USER HELP GUIDE
WISH CD-Writer 2009 is a simple program for CD writing and rewriting on Linux and other Unix-type operating systems. It's so simple that it won't even work all by itself. It requires at least Tcl and Tk 8.5, plus three commonly available free programs: "mkisofs" to create CD images, "cdrecord" to blank CD-RWs or write data CDs, and "cdrdao" to write audio CDs. If you want WISH CD-Writer to convert MIDI files to WAV files, which in turn can be converted to tracks on an audio CD, you'll need yet another commonly available free program, "TiMidity++."
Here's how WISH CD-Writer works.
A. NEW DATA CD
1. CD CONTENT LIST
a. Set name of CD content list
b. Add CD content
c. Rename CD content
d. Delete item(s)
e. New CD directory
f. Exclude
g. Show Content; h. Show Exclusions
i. Show Hidden
j. Calculate Size
k-l. Deselect All
m. DONE
n. Cancel
2. CD IMAGE FILE
3. CD IMAGE CREATION OPTIONS
a. Follow symbolic links
b. Calculate image size first
c. Include subdirectories
d. Filename extensions
4. ACTUALLY CREATE CD IMAGE AT LAST
5. CD-WRITING OPTIONS
a. Speed
b. CD Writer Device
c. Buffer underrun protection
d. Dummy write
e. Delete CD image after writing
6. WRITE IMAGE TO CD
B. COPY DATA CD
C. RE-USE CD CONTENT
D. NEW AUDIO CD
1. Make WAV from MIDI
2. Add to Track List
3. Delete from Track List
4. Edit Track Listing
5. Deselect All
6. Update Size
7. DONE
E. BLANK
DISPLAY
HELP
EXIT
Just type wishcd & at the command line, if you don't have a clickable icon or some such thing to run the program. If you're not running as root, make sure you have the necessary permissions to write CDs. The WISH CD-Writer main window will open up quick.
Along the top of the main window, you'll see a row of "radiobuttons" labeled "New Data CD," "Copy Data CD," "Re-use CD Content," "New Audio CD," and "Blank." The main window display will change according to which of these options you select.
A "new" data CD is any CD you record that (1) isn't a copy of another CD, and (2) doesn't have audio tracks that you can listen to on a standard CD player. For example, to back up files on a CD-RW, you want "New Data CD." Also, if you want audio files (to play on your computer with a program such as XMMS, SnackAmp, or WaveSurfer), rather than audio tracks (to play in your car or some such place), you should select "New Data CD."
If you select "New Data CD," there will be a "Create New CD Image" section in the WISH CD-Writer main window. At the top of this will be the "Select CD Content List" sub-section.
Before you can write or rewrite a data CD, you first have to create a file containing an "image" of the content that will go on the CD. (This is the old reliable method; the present version of WISH CD-Writer isn't designed to do any newfangled, high-powered things like writing CDs "on the fly" without having an image all ready to go.) To create a CD image, you need to specify the content that will go into the image. The "Select CD Content List" sub-section contains a list of CD Content List files (or a blank listbox that can be filled with such a list).
If you already have a satisfactory list of the directories and files you want to go on your CD, just click to select it. If you don't, you'll have to add a new one or edit an existing one. If you click either "Add" or "Edit" in the "Select CD Content List" sub-section, you'll see a new window called "Add [or Edit] Data CD Content List." It has a lot of buttons and boxes in it. Here's what they do.
a. Set name of CD content list
If you're creating a new CD content list, enter a name for it on the line at the top of the Content List window--maybe something creative like "Backup 1." Click "Set Name," and WISH CD-Writer will fill in the name of the file that will contain the content list. Click "Change Name," and you'll get a chance to replace it with a better one.
b. Add CD content
Below the space for the name of the list, you'll see lists of existing directories on the left, a "CD Content" list on the right, and a column of buttons in the middle. First, suppose you just want to duplicate the contents of one existing directory on a CD. Select that directory and click "Add Content"; if the directory is called /home/david/music, the CD content entry will be "music=/home/david/music." This means that all the contents of that directory will be copied to the CD--and they'll all be in a directory called "music."
c. Rename CD content
Maybe that isn't what you want; the original "music" directory doesn't contain a directory called "music," and you want only what the original directory does contain to go on the CD. Easy to fix: select the CD content line with the directory name, click "Rename Content," don't enter anything in the box for the new name, and click "Rename" or hit Enter. You'll get a message telling you what will happen; basically, it means the CD content will be just like the original directory content, with the top-level CD directory substituted for the original directory. If this is what you want to happen, click OK; the original directory name, with nothing added, will then appear in the CD Content list. If you've entered something in the box for the new name, it will replace the previous name that appeared before the equals sign.
To add or rename more than one directory or file, hold down the Control key while clicking to select additional individual files, or hold down the Shift key to select a range of files. Then, if you click "Add Content," all the directories or files will be added with names and equals signs; if you click "Rename Content," you'll go through the items one at a time and get a chance to rename each of them.
d. Delete item(s)
Simple: click items, click "Delete Item(s)," and your selected CD content or "exclusions" (see below) will vanish. You won't be asked if you're sure you want to do this. If you decide you do want the deleted items after all, just add them again.
e. New CD directory
If you want a different directory structure on your CD than in the original, you can add new directories and then add content to them. Click "New CD Dir," enter one or more directory names, click "Done" when done, and then double-click or right-click a directory name in the CD Content box. The directory name will be highlighted in green, and the status line at the bottom of the window will say, "Add content to CD directory: [whatever the directory name is]."
Now add some content, and each item will start with the name of the directory you added, e.g., "english/bogomips.txt=/home/david/bogomips.txt." (That's if the directory you added was called "english." As for "bogomips," we won't discuss it.) Repeat the process to use another new directory; right-click or double-click "[Top Level]" to return to the top-level CD directory.
If you try to put content in a CD directory you didn't add, you'll get a friendly error message saying you can't do it. WISH CD-Writer identifies directories you didn't add by seeing whether they have a slash (/) at the beginning or an equals sign (=) anywhere in the name, so it won't let you add a directory that has either of those things. I guess you can add one with a slash in the middle if you want, but why bother?
f. Exclude
To identify content that absolutely must not go on your CD in any event, select the content and click "Exclude." The bright, cheerful-looking "CD Content" box will be replaced by a dark, miserable-looking box entitled "Exclude from CD," with light-colored letters identifying excluded directories and files (unless your "CD Content" box was dark and miserable, in which case the "Exclude from CD" box will be bright and cheerful). If you later try to add some content from an excluded directory, you'll get a message saying you can't include and exclude the same content, and asking which you want to do. If you choose to include any content from an excluded directory, the directory will be taken off the excluded list. Something similar will happen if you first add some content and later try to exclude the directory it came from: you'll have to choose which you want to do.
One file that must be excluded from the content of the CD image, logically enough, is the CD image file itself. (You'd probably get an evil infinite regress or something if you tried to include the image file in its own contents. I don't want to see this happen.) So, the image file always appears in the excluded list, and you'll get a friendly error message if you try to delete it from that list. What's more, just before WISH CD-Writer creates a CD image, it double-checks to make sure the image file is still in the excluded list. If you changed the name of the image file, the new name is the one that will be double-checked.
g. Show Content; h. Show Exclusions
Easy, obvious: click "Show Content" to switch from the "Exclude from CD" list to the "CD Content" list; click "Show Exclusions" to switch the other way.
i. Show Hidden
"Hidden" files on a Unix-type operating system, as you may already know, are simply ones with a dot at the beginning of their names. If you click the checkbox for "Show Hidden," these files will be listed below the "visible" files (the ones with no dot at the beginning). Click again and they'll disappear. Any files you add to your CD content will show up in the CD Content list whether their names start with dots or not.
j. Calculate Size
To find out ahead of time whether your CD content is likely to fit on your CD, click "Calculate Size." You'll get different results depending on whether you've checked "Show Hidden," "Follow symbolic links," and "Include subdirectories" (see below). If a directory or file is visible in the "CD Content" list, it will be included in the calculation whether it starts with a dot or not. If it's not shown in the CD Content list but it's contained in a directory that is, then it won't be included in the calculation (or the CD image) if its name starts with a dot and "Show Hidden" is checked; otherwise, it will.
k-l. Deselect All
If you have a bunch of directories or files selected, the second fastest way to deselect them all is (1) to click one name (which will deselect all but that one), and (2) to Control-click that one name (which will deselect it). The fastest way is to click "Deselect All."
m. DONE
When you think your CD content list is just the way you want it, click "DONE." (If you decide you were wrong, you can edit it; just select the name, click Edit, and you'll get another chance.) If you forgot to give the list a name, WISH CD-Writer will remind you to give it one. Then the "Add [or Edit] Data CD Content List" window will disappear, and the name of the CD content list will be selected in the "Options: New Data CD" window. It will be all ready to use--as soon as you select a name for your CD image file and check a few CD image creation options.
n. Cancel
Go ahead, chicken out. Abandon CD writing in favor of some less valuable pursuit. You can do it. But, if you don't want to escape from the wonderful world of CD creation, don't click "Cancel."
To create a CD image, you need to designate a CD image file. You can either type the name into the "CD Image File" box in the WISH CD-Writer main window, or use the "Pick" button to pick a directory. When you've picked a directory for the image, the filename "IMAGE01" will automatically be added to it. If you don't like "IMAGE01," you can type another name into the entry box. (The file you name doesn't need to exist already; in fact, it's probably better if it doesn't.)
3. CD IMAGE CREATION OPTIONS
a. Follow symbolic links
If any of your CD content consists of symbolic links to files in other locations, the files will be included in the CD image if "Follow symbolic links" is checked; if not, the symbolic links will be ignored.
b. Calculate image size first
If you weren't satisfied when you clicked "Calculate Size" in the CD Content List window, you can calculate the size again just before creating the CD image, and back out if you don't like the answer you get.
c. Include subdirectories
Obvious: If "Include subdirectories" is checked, the contents of all subdirectories under the directories you've specified in the CD content list will be included in the CD image. If it isn't, they won't.
d. Filename extensions
You probably don't want your file names to be limited to a ridiculously short eight characters before the dot and three after, so you'll want "Unix (Rock Ridge) extensions" to let you have longer file names. If you want the longer names to be visible on that other operating system too, you'll need to "add Windows (Joliet) extensions." If you want to know what Rock Ridge and Joliet have to do with long file names, you'll have to ask some geeks in the know, not me.
4. ACTUALLY CREATE CD IMAGE AT LAST
The "Create CD Image" button, at the bottom left corner of the WISH CD-Writer main window, will take the options you've already selected, or the standard (default) options if you haven't selected any different ones, and create a CD image with the content you've specified in the CD content list you've selected. (If you haven't selected one, WISH CD-Writer will ask you to select one.) If the "Calculate image size first" option has been selected, you'll get an estimate of the image size and a choice of whether to create the image or not.
If you go ahead and start to create the image, some alarming-looking geek-speak from the "mkisofs" program may or may not flash by at high speed in the "Program Output" area. If you then start to see messages about percentages of the image that have been created, you should be OK. After the image has been created, you'll get a message telling you how many bytes the image contains. If the image is too big to fit on your CD, you'll have to modify the CD content list so the image will be smaller.
5. CD-WRITING OPTIONS
a. Speed
If you try to exceed the maximum speed specified for your CD-writing drive or your CDs, I don't know what dreadful things may happen, and I don't want to know. If such things happen, don't complain to me about it. :o) Far better to stay within the maximum speeds; this is what the "Speed" spinbox in the "Write New Data CD" section is for. Type in the correct number, or use the little "up" and "down" buttons to make numbers spin past your eyes until you get to the right one.
b. CD Writer Device
i. Linux 2.6
If you're using a version of Linux with at least the 2.6 kernel, you're in luck. You can just enter the standard device name of your CD-writing drive--for example, "/dev/hdh" (without the quotes)--in the "CD Writer Device" box. If you don't know the standard device name, just enter this at the command line:
dmesg | grep CD
This will give you a list of device names for CD drives. Then you need only be able to recognize an expression like "CD-R/RW" in a short list like this:
hdc: SAMSUNG CD-ROM SC-152A, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
hdd: SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-240B, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
Stick "/dev/" on the front of the "hdd" (in this example), and you've got what you need.
ii. Linux 2.4 or other Unix-type system
If you're not using a version of Linux with at least the 2.6 kernel, upgrade to such a version quick. If you don't, you won't be in luck. In that event, you'll need to designate the "bus," "target," and "lun" names for your CD-writing drive. Somewhere in the huge "/dev" directory, you'll find the device name for the CD-writer. With any luck, it will be something pretty obvious like "/dev/cdroms/cdrom1." When you find it, you should see that it's actually a symbolic link to something like this:
../scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/cd
Type the numbers for "bus," "target" ("targ"), and "lun," separated by commas but no spaces, into the "CD Writer Device" box. (This would come out as 0,0,0 in the example above.) While you're at it, take note of the device name for the drive you'll use as the CD reader, too; this will be useful for copying CDs. If you're using a Unix-type system other than Linux, you'll have to consult the documentation for that system to see how to specify the CD writer device.
If your CD-writing drive supports buffer underrun protection ("Burn-Free," "JustLink," or the like), click "Buffer underrun protection" to make use of this feature (which will keep your CDs from suddenly turning into coasters if the data flow is interrupted while writing).
d. Dummy write
If you're not sure about all this and you want to make sure you don't ruin a lot of CDs before you get one to come out right, use "dummy (test) write only." This will do everything just the same as if you were really writing a CD and it will take about as long, only you won't get a written CD out of it because the lasers in the CD-writing drive will be turned off. (You'll still click the button that says "Write New Image to CD," but you'll only get a fake write, not a real write.) If you don't get any error messages from the dummy write, you should probably dare to uncheck the "dummy" option and really write a CD.
e. Delete CD image after writing
If you're not going to use the same CD image more than once, or if you don't have space for a lot of big CD images on your hard drive, you can automatically get rid of the image with "delete CD image after writing." If you don't get rid of it this way, you can delete it manually later.
6. WRITE IMAGE TO CD
When you've got the CD-writing options you want, and you've got an image ready to go, click the "Write Image to CD" button (next to the "Create CD Image" button at the bottom of the window). Additional odd-looking words will probably appear in the Program Output area. You'll supposedly get a countdown of 10 seconds to shut down the writing process before it starts. I strongly recommend ignoring the countdown and just dealing with error messages from the "cdrecord" program if you get any.
If you don't get an error message, you'll see the number of megabytes written getting bigger, followed by a pause for "fixating" the CD after all the data is written. If no disasters have happened, you'll then get a brief but triumphant proclamation from "cdrecord" about the fixating time, "fifo," and other geek-speak. If any disasters have happened, you should get a friendly error message telling you what the disasters were. Don't quit the program or try to open the CD-writing drive until you see "READY TO RUN" appear at the end of the program output!
B. COPY DATA CD
Making a copied image from an ordinary (non-bootable) CD is not too different from making an image for a new data CD from a single source directory on a hard drive. Just insert "/mnt/cdrom" (without the quotes), or whatever is the directory name for the drive that will contain the CD to be copied, in the "CD Reader" box. (It's OK if the CD reader is the same drive as the CD writer; you won't be using it for both purposes at the same time!) You won't need to worry about the image size (assuming you're not trying to copy a CD with greater capacity than the one you'll record on) or about following symbolic links, so those options don't appear. Rock Ridge and Joliet do; you'll probably want to use them. The name of the "CD Image File" can be the same as for a new data CD image, or different if you prefer; just don't use the name of an existing image that hasn't been deleted.
To make a copied image of a bootable CD, you'll need the "device name" for your CD-reading drive. See the simple explanation (above) of how to get the device name to use with the Linux 2.6 kernel, or the less simple explanation for the Linux 2.4 or other system. Click the "Bootable" checkbutton and insert the device name into the "CD Reader" box; then proceed as usual.
Once you've got the copied image, you write the CD in exactly the same way as a new data CD--see above if you have any unanswered questions about that.
C. RE-USE CD CONTENT
If you click the "Re-use CD Content" radiobutton, you'll see buttons labeled "Re-use Data CD Image" and "Re-use Audio CD TOC." If you have a data CD image (see above) or an audio CD TOC file (see below) that you want to re-use for writing another CD, just click the appropriate button, and you'll see either the "Write Data CD" section in the main window (see above again), or the "wish subnotepad" window with audio CD-writing options (see below again).
D. NEW AUDIO CD
OK, now here's a little something for those who aren't satisfied with playing sound files on their computer, and want to use cheap portable CD-players or some such thing instead. :o) My wife asked me to add this feature, so I decided to give it to her for a birthday present after I found out how easy it is to create audio CDs with the "cdrdao" program. (Personally, what with our four kids and all, I think there's already too much audio in our house, not too little.)
If you click "New Audio CD," you'll see a pretty big box with a directory list, a file list, a file size list, several buttons, some empty listboxes labeled "Title," "File," "Size," "Performer," and "Composer," and an entry box labeled "Audio CD Title." Double-click or right-click a directory listing to change directory. When you've found a directory with some audio files you want to turn into tracks on an audio CD, take a look at the buttons.
1. Make WAV from MIDI
MIDI files are good for amateur composers like me, because they're nice and small and simple--but you can't turn them into audio tracks because they only contain commands for producing sounds, not actual digital representations of sounds. The solution is to turn them into WAV files, and then turn the WAV files into audio tracks. If you have TiMidity++ installed, this button will produce a WAV file from a selected MIDI file (which will remain unchanged). You can only make one WAV file at a time; the program output didn't come out right when I tried to make more than one at a time, so I decided it wasn't worth it.
2. Add to Track List
If you've already got some WAV or "raw audio" files, this button will add them to the list of files to be turned into tracks. These you can do more than one at a time; just hold down Control while you click to add a single file, or hold down Shift and click to add all the files between the last selection and the present one.
3. Delete from Track List
You've made a mistake and added some horrid noise, falsely designated as "music," to the track list? No problem; this button will dump it (but only from the track list; don't forget to use a file manager to dump it from your computer.) Control-click and Shift-click work the same as when adding files, so you can dump all the bad noises at once with a single click of this button.
4. Edit Track Listing
When you first add a file to the track list, only the "file" listbox will have anything in it. That's because you haven't edited the track listing yet. Right-click a file name in the track list, or select the file name and click this button, to edit the listing; then you can designate the title, performer, and composer in the entry boxes right below the listbox titles. Press Enter when done, and all this will be added to the list.
5. Deselect All
If any lines remain selected when they shouldn't, this button will fix them.
6. Update Size
When you see "READY TO RUN" at the bottom of the program output, and there are some file names in the track list, you can click this button to see the fize of each file and the total size of all the files. Make sure the total size isn't bigger than the capacity of your CD. If "READY TO RUN" isn't at the bottom of the program output, don't click this button; wait for WISH CD-Writer to finish what it's doing first.
7. DONE
When you've got the track list just right, and you've typed a title for your audio CD into the entry box at the bottom, click "DONE." Will it write your audio CD? No, it will open up yet another window. Why? Well, let me explain.
To write an audio CD with WISH CD-Writer, you don't really need a big window with a lot of lists and buttons in it. All you really need, aside from some WAV or "raw audio" files, is a properly formatted "TOC" (table of contents) file. The "DONE" button will create a TOC file and display it to you in a "wish subnotepad" text editor window.
When you see the file, you'll see that you can easily rearrange tracks, change track titles, or whatnot, just by cutting and pasting text (as long as you cut and paste in the right places). The section for each track starts with "TRACK AUDIO," and there's a blank line before each section; it's also easy to identify the "TITLE," "PERFORMER," and "COMPOSER" lines for each track. Once you've created a TOC file, you can easily use it again or modify it (see the "Re-use CD Content" section above).
The text editor window does have a few buttons and boxes in it, too. Use the "Pick" button to select an existing TOC file, or a file name to modify, if you don't like the one that automatically appears. There will also be a "Driver" box ("generic-mmc" should probably work OK if you're not sure about the name of the driver for your CD-writing drive).
Notice the "Simulate" button. It's very important. My teacup has rested upon what was intended to be an audio CD, which I tried to write at an excessive speed without first seeing whether a simulated write at the excessive speed would work. (It wouldn't have worked, and I would have saved a CD from the coaster heap.) "Simulate" is the same function as the "dummy" write for data CDs, but it's even more important. Why? Because the "cdrdao" documentation (unlike the "cdrecord" documentation) didn't say anything about buffer underrun protection, so I couldn't get buffer underrun protection to work for audio CDs! Also, audio CDs seem to be more finicky about writing speed, for some reason unknown to me. (The "excessive speed" mentioned above was 8x, on a drive designed to write at 40x and a CD designed for at least 16x!)
Here, at last, you'll actually see a "Write Audio CD" button. When everything is ready, your blank CD is in the drive, and your simulated write has worked, press this button. There may appear to be some dawdling and delay; little or nothing may appear to happen for some seconds (on my computer, I tend to get a pause of many seconds at about the 5-megabyte mark); but at last things will probably pick up, and the latest contribution to great recorded music or incessant noise will be produced. When "READY TO RUN" appears again at the end of the program output, the CD will be ready for your listening pleasure or pain.
On the other hand--if you want some peace and quiet, undisturbed by the needless playing of audio CDs--click "Cancel" to bail out before it's too late!
Easiest of all. Before you can write new data to a previously used CD-RW, you need to blank out the old data. Just insert the CD-RW and click the "Blank CD-RW" button. The only option presently offered by WISH CD-Writer is to blank out the whole thing. It's best to do this in advance (and to have some way to remember whether a CD is already blank or not). At 4x speed, it takes about 20 minutes to blank a CD. If you try to blank a CD that isn't rewritable, you should get a friendly error message.
Maybe your favorite colors aren't the same as mine. No problem--click "Display" to make WISH CD-Writer appear in your favorite colors. This button will open up a "WISH Color Picker Plus" box to let you determine what colors will appear in the program's windows. In the box, you'll see sliders to change the proportions of red, green, and blue, and a button to display the color. The sliders go from 0 (none) to 255 (maximum). There's also a listbox containing color names; you can right-click or double left-click to select a color, and then modify it with the sliders if you wish. The "PICK" button displays the selected color, with its name or hexadecimal (base 16) code in black letters if the color is light, or white ones if the color is dark. For example, if you select a color with 255 parts red, 204 parts green, and 153 parts blue, the hexadecimal code (displayed in black letters) will be "FFCC99" because "FF" in hexadecimal numeration means 255, "CC" means 204, and "99" means 153.
To the right of the color names, there's a label that says "CHOOSE COLOR TO CHANGE," followed by a bunch of things you can change the color of (e.g., window background, buttons, boxes, labels, and more). On each line here, there's a radiobutton, then the name of something to change the color of, and finally a little button displaying the current color and name or code of that thing. Click a radiobutton to select a line; then click the big "PICK" button, or a little color button on another line. The color from the button you click will be copied to the color button on the selected line. The change won't show up elsewhere until you click the "Apply Picked Colors" button below the color-name listbox.
Near the bottom left corner of the box, there's a color-scheme listbox with an entry line for adding or changing color-scheme names. Some names of sample color schemes should be in the listbox. (They come from a subdirectory of your home directory, "/home/[you]/.wishes/colorschemes"; the code for each color scheme is kept in a separate, human-readable file.) To apply a color scheme, select it and then click "Apply Color Scheme" (you can also just right-click or double-click the color name). To create a new color scheme, pick the colors for the scheme and click "Apply Picked Colors"; then put a name for the scheme on the entry line and click "Name This Color Scheme" or hit Enter. To revise an existing color scheme, change some colors and enter the scheme name on the entry line (if it isn't already there); then hit Enter or click "Yes" in the box that will ask whether to revise the color scheme. Obviously, click the color-scheme name and "Delete Color Scheme" to delete a color scheme. Finally, click "OK" to save the currently applied colors as your preferred colors, or "Close" to close the color-selection box without saving.
You are here. Click this button any time to review the helpful advice above (if you've already read it), or to read it for the first time (if you haven't).
When you're done, see you later; you can stop writing CDs and get a life. :o) In the event that this doesn't work out well, you can turn to sending me questions and comments about this program (if you think of any good ones) by e-mail.
David McClamrock <mcclamrock@locl.net>
November 2008
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