Information in this page updated: 07 Jan 96
Double is a must. You won't get decent rates on playing animations or videos from a single speed drive. And there are no single speed drive anymore. So Double and triple were state-of-the-art in 1994, in 1995 quad-speed and hex-speed were a good choice, oct-speed drives are in the making and will see the light in 1996. So look what you have to spend on the drive and get the best you can afford. More than oct-speed probaply wont happen, since technology moves on and should offers us new double- layered, doubelsided CDs with more than 10 gigabytes in 1996. These disks will use a differnt style of laser and electronic and you won't be able to read those on todays drives anyway.
You may also see in some program manuals the term 'sustained transfer rate'. If you require a STR of 300kb/s a double speed CD-ROM is not a real good choice. 300kb/s is the all time maximum transfer rate of such a drive and since there is a little overhead of your OS or driver you may never get 300kb/s out of a double-speed CD-ROM. For this reason you should buy a triple or better drive. Some manufactures offer drives with 2.2, 3.4 or 4.4times speed. these drives are able to compensate for the OS/driver overhaed and give you the STR you need without buying a drive of a higher class. To read a CD-I (which in my opionion is not a theme on the Amiga) your drive must be able to spin as a double, but most of the drives only support single (for audio playback) and the maximum spin rate. So watch it if CD-I is a point for you.
And consider another fact: For the Amiga the CD is merely a software archive. No company has released software that needs the CD-ROM drive for a large database or such. (not talking about games, remember!) So quad-speed will do the job for you.
Vendor/Typ Interf. Speed Cache Mech. Mount Audio DA MS CDG PCD VCD CDI CDA [KB] h/v [/mm] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mitsumi LU005 Mitsumi 1 Drawer h no - FX001S Mitsumi 1 Drawer h no - FX001D Mitsumi 2 Drawer h no - FX300 EIDE 3 Drawer h no * FX400 EIDE 4 128 Drawer h MPC no * * Toshiba XM4101B SCSI-2 2 64 Drawer h/v LGGR yes * * * * * * XM3301B SCSI 1 Caddy h/v yes - - - - - * XM3401B SCSI-2 2 256 Caddy h/v yes * * * * * * XM5201B SCSI-2 3.4 64 Drawer h GRL/2 yes * * * * - * XM5301B² SCSI-2 2/4 256 Drawer h GRL/2 yes * * * * * * XM5302B² EIDE 2/4 256 Drawer (h/v) GRL/2 yes * * * * * - XM3501B SCSI-2 4 256 Caddy h/v RGL yes * * * * * * XM3601B SCSI-2 4.4 256 Drawer h RGL yes * * * * * * XM3701B SCSI-2 7.4 256 Drawer h/v GRL yes * * * * - * NEC 2X SCSI 2 Drawer h LGR yes 2Xc² SCSI-2 2 7 Changer yes 3X SCSI 3 Caddy h/v LGR yes 3Xp SCSI-2 3.3 Top h/v yes 4X² SCSI-2 2/4 Caddy h/v RGGL yes CDR-273 EIDE 4 no CDR-512 SCSI-2 6 6Xi SCSI-2 6 CDR-727 EIDE 4 no Apple CD-150 SCSI-1 1 Caddy h/v PowerCD SCSI-1 1 Top h/v CD-300 SCSI-2 2 Caddy h/v yes CD-300e PLUS² SCSI-2 2 Caddy h/v RGGL yes CD-600 SCSI-2 4 Caddy h/v Sony CDU 561 SCSI-2 2 Caddy h/v yes CDU-8002 SCSI ? ? yes CDU-8003A ? ? ? yes CDU-55S² SCSI-2 2/2.4 Drawer h RGGL yes CDU-77E EIDE 4 Drawer h no CDU-76S SCSI-2 4 256 Drawer (h/v) RGGL (yes) CDU-76E EIDE 4 128 Drawer (h/v) MPC (yes) Sanyo CDR 254S SCSI-2 4 Drawer CDR 254 EIDE 4 Drawer no IBM CDRM00101 SCSI-1 1 Caddy h/v yes Panasonic CR-503B SCSI-2 2 Drawer h GLGR (yes) CR-504B SCSI-2 4 256 Drawer h - no CR-581B EIDE 4 128 Drawer (h/v) MPC yes PD System SCSI-2 4 256 Drawer h MPC no Hitachi CDR-6550² SCSI-2 2 Drawer h GRL CDR-6750² SCSI-2 2 Caddy h/v GRL yes CDR-1950 SCSI ? ? yes Pioneer DR-U104x SCSI-2 4 Caddy h/v yes DR-U124X SCSI-2 4.4 128 Drawer h MPC (yes) DR-UA124X EIDE 4 no DRM602X SCSI-2 2 6 Changer DRM604X SCSI-2 4 6 Changer DRM624X SCSI-2 4.4 6 Changer Texel 3024/5024 SCSI ? ? yes Nakamishi MBR-7²³ SCSI-2 2 7 Changer yes Chinon CDS-525S² SCSI-2 2 Drawer h RGGL CDS-535² SCSI-2 2 Caddy h/v RGL CDS-545i EIDE 4 128 Drawer h MPC no Plextor PX 43 CS SCSI-2 4 Caddy h/v RGGL PX 63 XCS SCSI-2 6 256 Caddy h/v MPC (yes) PX 43 CS+ SCSI-2 4.5 Caddy h/v MPC (yes) PX-4XCE SCSI-2 4 256 Caddy h/v Teac CD 56E EIDE 6 128 Drawer h MPC yes CD-55A EIDE 4 no CD-55E EIDE 4 no Wearness CDD-120 EIDE 2 Philips PCA42CR EIDE 4 128 Drawer h MPC no GoldStar R520B EIDE 2 no R542B EIDE 4 no R320B SCSI 2 Optics Stingray 8422 EIDE 8 256 Drawer h LGGR no Stingray 8322 EIDE 6 256 Drawer h LGGR no Lion Optics XC-600EI EIDE 6 256 Drawer h LGGR no XC-400EI EIDE 4 256 Drawer h LGGR no Vertos 400ETD EIDE 4 128 Drawer h MPC no ----- ¹all drives are able to spin single for audio playback ²CD-I compatible, spins double ³Needs a new WD00-08 SCSI controller chip if operated in an A3000 *out of production
A CD changer acts just like a normal cd-rom drive. The only difference is the additional changing mechanism. As of this writing a know only one IDE 3disk changer but i do not have any further information on it. So the following will apply to SCSI disk changers only!
To access a disk tehre are two ways: first you can issue a special diskchange command via the scsi-bus, or - if the drive supports it - the disk are accessed via LUNs. AsimWare supports the mounting of all disks within a changer and you see all CDs as icons on your Workbench. If you open one, this disks becomes active.
The special diskchange command is a rare used method, LUNs are the better choice, but a lot of Amiga SCSI-controllers support the LUNs rather badly or not at all. So, befor you choose a disk changer as your drive, be sure your SCSI controller supports LUNs. Commodore adapter of the Ax091 series do, also the Octagon, but the Fastlane Z3 does not.
A CD recorder first acts as a normal (quad-speed) CD-ROM drive. Only with special software it will write empty golden or green colored CDR disks. CD recorder currently come only with a SCSI interface and the onyl software, that supports writing a CD is AsimWares MasterISO. (Do not fall for the NGMaster PD software on several boards, thats a pirate copy of an older MasterISO!) A real demo of the new program is on aminet and you can first check, if the CD recorder you are about to buy is supported by the software.
Also an issue is the hadrdiskspace you need for the writer. CDrs are not useable as a removeable! Considerartions of bandwidth and sustained data transfer rates often force you to generate an "image" of the CD you are going to burn. (The CD recorder is not abble to cache the incomming data long enough to deliever a continous data stream to the writing mechanism, but a CDR can not be written in little peaces, but a session must be written in one cycle. If the harddisk filesystem can not deliver the data as fast as needed, the recorder will terminate the session or the whole CD. Therefor you will also need at least a 68030/25 and a good SCSI controller in your Amiga!
This file is build from the sources you enter, but to arrange a well done CD you must at least have a harddisk, that can be used as a pseudo CD. So in a worst case scenario you will need two time 700MB for arranging the CD and generating the write image. You can do with less space, but the written CDs are surely no product for mass market production.
Vendor/Type Write- Read-Speed ---------------------------------------------- Plasmon CDR F4102 2 4 PD2000i 2 4 Yamaha CDR-100 2 4 JVC XRW2001 2 4 Philips CDD20000 2 4Compact disk digital audio (CDDA) is transmitted with 44100Hz on 2 channels using 16Bits each. So this comes down to 44100Hz * 2channels * 2Bytes and gives us a 172KB/sec transfer rate. On audio there can be some drop outs, but for digital information on CDs, a flipped bit is deadly. So some error correction codes (ECC) drop the rate for CDROM to 150KB/sec. That's what they call "single". "Double" than is 300KB/sec, "Triple" is 450KB/sec and "Quad" or "Quadro" is 600KB/sec. There are also drives that transmit a little bit more: 2.4times (Sony), 3.5times (Toshiba).
Double is a must. You won't get decent rates on playing animations or videos from a single speed drive. And there are no single speed drive anymore. So Double is it in 1994, but they say triple and quad will do in 1995. So look what you have to spend on the drive and get the best you can afford. More than quad-speed probaply wont happen, since technology moves on and should offers us CDs with more than a gigabyte in 1996. These disks will use a differnt style of laser and electronic and you won't be able to read those on todays drives anyway.
You may also see in some program manuals the term "sustained transfer rate". If you require a STR of 300kb/s a double speed CD-ROM is not a real good choice. 300kb/s is the all time maximum transfer rate of such a drive and since there is a little overhead of your OS or driver you may never get 300kb/s out of a double-speed CD-ROM. For this reason you should buy a triple or better drive. Some manufactures offer drives with 2.2, 3.4 or 4.4times speed. these drives are able to compensate for the OS/driver overhaed and give you the STR you need without buying a drive of a higher class.
And consider another fact: For the Amiga the CD is merely a software archive. No company has released software that needs the CD-ROM drive for a large database or such. (not talking about games, remember!) So double or triple will do the job for you.
Manufacturer Drive Type Speed¹ Mechanism ----------------------------------------------------------- Mitsumi LU005 Mitsumi 1 drawer FX001S² Mitsumi 1 drawer FX001D² Mitsumi 2 drawer FX300 ATAPI 3 drawer FX400 ATAPI 4 drawer Toshiba XM4101B² SCSI-2 2 drawer XM3401B² SCSI-2 2.2 Caddy XM5201B² SCSI-2 3.4 drawer XM5301B SCSI-2 4 drawer XM5302B ATAPI 4 drawer XM3501B² SCSI-2 4 Caddy XM3601B SCSI-2 4.4 drawer NEC 2x² SCSI 2 drawer 3x SCSI-2 3 Caddy 3xp SCSI-2 3.3 Top-Loader 4x SCSI-2 4 Caddy Apple CD-150² SCSI-1 1 Caddy(?) PowerCD² SCSI-1 1 Top-Loader CD-300² SCSI-2 2 Caddy CD-300ePLUS SCSI-2 2 Caddy Sony CDU 561² SCSI-2 2 Caddy CDU-8002 SCSI CDU-8003A CDU55S SCSI-2 2.4 drawer IBM CDRM00101² SCSI-1 1 Caddy Panasonic CR-503-B SCSI-2 2 drawer Hitachi CDR-6550 SCSI-2 2 drawer CDR-6750 SCSI-2 2 Caddy CDR-1950 SCSI Pioneer DR-U104x SCSI-2 4 Caddy DRM602x SCSI-2 2 6 CD mag DRM604x SCSI-2 4 6 CD mag Texel 3024/5024 SCSI Nakamishi MBR-7 SCSI-2 2 7 CD mag Chinon CDS-525S SCSI-2 2 drawer CDS-535 SCSI-2 2 Caddy Plextor CD 43 CS SCSI-2 4 Caddy ----- ¹Single-Speed is supported for CDDA CDs by all drives ²out of production