Amiga ISO Collection/AmigaUtilCD1.iso/CD32/DRMC_CD.DMS/in.adf/Docs/Manual.doc

Text File | 1994-08-02 | 35.5 KB | 902 lines

Introduction

Welcome to CacheCDFS, a CD-Rom control solution for the
Amiga family of computers. The CacheCDFS package consists of
a high-performance FileSystem, an emulation package that
allows you to play most of the popular CD-Rom games designed
for the AmigaCD32 game console and other support programs to
further control your CD-Rom drive.

In this package you will find: this manual, a 3.5 inch master disk
and a registration card. You are strongly advised to fill in the
registration card and send it to us to achieve technical support
and updates.


What is a FileSystem?

Data is written to a storage media in a precise manner. With
Amiga hard drives, this data layout is called FastFileSystem.
Data on CD-Roms is stored differently, this is why you need a
different filesystem. In simple terms, the FileSystem is a "translator"
between the physical layout of a disc and AmigaDOS.

It must be noted, that a FileSystem only provides access to data.
No processing or converting of the actual data takes place. This
job is left to other applications. A good example for such an
application would be a PhotoCD reader (like PhotoWorx from
Corporate Media).
The FileSystem gives AmigaDOS access to the physical disc layout,
PhotoWorx uses AmigaDOS to read the images and displays
them.

There are different common ways the data on a CD-Rom may be
organized:

1. HighSierra
High Sierra was the first attempt to define a standard data layout
for CD-Roms. It has been quickly replaced by its successor, the
ISO9660 standard.
Today this format can be considered obsolete.
The CacheCDFS does NOT support the High Sierra protocol. High
Sierra formatted disks can't be read by the CacheCDFS.
However, if there is enough public demand High Sierra might find
its way into the FileSystem in a future release.

2. ISO9660, Level 1
This is the most popular data layout for CD-Roms and can be
found mostly in the MS-Dos world. The CacheCDFS is able to read
such discs.

3. ISO9660, Level 2
This is an extension to ISO9660, Level 1. It allows longer filenames. It
is the most popular format for dedicated Amiga CD-Roms. The
CacheCDFS is able to read such discs.

4. Rock Ridge
Rock Ridge is a further extension to ISO9660. The "trick" with Rock
Ridge is, that an ISO9660, Level 1 formatted disc, readable with
MS-DOS machines, "magically" gets extended file names on more
"sophisticated" machines, like your Amiga. The CacheCDFS is able
to process Rock Ridge extensions correctly.

5. Macintosh HFS
As the name implies, this format can only be found on Apple
Macintosh machines. It is the same layout as used on Macintosh
harddisks. The CacheCDFS will try its best to read such disks.

System Requirements

This package requires the following to operate:
-    a Commodore Amiga computer
-    AmigaDOS 2.04 or greater
-    a CD-Rom drive with host adapter
-    at least 1 MegaByte of memory
-    any ISO9660, RockRidge or HFS formatted CD-Rom discs

The CD32 Emulator requires the following to operate:
-    a Commodore Amiga computer with AA/AGA chipset and
    an MC68EC020 or better processor (A1200/A4000)
-    AmigaDOS 3.0 or greater (for better compatibility with CD32
    games, AmigaDOS 3.1 is recommended)
-    a SCSI-2 compatible double-speed CD-Rom drive (Some
    games will work on single speed drives, too) or a
    TandemCD/CD1200 from bsc.
-    at least 2 MegaByte of chip memory and 1 MegaByte of 32-
    bit fast memory.
-    an AmigaCD32 game on compact disc.

Backing-Up the CacheCDFS Master Disk

It is always advisable to make a backup copy of your master disk.
Since CacheCDFS is not copy-protected, the Commodore
diskcopy utility will suffice for this purpose. If you are unfamiliar,
consult the AmigaDOS manual for further instructions.
Important: The backup will usually be called "Copy_of_InstallCDFS"
After making the backup, you MUST rename the copy to
"InstallCDFS", otherwise the installation utility will not work with the
copy.
By not installing a copy-protection method on the master disk, we
are relying on your honesty to curb piracy. We ask that you
spread the word about CacheCDFS, not the disk!


Installation

For a painles installation procedure, CacheCDFS utilizes the
Commodore Installer utility.
Important Note: Before starting to install CacheCDFS, your CD-
Rom drive MUST be connected to your Amiga and must be
operational (switched on), otherwise the installation will not work!

A step by step guide through the installation
Important Note: Read this carefully while doing the first time
installation!
Double-click on the Install-CDFS icon to invoke the installation
progress. The Install-CDFS window will appear.
Here you should click Proceed with Install.
Now you are asked for Installation Options. Simply click Proceed.
Now the FindCD program is launched to help you selecting the
correct device and unit for the CD-Rom drive you wish to install.
You may manually select the device driver by clicking its name, or
you may click the Scan gadget. If you click Scan, FindCD will
search for any CD-Rom drive connected to your machine. If
FindCD finds a CD-Rom drive, it will be displayed.
Note for users with more than one CD-Rom drive: If more than one
CD-Rom drive is found, you have to select the one you wish to
install. To select multiple CD-Rom drives or CD-Rom changers, you
simply have to start the Installation utility again and again, until all
of your drives are installed.
After you selected the drive to install, click Use.
Note for TandemCD users: If you are using the Tandem/CD1200
package from bsc, the device driver will now automatically be
updated, if neccessary.
If everything went well, you are now presented with the Filesystem
-> Controller Configuration window. If not, FindCD was not able to
locate your CD-Rom drive. If this is the case, you'll have to check
your hardware installation.
Now you have to configure CacheCDFS to your CD-Rom or SCSI
hostadapter that you are going to use. The installation utility will
present you reasonable defaults that should always work. You
may click on Help to get a detailed explanation about the
different options.
Here are some example configurations:

TandemCD/CD1200:
Use Diskchange Interrupt

A2091/Hardframe:
Use SCSI Direct
Use 24 Bit-DMA

A3000/A4091/FastLane/ALF2/Supra/Emplant/Progressive
Peripherals/Golem/Oktagon500/others:
Use SCSI Direct

ALF3/Oktagon508/Oktagon2008:
Use Diskchange Interrupt

GVP Series2 (with FaaaastRom driver):
Use Diskchange Interrupt
Use Motor off

If you are done, click Proceed.

Now the Installation utility asks you, if you would like the CD-Rom
drive automatically mounted upon bootup. Usually you should
select Yes.
Important Note: If you are not sure if your CD-Rom or hostadaptor
works with CacheCDFS, it would be wise to select No. Otherwise
you might not be able to boot your Amiga, as the machine might
freeze or crash while trying to activate your CD-Rom! If you are in
doubt, select No! After testing the proper operation of
CacheCDFS with your hostadaptor and CD-Rom, you can simply
start the installation utility again and select Yes at this point of the
installation procedure.

Now you are asked which AmigaDOS device name your CD-Rom
should get. The default is CD0. You may insert any valid
AmigaDOS device name, if you like. Be sure that you choose a
unique name. Do not enter trailing colons, eg. enter CD0 and NOT
CD0:!
Note for users with more than one CD-Rom drive: Your CD-Roms
must be named differently, of course!
After you chose the name, click Proceed.
Now you should specify where the installation utility shall place the
CacheCDFS support programs, like the JukeBox audio player or
the CD32-Emulator. It is advised that you create a new drawer for
the CacheCDFS stuff on your harddrive by clicking Make New
Drawer. If you are not running the installation utility for the first
time, you should simply select the drawer created from the last
installation procedure. Than click Proceed.

Should the CDFSprefs utility be installed?
With CDFSprefs you can easily change the operational
parameters of CacheCDFS "on the fly". You really should click Yes.
The CDFSprefs utility is installed in your SYS:Prefs directory, as it is
a classic "Preferences" program!

Should the KillDev utility be installed?
With KillDev you can completely "unmount" a CD-Rom drive after
it has been mounted. This is very handy if you plan to use more
than one CD-Rom filesystem (e.g. the Xetec CDx FileSystem for
CDTV emulation).

Should the FindCD utility be installed?
You already used FindCD during the installation. It is of no real use
for normal operation. However, it might be handy for diagnostic
purposes.

Should the Toshiba_XA utility be installed?
This question will only appear, if you are installing CacheCDFS with
a Toshiba CD-Rom drive. If you select Yes, Toshiba_XA will be
copied to your SYS:WBStartup drawer to be immediately
operational after  a restart. Its purpose is to enable XA-Mode on
Toshiba CD-Rom drives. XA Mode is needed, if you plan to access
Kodak Photo CDs.

Should the JukeBox Audio Player be installed?
JukeBox is a very comfortable Audio Player, written by Franz-Josef
Reichert. Included with CacheCDFS is the freely distributable
version of this wonderful program. The documentation is
accompanied with the program and will be copied, too. An
enhanced version of JukeBox is available directly from the Author.
Please refer to the documentation that comes with it.

Should the CD32-Emulator be installed?
This question will only appear, if you are running
Kickstart/Workbench version 3.0 or better on your machine, as the
CD32-Emulator will not work without it!

Should the Installer utility be installed?
This question will only appear, if you installed the CD32-Emulator.
The CD32-Emulator needs the Installer utility. If you have the
Installer utility already somewhere on your harddisk, you may
select No, otherwise you should select Yes.

Now the installation of CacheCDFS (and the CD32-Emulator) has
been completed.


Using CacheCDFS

Activation

CacheCDFS can be activated in a number of ways depending
upon your version of AmigaDOS and whether you specified that
CacheCDFS be automounted in the Installation utility.

If you have AmigaDOS 2.04 installed on your Amiga, you will need
to use the mount command as follows:
mount <DEVICE> from devs:MountList.<DEVICE>
where <DEVICE> represents the appropriate device name as
specified in the install procedure, usually CD0:.

For example, to manually activate CacheCDFS installed as CD0:,
you would have to enter the following command:
mount CD0: from devs:MountList.CD0
If you chose AutoMount during installation, this command will be
inserted into your s:user-startup file and automatically
executed upon bootup.
With AmigaDOS 2.1 and above, Commodore has introduced the
concept of Storage and DOSDrivers directories. In this case, a file
needs to be created in either the SYS:Storage/DosDrivers
directory or the DEVS:DosDrivers directory. This file will contain
a conventional mountlist, with the mounted device assuming the
filename. All files in the DEVS:DosDrivers directory are
automatically mounted upon startup, while files in the
SYS:Storage/DosDrivers directoy are not. Both directories are
searched when a mount command is issued.

For example, if you want to mount CacheCDFS installed as CD0:,
you would enter the following command:
mount CD0:

Further you can activate CacheCDFS without entering the mount
command from the shell by double clicking the device icon in
either the DEVS:DosDrivers or SYS:Storage/DosDrivers directory.


Use of AmigaDOS Commands

The beauty of a FileSystem is that its operation is totally
transparent to the user. All AmigaDOS commands, such as dir,
copy, list work exactly as if they were executed on a floppy or
hard drive. You may use your favourite directory utilities such as
SID, DirWorks or Directory Opus with CacheCDFS. This can simplify
the traversal of the disc, especially where Macintosh HFS discs are
concerned, as many non-standard characters are present in HFS
filenames.
Due to the read-only nature of CD-Rom discs, it is impossible to
write to the disc. Therefore, AmigaDOS will regard the CD-Rom
disc as a large, write-protected volume. All attempts to write to
the disc will result in a standard "write-protected" requester, which
has to be cancelled.
Using CacheCDFS with Macintosh HFS

The Macintosh HFS file system is a bit tricky to use. Any HFS file
consists of two "forks" - a data and a resource fork. Unlike other
filesystems CacheCDFS will always show you the data and resorce
fork as two different files. To distinguish these two files you may
add an extension to either the resource filename, the data
filename or both with the CDFSprefs program.
Some HFS filenames contain a lot of spaces. This makes typing
their names from the shell a tedious task. The "convert spaces"
option of CDFSprefs will convert spaces in HFS filenames to
underscores.
(See also the chapter "Setting CacheCDFS Preferences")


Theory of Cache Operation

Before continuing, there are a few things about cache
organization that you must know. In order to make cache access
as fast and efficient as possible, the main cache "buffer" must be
organized in a special way. We talk about "lines", "prefetch", "data
buffer" and "minimal direct read".

These values all relate very closely to sector numbers. All devices
that are used to store files on, have sectors. One sector is a tiny bit
of information - in case of a CDROM - 2048  bytes in size.

All devices have a controlling task (a running program) called a
device driver, whos primary task it is to read and write these
sectors.
This might be the scsi.device for an A3000 with a SCSI-CD Rom
drive, or the tandemcd.device for the wonderful TandemCD
package from bsc. If a file system (like CacheCDFS) wishes to
read sectors off a drive, it must politely ask the device driver to
please fetch those sectors, thank you. This device driver is
sometimes called an "Exec" device driver.

The file system is a kind of protocol that describes how data is
organized on the physical device. The CacheCDFS can read
ISO9660, RockRidge and MAC HFS formatted disks.
As the filesystem is a kind of interface between the exec device
driver controlling the hardware and AmigaDOS, it is sometimes
called a "DOS" device driver.
The term "prefetch" is an indication of how many sectors the
cache will read or write for each physical device access. If
prefetch is set to 4, then this means that even if the DOS only asks
for two sectors, four will be read. Since each drive access is a
lengthy and time consuming procedure, much time can be
saved by "guessing" what sectors will be needed next. Since the
best guess is often that "the next sector will be needed next",
prefetching sectors in clusters is indeed a good thing. Keep in
mind that it only takes slightly longer to read four sectors than to
read one. It would take much longer to read four sectors
individually than to read them all in one go.
Furthermore, as the FileSystem really knows how large a file
actually is and how the disc is organized, those guesses have a
very good chance to be correct.

Prefetch, or "read-ahead" if you want, can boost performance a
great deal, providing you set the prefetch value not too big. If
you use too much prefetch it will not help you one bit. In fact, it
will probably work against you, slowing everything down. This is
because the next sector in sequence probably is NOT the next
sector that will be needed, and so the cache will be reading
much more than it should, on each access.

The morale is to use prefetch with some thought. Generally a
prefetch of 2 or 4 gave very good results with ISO9660 formatted
disks.

Moving on to the term "lines". Lines is a means of grouping
together sectors  in "blocks" of a certain length. If a cache buffer
uses 32 sets of lines, this means that the cache can remember up
to 32 different entries, with each entry consisting of 'prefetch'
number of sectors. To illustrate this, consider the following sketch
of a 32 line cache, with a prefetch of 4:

Set number       Line contents

0                [sector][sector][sector][sector] (4*2048=8k)
1                [sector][sector][sector][sector] (4*2048=8k)
2                [sector][sector][sector][sector] (4*2048=8k)
3                [sector][sector][sector][sector] (4*2048=8k)
4                [sector][sector][sector][sector] (4*2048=8k)
etc....
31               [sector][sector][sector][sector] (4*2048=8k)
                                                   32*8k=256k


Each line can hold any four consequtive disk sectors with this
prefetch configuration. If the file system asks for sector number 8,
the cache will read sectors 8, 9, 10 and 11 into one of the lines.
By now it must be obvious that more lines also mean more space
available for sector data, and therefore a higher chance that a
read operation will be able to complete with no or only little
physical disk access. Unfortunately, it also means you have to set
aside more memory for the buffers. A compromise you often
encounter with computers.

A typical cache configuration is a 50-set, cache, with a prefetch
(line size) of 4. The memory required by such a cache buffer will
be:

    50 sets x (4 x 2048 bytes) = 400k bytes

The CacheCDFS has also a special buffer, called "data buffer".
This buffer has always the multiple size of one line.

If the line size is 4, and the data buffer has a size of 4, it is
organized like this:

    [line][line][line][line] (4*4*2048=32k)

If the FileSystem does caching (it does not always, see the term
"direct read" later), it checks the actual file length. In case the file
is longer as the amount actually requested, the rest is read
immediatly into the data buffer, and then copied to the
appropriate cache line (Yes, the technical informed reader will
know this method... it is called "double buffering").
The main difference between the Data Buffer "read ahead" and
the normal "read ahead" is as follows:

The cache lines are always filled (a "classic" read ahead cache),
so even different directory sectors or sectors from different files are
cached. The data buffer is a more "intelligent" special read-
ahead cache line, existing only once and caching only files, if the
filesystem "believes" they are worth it.

So, you can do nice caching even on machines with not much
free memory. Look at this (which is the default setting after first
time installation):

50 sets with a line size of 1 (no "directory" prefetch!), but a data
buffer of 8 (8 sectors "file" prefetch).

50 sets x (1 x 2048 bytes)
= 100k bytes

+ 8 x ( 1 x 2048 bytes) (data cache)
= 116k bytes

This gives pretty good results, even on a machine with not much
memory available.

Now moving to the term "direct read". If you read large files (e.g.
"off the disk animations") it is pretty useless to cache all these
blocks. The file will purge all other sectors out of the cache, even
such blocks like directory entries. To avoid this, you can specify a
"minimum direct read" value. If DOS requests more sectors than
specified here, the filesystem will bypass the cache and the
device driver will copy its data directly into the callers buffer.
If any sectors are already present in cache memory, these will be
used, of course.
Specifying a value of zero (0) will give you a pretty much
sophisticated default. A very high value (e.g. 2000) will only do
requests greater than 4MB directly, what is very unlikely to happen
and the cache will always be used.
Specifying a value smaller or equal to the data buffer size is not
very useful, as you would in fact waste memory.

For best performance, use the default (0).

Before doing direct read, the Memory Type and Memory Mask of
the callers buffer will be checked, if it fits to the device
requirements (specified in the mountlist as BufMemType and
Mask). If it doesn't, the data buffer will be used as a cache.

It's simply not possible to present you with a recipie on how to
create a perfect cache. The range of possible combinations of all
the above values and the memory you which to spend for
caching is simply too vast.
You will have to experiment to find the combination that best suit
your needs.

You can adjust all these values in the filesystem's mountlist entry
using a text editor, but this method is strongly discouraged - using
the CDFSprefs program for this purpose is much easier and secure.



Setting CacheCDFS Preferences

All options for CacheCDFS can be set via an Intuition-based
preferences editor. This will eliminate the need to change cryptic
mountlist entries.
The CDFSprefs program is located in your SYS:Prefs drawer and
can be activated be double-clicking its icon.

Important Note: To edit the preferences for a particular CD-Rom
drive, the drive must be activated (mounted)!

The window of the CDFSprefs program is splitted into 3 sections:
-    The upper half of the window defines overall preferences
-    The lower left part are ISO9660 preferences
-    The lower right part are Macintosh HFS preferences

Simply adjust the values as you like, and click the SAVE gadget.
The changes will be stored in your mountlist entry and the
filesystem will be informed of these changes immediately.
There is no need to reboot to make the changes active!
The USE gadget will perform the changes, but will not store them
in the mountlist entry. This is handy if want to experiment with
different cache settings.

GADGETS

DEVICE:
Select the CDROM, you want to edit. If only one CDROM is
mounted, it will be selected automatically.

BUFFERS:
Same is "Buffers" entry in mountfile. Sets the number of cache lines.
The default is 50.

DATA CACHE:
Same as DC in control entry in mountfile. Sets the size of the Data
Cache. The default is 8. Note that the size of the Data Cache is
defined in "multiples of the Line Cache size".

LINE CACHE:
Same as LC in control entry in mountfile. Sets the size of the Line
Cache (prefetch). Default is 1 - this means that prefetch is off.

MIN DIRECT:
Same as MD in control entry in mountfile. Specifies the amount of
sectors a read request must have to bypass the caching system.
Default is 0 (automatic).

RAM (Read only gadget):
Shows you the total amount of RAM use of your buffer settings in
kBytes.

PRO BITS:
This will specify the protection bits all files on a CD-Rom should
have, as the SetProtection command of AmigaDOS will not
work because of the read-only nature of CD-Rom media.

SCAN FIRST FOR:
Select, if the FileSystem should look first for an ISO9660 or a MAC-
HFS identification on a CD inserted. This is useful, if you have "Dual-
system" discs with both an ISO9660 and a Macintosh HFS
"partition".

SCSI DIRECT:
Same as S in control entry in mountfile. Uses SCSI direct calls
instead of trackdisk like commands. Default has been set by the
Installation utility.

NO CHANGEINT:
Same as NC in control entry in mountfile. If set, CacheCDFS will
not use TD_ADDCHANGEINT and TD_REMCHANGEINT. Default has
been set by the Installation utility.

MOTOR OFF:
Same as M in control entry in mountfile. Will send a TD_MOTOR off
after CMD_READ. Default has been set by the Installation utility.

FILES TO LOWERCASE:
Same as L in control entry in mountfile. All file names will be
converted to lowercase. This option only applies to ISO9660 discs.

VOLUMES TO LOWERCASE:
Same as LV in control entry in mountfile. All Volume names will be
converted to lowercase. This option only applies to ISO9660 discs.

CONVERT FIRST CHAR:
Same as LFC in control entry in mountfile. This option only applies
to ISO9660 discs and specifies the behaviour of FILES TO
LOWERCASE and VOLUMES TO LOWERCASE.
If selected, all characters in names will be converted to
lowercase. If not, the first character will be untouched.

AUTO LOWER
Same as AL in control entry in mountfile.This flag will advise the
FileSystem, that only file and volume names of non-Amiga CDs
should be converted.

CONVERT SPACES:
Same as HCS in control entry in mountfile. This option only applies
to MAC-HFS discs. Will convert spaces in MAC-HFS filenames to
underscores, if selected.

RESOURCE:
Same as HR in control entry in mountfile. This option only applies to
MAC-HFS discs. Defines the name extension of the resource fork of
MAC-HFS files.

DATA:
Same as HD in control entry in mountfile. This option only applies to
MAC-HFS discs. Defines the name extension of the data fork of
MAC-HFS files.

SAVE:
Make changes active, save them to mountfile and exit.

USE:
Make changes active and exit.

CANCEL:
Exit without making changes.


MENUS

ABOUT:
Gives you informations about the CDFSprefs program and the
CacheCDFS in use.

QUIT:
Leaves the program.

RESET TO DEFAULTS:
Get the default presets.

LAST SAVED:
Get the values saved in the mountfile.

RESTORE:
Get the current active values.


Introduction to the CD32-Emulator

The CD32-Emulator is a seperate part of the CacheCDFS
package. If you have at least Kickstart 3.0 and if you have
installed the CD32-Emulator with the Installation utility, you will find
a drawer named "CD32" on your harddrive.

The CD32-Emulator tries to emulate all of the special system
resources that can be found in an Amiga-CD32 game console.
This includes the emulation of the battery backed up RAM for
storing Highscores and the setting of the preferred user language.
Embedded in the CD32-Emulator is a system degrader which will
disable features of your Amiga - like processor caches or fast
memory - to make your machine more "CD32" like, as some badly
programmed games need this. You can control this "degration"
easily from the CD32-Emulator's preference window and save
your preferred settings.

Great effort has been taken to make the CD32-Emulator as
compatible as possible, but the usual restrictions that can be
found with any kind of emulation apply:

We cannot guarantee that all games that work on an Amiga CD32
game console will work with the CD32-Emulator!

The Amiga CD32 has an in-built CDTV emulation. The CD32-
Emulator has NOT!

CDTV titles WILL NOT WORK with the CD32-Emulator, even if they
work with the Amiga CD32 console!


Emulating a PAL/NTSC console

On a PAL Amiga, the CD32-Emulator will emulate a PAL CD32, on
an NTSC Amiga the CD32-Emulator will emulate an NTSC CD32.
You may change the PAL/NTSC state of your Amiga from the
Kickstart Boot Menu. This will change the type of the CD32
emulated (PAL/NTSC), too.

Installing the CD32-Emulator

The CD32-Emulator may be used immediately from your
harddrive. But it is very unlikely that many games will run correctly
if you try this.
The preferred method is to create a dedicated "CD32-Emulator
Boot Disk" and start the emulation from this disk. The "Make CD32
Floppy" utility will create such a disk for you.
Another utility is the "Make HD Startup" utility. It will create a new
Startup-Sequence on your harddisk, that allows you to boot
directly into CD32-Emulation, if you press a function key during
startup. Your originial startup-sequence will be renamed to
"Startup-Sequence.std" and will be executed if you boot without
pressing the dedicated function key. This method is faster than
booting from floppy, but it is advised that only experienced users
try this option. Your original startup-sequence will be changed
and there is the slight possibility that this may lead to problems!

Important Note: The CacheCDFS must already be installed and
the CD-Rom drive you wish to use MUST be mounted! The cache
settings should be set to its default values and SAVEd before
starting the "Make CD32 Floppy" utility!

Double-click the "Make CD32 Floppy" icon and insert an empty
disk into your internal drive (DF0:). The disk doesn't need to be
already formatted as the program allows you to format the disk if
you wish. All data on this disk will be erased!

After the installation is completed you should wait a few seconds
for all disk activity to finish. Now you may reboot your Amiga and
your machine will boot from the created CD32-Emulation disk and
the CD32-Emulator preferences window will appear.


Using the CD32-Emulator

The CD32-Emulator window offers you some detailed control
possibilites of the emulation's behavior.
Two gadgets exist to activate CD32 emulation: Boot and Initialize.
Boot will set up the emulation and will immedialtely start any
Games CD that is inserted in your CD-Rom drive CD0:
Important Note: Clicking Boot is a one-way-ticket! Once the boot
process from a Games CD has been started, there is no way to
resume normal Amiga operations. The only way to back out is to
reset your machine! This is important to know if you have started
the CD32-Emulator from your harddrive!
Initialize will NOT start the Games CD, but will initialize all of the
emulation modules embedded in the CD32-Emulator. Its purpose
is for games that can be started from Workbench.

Important Note:
To get the most fun out of CD32 games, a CD32 game controller is
recommended. Please note that the originial Commodore
controller may not work correctly with an A1200! The Competition
PRO CD32 controller works with the A1200. Both controllers work
with the A4000.
Setting the CD32-Emulator preferences

Gadgets

NoFastmem
Enabling NoFastMem will disable all Fast Memory in your Amiga.
You should only enable this switch, if the game you want to play
requires this. If the graphic and/or sound of a game is corrupted,
try this option.

NoInstCache
This will disable the instruction cache of the processor. This option
should seldom be neccessary. If you encounter that a game is
running too fast, you should try this option.

NoDataCache
This will disable the data cache of the processor. If you encounter
that a game is running too fast, you should try this option.

VectorBase0
This option is only neccessary if you started the game from
Workbench. Some games don't work at all if this option isn't
enabled.

NoVolumeControl
This will disable the attenuation control of the CD32-Emulator. If
the digital audio produced by a game CD cannot be heard or
the game "hangs", try enabling this flag.


Emulate Controller
If this is enabled, the CD32 Game Controller will be emulated with
the Keyboard. You shouldn't select this, if you have a CD32 Game
Controller connected to your Amiga. You may connect a one or
two button joystick and use the keyboard to access the
additional keys. Emulation keys are:
Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 on numeric Keypad and cursor keys:
Joypad direction.
[ and / on numeric keypad: Reverse.
] and * on numeric keypad: Forward.
F1 and F6: Green button.
F2 and F7: Yellow button.
F3, F8 ,SPACE , ENTER and 0 on numeric keypad: Red button.
F4, F9 and DEL on numeric keypad: Blue button.
F5 and F10: Play/Pause button.

Note: It is well possible that some games do not work if controller
emulation is enabled!

Blocks
The CD32-Emulator has a built in prefetch cache. Here you can
set the size of this cache (1 Block equals 2048 Bytes). The optimum
value differs depending on your configuration (Amiga model,
hostadapter, CD-Rom drive). You have to experiment to find a
good value. The rule is: Keep the value as small as possible, but
big enough, that off-the-disk-animations run smoothly. For
TandemCD/CD1200 the optimum value is 4.

Max Volume
Here you can specify the maximum level the CD sound should
have during gameplay.

Language
Here you can select your preferred language for multi-language
games.


Menus

Save Settings
This allows you to save your CD32-Emulator prefences. The settings
are stored as ToolTypes in the program's icon file.

About
Tells you about the version and copyright of the CD32-Emulator.

Quit
Will leave the program.

Game Store - Select Path
Some CD32 games allow you to save highscores or other data in
the battery backed up RAM of the Amiga CD32 game console for
later retrieval.
The CD32-Emulator allows you to save this data to a dedicated
place either on floppy disk or your harddisk.
If you select this menu item, a standard ASL requester will appear.
Choose the directory where you want the CD32-Emulator to save
the data. Every Game saving data will get its own drawer. You
may easily manipulate (copy, delete, etc) files in these drawers
from the Workbench.
Remember: After adjusting your preferred settings, you should
select Save Settings.
You should ONLY degarde your system, if the game you want to
play otherwise refuses to run. Most of the games run fine without
degration.

Some Example settings:

Microcosm:
Pirates Gold:
D-Generation:
Sleepwalker:
Clou:
Frontier - Elite II:
All off.

Pinball Fantasies:
James Pond II - Robocod:
All off, but NoVolumeControl might be required on some
hostadapters.

Diggers:
All off, but the intro sequence will probably run too fast.
For the correct speed of the intro sequence you should select
NoFastmem.

Oscar:
NoFastMem
NoDataCache
VBR0 (only if started from Workbench on 68040 machines)

Running the CD32-Emulator in the Background

You may specify the ToolTypes NoWinInst or NoWinBoot in the
CD32-Emulator's icon file.
NoWinInst will immediately install the CD32-Emulator's modules
without openening its preferences window.
If you wish to have the CD32 Emulation present all the time, you
may specify NoWinInst and place the CD32-Emulator in your
SYS:WBStartUp drawer.
NoWinBoot is very similar, but it will immediately try to boot from
any disc present in CD0:.


Questions & Answers - Troubleshooting

Q: The AmigaCD32 only has 2 MegaByte chip memory. Why do
some games only work on my Amiga 1200 if I add 32-bit-wide fast
memory?
A: CacheCDFS and the CD32-Emulator are loaded from disk.. This
will use the memory a game probably needs. If an Amiga1200
doesn't have fast memory, the CD32-Emulator will be loaded in
chip memory. As chip memory is slower than fast memory the
speed of the emulation will probably be to slow for some games.

Q: A game doesn't run on a plain A1200, but it works if I add fast
memory. But I have to select NoFastMem in the emulator's
preference window! Isn't that weird?
A: No, it isn't. The trick behind NoFastMem of the CD32-Emulator is,
that CacheCDFS and the CD32-Emulator are loaded and
initialized BEFORE the fast memory will be disabled.
This leaves all the chip memory for the game to run.

Q: I have a NEC-SCSI-CD-Rom drive. It works fine with CacheCDFS.
But the CD32-Emulator doesn't work correctly. Why?
A.: CacheCDFS works with any kind of CD-Rom drive, because it
only needs to access plain data. The CD32-Emulator needs to
access Audio playback functions and other more sophisticated
stuff. The SCSI-2 standard defines the methods how this should be
done and the CD32-Emulator uses SCSI-2 commands to talk to the
drive. Only drives conforming to SCSI-2 will work correctly with the
CD32-Emulator. Unfortunately most of the NEC drives do not
comply to SCSI-2 and therefore won't work, sorry.

Q: What drives do work with the CD32-Emulator?
A: All SCSI-2 drives will work, e.g. Toshiba, Sony and Apple drives.
To get full functionality, they should be double speed.

Q: I have a quadruple speed drive. But now all off-the-disk-
animations run to fast! What to do?
A: You must somehow switch the drive to double speed.
Unfortunately the SCSI-2 standard doesn't provide a way to
control the drive's speed, but there might be a vendor unique
command to achieve this. Contact your dealer and ask for a
programmer's reference manual for this drive and send it to us.
Probably we will be able to help. Meanwhile try to "slow things
down". Set the value for "Blocks" to one.

Q: May I use another filesystem with the CD32-Emulator?
A: Please don't. The results are unpredictable.

Q: Why didn't you add CDTV Emulation?
A: Some CDTV Titles don't run with other processors than the
68000. Most CDTV Titles don't work with Kickstart 2.0 or better. A lot
of CDTV titles don't work properly if the AA/AGA chipset is
enabled. The Amiga CD32 has built-in "compatibility hacks", that
make even those titles run on the console. Without these hacks
only a few titles would work, and this is simply not worth the effort.