of those companies - if memory serves.

By default, Windows XP cannot play or burn DVDs. It can see them as data discs. Most people dont realize that because an OEM has installed the additional software before the computer left the factory.

-Rob


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Kirk's 5 Year Mission Continues at:
Star Trek New Voyages
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BigWarpGuy

I was thinking of using it to try to install eCS onto the Asus EEE PC. http://eeepc.asus.com (IIRC on the URL).  8)

Radek

Few notes:
(1) CD/DVD USB drive: you shouldn't meet any problems, they should work with eCS. Naturally, I cannot be sure as far as all USB CD drives :) Naturally, you will need enough good drivers for reading DVDs.
(2) CD/DVD USB burners: This can be problem. Neither RSJ nor cdrecord can work. For example, I was unable to put my Pioneer K16-D in work. I can read both CDs and DVDs, the cdrecord fails, RSJ finds the burner correctly but starts reporting errors when it starts burning. It destroys the CD and burns nothing.
(3) Installing eCS from an USB CD. AFAIK, this will not pass! After setting parameters on the text screens and pressing Alt-F4 (or what it is, I am not sure now), the installer will take a cofee break and then it will produce a message: "Insert eCS CD in your CD drive and press any key" The end. You won't be able to proceed further. In the other words, the startup code will not find your CD drive. This is true for eCS to 2.0 rc2 at least.
After searching the web, I have found that it is caused by too late initializing USB devices by the installer. After Alt-F4 the installer stops using BIOS code for accessing the CD, starts using its own drivers and tries to read data from the CD while the USB device drivers aren't ready. That's why locatecd does not find the CD and the installation crashes.
You can install only from ATAPI or SCSI CD.

melf

Quote from: Radek on 2007.11.28, 10:22:21

(2) CD/DVD USB burners: This can be problem. Neither RSJ nor cdrecord can work. For example, I was unable to put my Pioneer K16-D in work. I can read both CDs and DVDs, the cdrecord fails, RSJ finds the burner correctly but starts reporting errors when it starts burning. It destroys the CD and burns nothing.

I have burnt many CD:s with my 3-4 years old USB-burner (JR32RWDV "Jack rabbit") using audiocdcreator prepared with files in "cddvdrtools-1.7csd1.ZIP". Sometimes it hangs, but CD:s have been properly burned. How that works with DVD:s I have no idé.
/Mikael

Robert Deed

As I have said before I have a machine which only has a USB cdrom drive and have used it to install OS/2 before.  Simply disabled all USB support on the install disc and turned on legacy mode in the bios.  This fakes the drive as an ide drive and the ide drivers then find it without a problem. 

If you let the USB drivers load, then this method does not work. 

Quote from: Radek on 2007.11.28, 10:22:21
Few notes:
(1) CD/DVD USB drive: you shouldn't meet any problems, they should work with eCS. Naturally, I cannot be sure as far as all USB CD drives :) Naturally, you will need enough good drivers for reading DVDs.
(2) CD/DVD USB burners: This can be problem. Neither RSJ nor cdrecord can work. For example, I was unable to put my Pioneer K16-D in work. I can read both CDs and DVDs, the cdrecord fails, RSJ finds the burner correctly but starts reporting errors when it starts burning. It destroys the CD and burns nothing.
(3) Installing eCS from an USB CD. AFAIK, this will not pass! After setting parameters on the text screens and pressing Alt-F4 (or what it is, I am not sure now), the installer will take a cofee break and then it will produce a message: "Insert eCS CD in your CD drive and press any key" The end. You won't be able to proceed further. In the other words, the startup code will not find your CD drive. This is true for eCS to 2.0 rc2 at least.
After searching the web, I have found that it is caused by too late initializing USB devices by the installer. After Alt-F4 the installer stops using BIOS code for accessing the CD, starts using its own drivers and tries to read data from the CD while the USB device drivers aren't ready. That's why locatecd does not find the CD and the installation crashes.
You can install only from ATAPI or SCSI CD.

Radek

I, too, have a notebook with only USB peripherials (and without floppy, COM or LPT). I cannot set anything in the BIOS. My BIOS is eviscerated to such extent that I can set only date/time and priorities of boot devices in it. Disabling USB in the text screens of the installer does not help. Searching for another drive than drive S: does not help as well. No chance to reach the graphic interface of the installer. The installer either freezes or produces "Insert your CD, etc."
It is known to me that the BIOS knows El Torito and that the El Torito interface is a standard one most likely. Other bootable CDs, which search for a suitable CD driver (for example Hiren's Info CD) are able to use it. Nevertheless, I am unable to force the eCS installer using it.
I am able to get eCS on my notebook only by means of a partition image using PING and DFsee. I wish I were able to install normally  :(

edurrant

Hi Guys,
I'm also working on trying to work out how to install eComStation on my new ASUS EeePC and have hit the USB device issue.
This seems to be an issue not only with USB attached CD/DVD-Rom drives but also with any USB attached device - I've tried an external harddisk and the internal (USB internally connected) SD memory card - all three get to the stage when locatecd runs and says please insert the CD-Rom even though it is actually already there.

The EeePC does not have a legacy support option in the BIOS so that approach is out. There is a Mini-PCIe card slot available so in effect that could perhaps be used for an EIDE or SATA adapter of some kind. Alternatively a network based install may be possible using a DOS boot diskette in a USB attached floppy drive however all of these methods, while would probably work with an OS/2 Warp 4 install may not work with the eCS Install and given that more and more sub-notebooks now come without internal optical drives, I would suggest that this is a problem that needs to be fixed (somehow) in the eCS install process.
I've just found a description of what locateCD does - I had thought I could simply remove it and hardcode the CD letter in the config.sys and config.x files in the packed boot image files, however as the program actually transfers control from the booted image over to the RAM disk, this is not going to work - so it looks like I have some more investigating to do !

Looks like this has become my Christmas holiday project !

Here's hoping I can make some kind of a breakthrough.

Hmm, I wonder If I made the bootimages into actual floppy disks and attached a floppy drive AND an external CD-Rom drive it might be able to work ... But the floppy drive would probably need to be a 2.88MB one ..

Ideas, only at this point no solutions yet. :-\

Cheers/2

Ed.

edurrant

By the way guys, some of you are saying that writing CDs and DVDs with USB attached drives can be an issue - which I believe, however the drive that "BigWarpGuy" is looking at is only a reader, not a writer.

Cheers/2

Ed.

BigWarpGuy

External cd/dvd rom drives are cheaper than the recordable/rewritable ones. I want to only install eCS from the cd/dvd rom drive and not worry about recording to the external cd/dvd drive until after I have successfully installed eCS.

Thank you for the replies and information. It is appreciated.

edurrant

I'm still trying to find a way of fixing the current install process however much of the code is embedded in the revised loader (os2ldr) and drivers (memdisk and locatecd) that I am starting to think this will not be possible without basic changes to the install process approach.  :(

george

Quote from: edurrant on 2007.12.23, 08:29:34
Hmm, I wonder If I made the bootimages into actual floppy disks and attached a floppy drive AND an external CD-Rom drive it might be able to work ... But the floppy drive would probably need to be a 2.88MB one ..

eComStation diskettes work fine with 1.44MB USB diskette drive.

there are problems accessing USB cdrom during boot. Because of BIOS suport, eCS can use USB cdrom to do initial boot but once eCS drivers load eCS can not see the cdrom. So you can use USB cdrom instead of diskette images but not to do complete cdrom install.

I have done it this way.
1. create Linux USB bootable USB key
    need one 2MB key OR two 1MB keys OR one 512MB key and USB cdrom
2. zip copy of eComStation cdrom to USB key (2MB key or 2nd 1MB key)
        (also put eCS install key on USB)
     ** step 2 can be skipped if you have USB cdrom   **
3. boot linux with USB key
4. delete all partitions on SSD drive
5. create 800MB FAT16 partition at end of SSD drive
           label partition "ECS_CDRUN"
4. unzip eCS cdrom zip or copy eCS cdrom to "ECS_CDRUN" partition
5.  and eCS key to "ECS_CDRUN" partition
6. boot eCS using USB diskette drive or using USB cdrom
       "use own boot options"
                     change video to VGA 


edurrant

Thanks George,

  Your suggestion is similar to the one documented by Eugene at eComStation.ru. With difference that you don't boot from the new partition but rather from the eComStation diskette. This could be the key !

  The only problem for me with the approach you suggest is that it requires the destruction of the current system so that a new partition to be created on the SSD. I'd prefer to keep the existing configuration which would mean shrinking the partition in some way. Admittably I will probably need to do this at some stage but I'd like to get things working first before risking having to totally reset / reinstall the EeePC. I'm actually trying to get the Live CD (eCS 1.2 demo) to work first of all so that I can see what drivers etc. I need.

The key is that locateCD will find where the "CD-Rom" is by searching for a drive with the correct volume label ("ECS_CDRUN") and a flag file present.

I know that on systems where the BIOS allows a setting of "legacy mode" the BIOS emulates the USB devices as being local devices, unfortunately the EeePC does not have this option in BIOS.

By the way - I presume you meant to write 1GB not 1MB memory key ??

Since I have three USB ports on this system, I could have the Floppy Drive on one and boot from that and have an external USB drive with the CDROM image on another port (or even have it on a SD card in the system). The key point is that USB support must be available when locateCD runs - perhaps I can fix that easier on the floppy disks and then retro-fit what I found into the CD-Rom boot image ? - Worth a try anyway - thanks for the ideas.

Cheers/2

Ed. ;D