Baslinux mailing list

[Stephen Clement <s.clement AT sympatico.ca>]

sindi keesan wrote:

> On Mon, 17 Jan 2005, Stephen Clement wrote:
>
> > sindi keesan wrote:
> >
> > > I have BL2 on two pentiums with lots of RAM.  The first has a Vibra 
> > > 16 AWE32 card that works well in DOS (plays midis that sound better 
> > > than usual) but I was told Vibra16 does not work with sb.o.  The 
> > > second has a SB16 awe64 that works under Windows but not DOS.
> > >
> > > I made the relevant device files (audio, dsp), and did the needed 
> > > insmods, and copied over play, workbone, and sox from the first to 
> > > the second computer.  The dev files are to fix the original problem 
> > > of missed /dev files in a few years worth of sb modules.  Christof 
> > > put together sound packages for bl2 which contain them.  Did I need 
> > > anything else?
> > >
> > > The second computer won't play sound except with cat (or DOS or 
> > > Windows).
> > > Workbone:  #1 stopped.  Play - complaints about IRQ/DRQ conflicts.  
> > > The IRQ is 5 DMA 1 as in DOS where it works.  I read about someone 
> > > else who had the card working in a 486 but not in a pentium, same 
> > > software, tho usually it is really an IRQ or DMA conflict.  I tried 
> > > various other IRQs with no luck (they were all taken already).
> > >
> > > Just out of curiosity, I then tried workbone and play on the 
> > > vibra16, and contrary to all other reports, they work perfectly.
> >
> >
> > Soundblaster clones are very weird like that, sometimes they works, 
> > sometimes they don't. It's a hit or miss sort of thing.
>
>
> These are genuine soundblaster by Creative, not clones.  I guess the 
> awe variants are not predictable in linux.  I have another awe32, this 
> one Creative not Vibra, to try instead.  It will be a lot easier to 
> get this sound recording business figured out if I can play sound in 
> linux on the computer where I am recording CDs.

Sorry, my fault.

> > > I will try a different SB card than the awe64, but it may be some 
> > > problem with this motherboard.  ASUS.  I have another similar one to 
> > > try next.
> > >
> > > ------------------
> > > I have also been trying to copy audio CDs.  We have three 
> > > CD-burners, which burn at 2X, 4X, and 8X.
> > >
> > > The 2X is finally working, after a period in which it gradually got 
> > > worse and would not even play a music CD.  The lens was very dirty 
> > > and needed cleaning with alcohol.  But is is rather slow.
> > >
> > > The 4X is one of those few that will not work with any but the most 
> > > recent cdrecord, which I don't want to learn to compile just now.  I 
> > > tried both linux and DOS cdrecord and then read that they don't work 
> > > with this drive.
> > > DOS cdroast works fine, but there is no way I know of to burn audio 
> > > CDs with it.  I have not tried DOS cd2wav on this one (it works on 
> > > the 8x).
>
> Is there any DOS program that burns .wav files to an audio CD?  DOS 
> cdroast came with cd2wav but no program to make a music Cd from wav.
>
> > > So I tried cdda2wav with the 8x.  In profile I can export 
> > > CDDA_DEVICE=/dev/hdc or /dev/hdd or if I want to use scsi emulation 
> > > 0,0,0.
> > > hdc is the burner.  I left it at default speed (24x reading) and it 
> > > rather slowly made wav files from the tracks (cdda2wav -B copies all 
> > > tracks individually - I discovered copying them as one big track did 
> > > not produce a playable audio CD so I added -B).  I could play the 
> > > wav files in DOS or on the other computer.  But near the end of 
> > > copying each track I would get all sorts of error messages, and when 
> > > I burned the result it stopped 20% of the way throughwith some 
> > > complaint.  I could play the parts that did burn.
>
> > Odd. Maybe report this to the cdda2wav mailing list?
>
>
> I don't know enough to file an intelligent reportand this is probably 
> just one of the drives that is not compatible with cdda2wav.  Three 
> other drives worked except at the very end of reading the CD (see 
> below regarding copy protection on this CD).
>
> > > I read about this and apparently cdda2wav works with only some 
> > > drives. cdparanoia works with others but I did not want to learn 
> > > that yet.
> >
> >
> > cdparanoia seems to work work with more drives, although it is MUCH 
> > slower (from my experiences with it).
>
>
> Can't be slower than 3 hours for a 1 hour CD.  The problem is 
> apparently jitter.  The burner was not compatible, the 8X drive was 
> but the jitter readings ranged from -5000 to +12,000.  The burner had 
> 0 jitter as did two newer CD burners that someone just gave us in 
> computers to be recycled (48X and 54X).  These two drives copied the 
> whole CD in just a few minutes with -S 48 (speed) but when copying the 
> numbers were 1/1/1/ for no reason I can think of.  Perhaps too fast 
> for cdda2wav to measure?
>
> cdda2wav is a good way to measure drive quality - if it is non-zero 
> the drive is badly made or worn out (like the floppymeter test for 
> floppies).

If you're getting more than 20 jitter errors per CD, then the drive is 
not a good one to be using.

> > > So I tried the 8X non-burner that I had in there.  I figured I had a 
> > > speed problem since some instructions for audio CDs say to try 4X if 
> > > you get errors.  I set speed with -S 8, and it copied at 
> > > min/max/current /1/8/1
> > > for much of the time, or sometimes at /1/8/3 or /1/10/4, but took 3 
> > > hours to copy a 1-hour CD.  I left it overnight and came back to 
> > > pages and pages of error messages.
>
> The error messages were all the same and I got them again after 
> copying with the 54X drive, all at the end.
>
> > > So I put in anohter drive someone just gave us and copied at 48X and 
> > > it told me the speed was 1/1/1 but went much faster.  On the last 
> > > track of 36 I again got pages and pages of error messages.
>
> > Bad CD, maybe? Maybe there is some form of copy protection?
>
>
> Is copy protection something at the very end of the disk which would 
> explain why I got 10 pages of identical error messages while copying 
> the final track?  And only if I copied to the very end and recorded it 
> all successfully would the copy protection end up on the copy of teh 
> CD and keep it from playing, while the copy I made on the incompatible 
> burner, with lots of errors, so bad that cdrecord quit after recording 
> just the first 6 of 36 files, would play them okay (no copy protection 
> even got onto the disk).

Yes, copy protection is usually is the cause of tons of error messages 
near the end of the CD. Although like I said below the problem is 
probably not copy protection. I have no idea why cdrecord is having 
problems though.

> This CD also does not play on one CD deck.  I will try copying a 
> different CD and make a cassette tape of this one.
>
> So copy protection explains many things, including why the wav files 
> were playable on hard drive but not on CD.

Yes, sometimes ripping the CD will allow music to play better, i find in 
many cases, although read what I say below on copy protection.

> Many many thanks.  You have saved me a few more days of failed 
> experiments and ruined CDs. I was going to try a different burner 
> next.  And .cdr or .raw files, and without -B.......
>
> The CD I was trying to copy is one a friend recorded.

Ok, then copy protection is almost definitly not your problem. Unless 
your friend just verbatim copied the CD (didn't rip it to .wav files and 
then reburned) then it shouldn't have any form of copy protection. Are 
you sure your friend recorded this correctly?

> Have you done this with .cdr or .raw files made from music CDs?
>
> >
>
> > > I could play the last three tracks and some others sampled from the 
> > > middle by copying them to DOS (the computer won't play sound in 
> > > linux) so I burned the disk.  It quickly burned the whole thing.  
> > > The first time it only burned 20% but would play that on a boombox.  
> > > This time the boombox could not find the CD and workbone told me no 
> > > media and the DOS players would not work either.  I could see a 
> > > color change meaning it was burned.
> > > The DOS players gave me track information, just would not play the 
> > > tracks. cdda2wav produced a .wav and an .inf file for each track, so 
> > > the inf files seem to be okay but not the wav files.  The burner is 
> > > a Samsung.
> > >
> > > Any idea what is going wrong?  I am no longer trying to use cdda2wav 
> > > on this burner, but why the error messages making wavs with two 
> > > CD-ROM readers?  And why, after I get playable wav files, would the 
> > > burner not burn them?  Is it also incapable of burning music CDs, 
> > > not just reading them to wav files?
> > >
> > > I will try the 2x next.  We are destroying a lot of CD blanks.
> > >
> > > I could also try to make .raw or .cdr files instead (-Oraw or -Owav) 
> > > and burn them with the -audio switch (which is default but I put it 
> > > in for cdrecord anyway). cdrecord -v -audio *.wav [or *.cdr or 
> > > *.raw].  This burner makes data CDs just fine.
> > >
> > > Do any of you have any experience copying music CDs with linux?
> >
> >
> > Yes, and they are limited to GRIP/cdparanoia/cdda2wav, and all have 
> > been successful. The only other thing that I can thing of would be 
> > copy protection problems.
>
>
> I should have asked you before ruining another CD.
>
> If I were to record all but the final track might it play?

Don't know.

> Is there some easier way to determine if a CD is copy protected other 
> than cdda2wav, or maybe we could just do the last track?

Most CD's that you buy in stores have some form of copy protection logo. 
Look on the back of the CD especially and inside the cover. Note, I'm 
talking about Canadian/American CD's here and have no idea what CD's are 
like wherever you may live.

> > Thanks,
> >
> > Stephen Clement
>
> keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
> SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org

Thanks,
Stephen Clement