diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/icedax/FAQ')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/icedax/FAQ | 296 |
1 files changed, 296 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/icedax/FAQ b/doc/icedax/FAQ new file mode 100644 index 0000000..815f579 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/icedax/FAQ @@ -0,0 +1,296 @@ +Frequently Asked Questions + +Status +====== + + +Q: What is the copyright status of icedax? + +A: icedax is software copyrighted by Heiko Eissfeldt and others, and + released under the General Public License from the Free Software + Foundation (see file GPL). + +Compilation +=========== + + +Q: What are the requirements to run icedax? + +A: All operating systems that are supported by wodim should also be able to + run icedax. Currently DOS and Windows are not covered. + Requirements of previous versions of icedax have been cut down for the + sake of portability. Features like fork(), realtime scheduling, or shared + memory are all optional now. You need Cmake and its dependencies, an + ANSI C compiler and a C library to build icedax + on a supported operating system. To run icedax, a SCSI transport + implementation for the os, a cdrom or cd burner device to read from, and + at least say 65K of memory for buffers are needed. + + +Q: Why does it not compile under Linux, although I am using the newest kernel? + +A: There have been changes in the generic driver by Douglas Gilbert, that are + in its first release not compatible with the scsi library from Joerg + Schilling. We are working on this problem... + In the meantime better do not use this variant, use the older one instead. + + +Q: Why does it not compile using standard make? + +A: Like wodim, icedax uses the cmake system, which requires a + sophisticated make program like GNU make. + Pure posix make functionality is not enough. + +Setting Up (for now Linux only) +=============================== + + +Q: Should I use scsi emulation or the eide driver for my ATAPI cdrom drive? + +A: Scsi emulation is preferred, since it enables icedax to use more commands + and is often the only way to get special information like track titles with + cd-text. The emulation module is called ide-scsi, the eide module is called + ide-cd. + + +Q: How can I use my parallel-port-connected cdrom with icedax? + +A: Under Linux there is a driver, that makes this device under SCSI + emulation available. For more information see the wodim documentation. + + +Q: How do I check, if the current Linux kernel does support generic SCSI? + +A: run 'cat /proc/devices | grep "21 sg"' and see, if a line with 'sg' appears. + If it does not appear, the current kernel is not able to use the generic_scsi + interface. If you have generic SCSI support compiled as a module, see next + question, otherwise you need to recompile the kernel and enable generic SCSI. + You might try to use the 'cooked_ioctl' interface as a last resort, but then + you need to supply a cdrom device with -D (like -D/dev/cdrom). In this case + icedax completely relies on the cdda reading methods from the kernel + driver, so it might not work (due to unsupported). + + +Q: How do I load the generic SCSI module by hand? + +A: run 'insmod sg' and check the result (see above). + + +Q: How do I find the device setting for my drive? + +A: Under Linux use the script scan_scsi.Linux. It prints the available devices + and their respective device option to be used. + Be aware of the fact that the generic device naming may change whenever the + devices on the SCSI bus change (present or not present). + +General usage (sampling) +======================== + + +Q: How do I record the whole cd, each track in a seperate file? + +A: Use the '-B' option. This will automagically create a file for each track. + + +Q: How do I record the whole cd into one file? + +A: Just extend the default recording time from one track to a big enough + time in seconds to cover the whole cd (like -d99999). + + +Q: How do I record successive tracks (a track range) into seperate files? + +A: Use the '-B' option and -t<first tracknumber>+<last track number>. + + +Q: How do I record successive tracks (a track range) into one file? + +A: Use -t<first tracknumber>+<last track number>. + + +Q: How do I record different tracks into seperate files with individual file + names? + +A: Use the supplied script 'readmult'. For usage see the comments at the + beginning of the script. + + +Q: How can I get the highest speed out of icedax? + +A: See the file README. There is a section about performance and what is + influencing it. + + +Q: How can I burn audio cds with icedax and wodim on-the-fly? + +A: This has not been tested very well, so caveat emptor. It is possible to + use icedax and wodim with pipes, _but_ there are several issues. + 1.: The cd drive may become too slow to keep wodim's buffer happy, when + a scratch on the audio cd is encountered, and several retries take place. + 2.: Currently there is no way to carry individual track information from + icedax to wodim. Several information bits are available very late + but are needed in advance from wodim. + 3.: Some operating systems have limitations in multiple SCSI accesses and + other resources (shared memory). icedax and wodim may block each + other, or might fight over limited resources. + For these reasons it is not recommended to burn on-the-fly with icedax. + +Frontends +========= + + +Q: Which frontends for icedax are available? + +A: See the file 'Frontends'. There are command line and graphical frontends. + +Album and track titles +====================== + + +Q: Does icedax support titles from cd extra (aka cd plus aka enhanced cd)? + +A: In general, yes. In order to get this information, icedax needs to read + a data sector from the second session of the cd. This requires multisession + support and the capability to read XA sectors. The titles are printed on the + screen and written into the inf files, then. + + +Q: Does icedax support titles from cd-text? + +A: Newer versions support the most important features of cd-text like titles + and creators. Non-supported are currently 16-bit characters, so asian + titles etc. are currently not available. + + +Q: Does icedax support CDDB ids? + +A: Yes, while it does not make CDDB lookups itself, it supplies an cddb file + with the table of contents and the cddb id. For cddb lookups see the + perl script tracknames.pl and tracknames.txt. If the titles are known to + icedax, it fills the titles itself in the cddb file. + + +Q: What is the MCN? + +A: The media catalog number is an unique id for the audio cd release. It is + similar to the ISBN for books, but unfortunately it is included only on + some audio cds. + + +Q: What is the ISRC? + +A: The International Standard Record Code is an unique id for a track. Like the + MCN (see above) it is an optional item. + +MP3 coding +========== + + +Q: Does icedax support on-the-fly mp3-coding? + +A: Yes. As of version 1.9alpha I integrated the LAME encoding engine as a new + output format. + To support external encoders, I added two scripts. The trick + is to avoid big temporary files. There are three versions (cdda2mp3.file, + cdda2mp3.pipe, and cdda2mp3.fifo), the first using files, the second uses + pipes, and the last uses a named pipe (also called fifo). The examples + use the Fraunhofer encoder 'l3enc', which is a commercial product and has + to be purchased seperately. Other encoders should be usable in a similar way. + +Conversions +=========== + + +Q: How do I create a file suitable for cd burning? + +A: If you are using wodim, you can produce cdr or wav files. To select + cdr files, use -Ocdr, to select wav files use -Owav (the default). + Audio files that have been recorded with a length not a multiple of the + audio sector size 2352 bytes, should be used with wodim's -pad option. + + +Q: How do I convert a wav file into a cdr file (my other cd burning program + does not accept wav format)? + +A: Use 'dd if=wavfile of=cdrfile conv=swab ibs=44 skip=1 obs=2352' + + +Q: How to convert cdr to wav? + +A: Use sox, the sound utility. It supports other formats as well. + +Specials +======== + + +Q: Does icedax support the pre-emphasis bit? + +A: If the table of contents marks a track as pre-emphasized, the corresponding + inf file will have this information, too. That enables a cd burning program + to retain the state of the track. + + +Q: Can icedax undo the pre-emphasis effect in the samples? + +A: Yes, if the -T option is given (and cd quality is selected), + icedax filters the samples with the reverse emphasis on-the-fly. This has + been checked with a sine sweep from a pre-emphasized test cd. + + +Q: My cdrom delivers the stereo channels swapped. How can I undo this? + +A: Use the -cs option. + + +Q: Does icedax support indices? + +A: Yes, but since there are positioning problems with a lot of drives, + information might be inaccurate. A start index can be specified with the + -i option. To get all indices, use the -v7 option. + + +Q: Can icedax avoid including the pre-gap region at the end of the track? + +A: Currently not. This might be added later, but is not easily done. + + +Q: How can I get all information about the cd without writing files? + +A: Use the -J option, which switches analysis to the max, and aborts after + the report. + + +Q: Can icedax display/save the graphics on my CD+graphics disc? + +A: No, this is not planned. A seperate X11 program could do that probably + better. + + +Q: Can icedax read the audio portion from my CD-I/Video-CD/DVD mpeg streams? + +A: No, these are special formats, which require much more effort. + +User support/feedback +===================== + + +Q: icedax is great. How can I support you to encourage further development? + +A: Look into the file NEEDED. Also constructive criticism and feedback is + appreciated. + + +Q: I want to port cdrkit (wodim/genisoimage/icedax) to a new platform (like + DJGPP,cygwin,os/2). How should I proceed? + +A: It would be convenient to have a unix like environment (like cygwin provides) + A shell, and a make program would be needed to first create smake (in order + to make the makefile system working). Another critical component is autoconf. + Once that is running, os dependent interfaces and the SCSI library should be + adjusted. For the makefile system and the scsi library please contact Joerg + Schilling. + + +Q: icedax sucks. Are there other alternatives available? + +A: Yes, for Linux you might try 'cdparanoia' from Monty (see README file). |