Risc-pc CD-ROM drive compatibility

[DaveLecky]

Hi there,
Is there a list of Riscpc compatable cd/dvd rom drives.
I’ve just bought a strongarm rpc on eBay and it has no CD-ROM installed, just a big hole....
I’ve had a look on the forum but can’t see anything definitive.

EDIT....Do rewritable ones work too.
Does the speed matter ie 52x etc.

Thanks

Dave

[danielj]

Any IDE CR-ROM should theoretically work. Not sure about DVD-ROM drives.

d.

[hubersn]

Hi there,
Is there a list of Riscpc compatable cd/dvd rom drives.

Not that I know of. Compatibility depends on the driver used, the RISC OS 3.7 CDFSSoftATAPI is completely different to the RISC OS 4.x one.

Keep an eye on power consumption. Many writers need more than 2A@12V, which means they won't work with the "weak" RPC PSU. So staying with a CD-ROM is a good idea to avoid that problem.

Stay away from DVD-ROMs. They often confuse the ATAPI driver when it tries to do pseudo-intelligent things to cater for Mode 2, XA, Multisession and and PhotoCD discs.

You can find the CDFSSoftATAPI revision from RISC OS 3.7 in the RISC OS source tree at ROOL, so you can have a go to fix it yourself...it has some conditional assembly inside that allows it to "dumb down" the code, which might help.

Have fun
hubersn

[DaveLecky]

Thanks guys,

I’ve ordered an old cd rom Drive from eBay, only £10 inc postage.

So even if it doesn’t work it will fill the hole nicely........

Dave

[DaveLecky]

Hi again,

I received my new/old CD-ROM drive, attached it to a duel ide cable, switched on and configured a CD-ROM drive from the drive settings.
I got the icon up ok and the drive makes all the normal noises, but it doesn’t read the disc, says it’s no good, the disc is ok.

I’ve tried it as, master, slave and cable select....

Do I have to configure something else to get this working?

I’m running riscos 3.7 with a strongarm processor.

I’ve checked the modules and cdfssoftatapi is there ok.....

Dave

[thecellartroll]

I found RPC to be quite hit and miss as to which CD ROM drives it would accept. I actually had better luck with DVD ROM drives, though pure luck it may have been!