CompuServe Thread

#CD-ROM software

22 messages in this thread
#195511From: Hilary SzymanowskiMay 2, 1995 6:17 PM
Am thinking of adding a CD-ROM drive to our Amiga 4000/040. It has an SCSI II. card in it.. so that should be no problem. QUESTION: Is there any software available for the drive… and … is there any basic program which will make the Amiga recognize the new addition? All the best, HILARY.
#195539From: John GagerMay 2, 1995 11:10 PM
"QUESTION: Is there any software available for the drive… and … is there any basic program which will make the Amiga recognize the new addition?" Sure there is Hilary, all kinds of drivers now. If you have 3.1 of the Amiga OS, it includes a CDROM driver. Then there is the commercial drivers and software packages like the ASIMCD filesystem, and CacheCDFS. And then there is the good public domain driver AmiCDROM available in library 9 of this forum as "AMICD.LHA". Most of the software is fairly easy to install, and once it is installed, it is accessed just like any other Amiga drive, usually with a device name like CD0:. // John (Warp 4040 & Emplant Quadra 840) \X/ Mercury@ins.infonet.net
#195576From: Hilary SzymanowskiMay 3, 1995 10:22 AM
John. Thanks so very much for your help. Will down load the suggested file from the Library. Some more stupid questions… Can I use any of my large collection of CD-Rom's for my PC (Windows) on the Amiga ? Probably not. Second, is there a collection of CD-ROM's intended for the Amiga… and where do I find them? Behind my CD-ROM "wish" is the fact that NewTek are issuing the update to the "Toaster" on CD-ROM… or so I have heard. Again thanks, and best regards HILARY.
#195584From: Rafael VicariaMay 3, 1995 12:34 PM
>Can I use any of my large collection of CD-Rom's for my PC (Windows) on the Amiga ? Probably not.< Why not? Can the Amiga read the pc cd-rom like a diskette? Rafa <Motorola Inside> from Berlin, thanks to AP1.80 >…olive oil is the way to go.<
#195629From: Hilary SzymanowskiMay 3, 1995 7:00 PM
Sorry Rafael… Have not quite got the decoding of your reply.. and due to my advanced age, not understood it. In the plain. I have an excellent CD-ROM on my 486 PC. It is called "ENCARTA95" (Microsoft). If I get a CD-ROM drive for the Amiga, and if I am able to hook the damn thing up, and if I take the blessed ENCARTA95 and place it in thr Amiga CD-ROM… Will I see/hear the same things as I see on our PC ? Regards, HILARY.
#195641From: Trent HawkinsMay 3, 1995 11:25 PM
Hilary, As to running the Encarta95 disk, no.. unless you have an emulator tucked away in your 4000 (and running Windows of course on your 4000). You will be able to read graphics (GIFs, IFFs, PCXs, BMPs etc), text, play some of the songs (WAVs and MODs). With the proper programs you can also read animations (GLs, FLIs etc). As I said before though, actually running clone EXEcutables is not possible unless you are running an emulator (like that put forth by UU). Trent 'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori'
#195671From: Hilary SzymanowskiMay 4, 1995 9:20 AM
Trent…. my dear fellow, a Latin scholar no less! The only reason why I was "thinking" of the CD-ROM drive on the Amiga, was so that we could load the new Toaster Ver: 4.0. Somewhere I read that the software is on CD-ROM… which was a move in the right direction, as I nearly turned to stone during the time it took to load the last version from floppy disk. I was hoping that in addiotion to Toaster software, there may be something else worth having. Would end here with a well known ancient Greek tag, but do not have the thousand year old font in my machine. Sorry… All the best Trent… HILARY.
#195752From: Ray RobertsMay 4, 1995 10:10 PM
Hilary, there are lot`s of CD`s that you can use for video production and 3D Rendering with you Toaster. I sell alot of CD titles to toaster users, and there`s more stuff coming out all the time. Here`s some popular CD titles for toaster users.. Light ROM Vol. 1 Light ROM Vol. 2 Texture Gallery Texture Heaven Motion Clips Vol. 1 Micro R&D Vol 4 "Publishers Paradise" Micro R&D Vol 2 "Natures Backdrop" Plus there are lots of Font CD`s with Adobe Type 1 and Compugraphic fonts that you can use with the Video Toaster. And the CD-ROM titles I mentioned are Amiga titles, there are also many graphics CD`s and Photo CD`s that you can use that are not Amiga specific titles. And just for fun, you can play some CD32 game titles too. 🙂 Ray Tronix Micro Systems
#195792From: Hilary SzymanowskiMay 5, 1995 9:06 AM
Thanks so much Ray for the information. I presume that we can use most of the SCSI double speed CD-ROM drives that are available – with prices dropping fast ? We do have a GVP SCSI 2 controller board in the Amiga – so it should not present any problem, once I have gone thru' the pages of "Computer Shopper". All the best Ray, HILARY.
#195809From: Ray RobertsMay 5, 1995 1:39 PM
No problem Hillary… I also have GVP SCSI controllers/Accelerators on my Amiga 2000`s, CD-ROM drives work fine with GVP SCSI controllers. If you want a great inexpensive double speed SCSI-2 drive, I`d recommend the Sony CDU-55S. It`s a 2.4X Speed (360k/sec tranfer speed), caddyless and the drive is supported by Asim CDFS fully. For $189.00, it`s a good deal and it`s Sony`s newest model. Ray
#195831From: Asha DeVelderMay 5, 1995 4:41 PM
Ray, >I also have GVP SCSI controllers/Accelerators on my Amiga 2000`s, CD-ROM drives work fine with GVP SCSI controllers. Not always… I have a GVP Series II controller and could never get a CD-ROM drive to work (externally) on my A2000. I've heard from others with the same setup that they had the same problem. I was told that I could have put the drive INTERNALLY and it would have worked, but I didn't/don't have the room so the drive went into my husband's clone instead. There may not be any problems with other GVP controllers though…. Skimming through the Redwoods on AutoPilot Asha
#195842From: Hilary SzymanowskiMay 5, 1995 6:43 PM
Ray, is the SONY CD-ROM drive you mentioned an internal or external drive? I will have to go the external route, as the Amiga case is jammed solid with stuff and is rack mounted in the studio. Thanks Ray for your help. HILARY.
#195762From: Patrick WhiteMay 4, 1995 11:41 PM
True Hillary…the new Toaster 4.0 version will be available on CD-ROM.. Availability??? Patrick White Why drive a Ford when you can drive a Porsche….AMIGA
#195793From: Hilary SzymanowskiMay 5, 1995 9:06 AM
Re: Toaster Ver: 4.0… From statements and press releases made at the April NAB show, the NewTek folk seem to promise release "in the summer or early Fall". I expect that by then they will be promoting the new Toaster/Flyer for the PC (Windows) to which they are now giving full attention. All the best, HILARY.
#195706From: Rafael VicariaMay 4, 1995 1:30 PM
OK, Trent is giving you a very good answer. Thanks Trent! Rafa <Motorola Inside> from Berlin, thanks to AP1.80 >…olive oil is the way to go.<
#195741From: Hilary SzymanowskiMay 4, 1995 6:58 PM
Again… thanks to both you and Trent. All the best, HILARY.
#195596From: Kevin ShaferMay 3, 1995 2:04 PM
You can READ your PC CDRoms, but it won't play the files. This is useful for text files (like Project Guttenberg) or Fonts. I, for example, have 1000 Truetype fonts for Windows 3.1 that works well with my CDRom with Pagestream and Final Writer 3 as well as several other programs that use truetype, bitmap, or outline fonts. I think you said you were using an AGA machine. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that CD32s will work in a regular CDRom on an AGA machine just like most CDTVs will work on my CDRom on a Non-AGA machine.
#195630From: Hilary SzymanowskiMay 3, 1995 7:00 PM
Thanks Kevin. I should have explained. Our Amiga is just dedicated to the production of video.. for use on TV. Thus I would be only interested in things that would apply. Maybe fonts for titling… and perhaps "backgrounds" Can you think of anything in the Amiga CD-ROM platters that may be of use to us? Best regards, HILARY.
#195662From: Kevin ShaferMay 4, 1995 7:18 AM
I do know the CDRom I mentioned that has over 1000 fonts useable with most applications. I also heard of Texture CDRoms, each CD containing many different background textures.
#195601From: John GagerMay 3, 1995 2:58 PM
Well a lot of PC and Mac CD's can be used on the Amiga. For example, there are a lot of clipart, picture, and Photo CD's that are made for those platforms but can be used with the Amiga as well. I have the Corel "Gallery" CD for the Mac which is a collection of 10,000 clipart images in the PICT object format that can be read by the Amiga using Nova's ImageFX 2.0. But as far as being able to use most PC or Mac CD's like games or multimedia, you will not be able to use these with the Amiga unless you have a PC or Mac emulator like the Emplant. There are plenty of Amiga CD's as well. The "Aminet" CD series is now a collection of 5 CD's that contain all of the public domain and shareware programs from the hugh internet site in Switzerland. And then Fred Fish has his large series of CDROM's that include CD's of PD software, Lightwave objects, textures, fonts, etc. Syndesis has CD's of objects for many different platforms. There are also numerous CD's that come from Europe. So if you need a specific type of CD for your Amiga, you can find it if you know where to look. I would suggest contacting some of the PD distribution companies because they usually have a good collection to choose from. Some of them are: NorthWest Public Domain 206-351-9502 Turtle Lightning Amiga Domain 915-563-4925 Better Concepts Inc. 1-800-252-6442 They can give you some good advice on what's available and help you with building your Amiga CDROM collection. Good Luck! // John (Warp 4040 & Emplant Quadra 840) \X/ Mercury@ins.infonet.net
#195631From: Hilary SzymanowskiMay 3, 1995 7:00 PM
Thanks very much John. Your remarks and suggestions are most useful. Our Amiga (both parents named Commodore died recently)… is just dedicated to video work… nothing else. My wondering was about any platters which may be of use to us in this TV post production work. However, will follow up on your suggested contacts. All the best, HILARY.
#195606From: Ash WyllieMay 3, 1995 5:09 PM
I have been using Asim CDFS and it works nicely. You can even play audio CDs with the right CD drive. -ash Kyfho