Trying to use Frying Pan 1.2.3...wasting CDs

Hey guys,

I need to burn a few CDs of data for a exAmigan and thought
I'd give the acclaimed Frying Pan a try.

So I read everything I could find on the website, marvelled
at its pretty interface and figured I'd see how it works...
my PayPal payment was ready to go!

It recognized a blank CD-R in my A1's LiteOn burner, it let
me add a directory of files in the "Tracks" page and presented me
with a "Write" button on the "Write" page. I clicked "Close
Disk" (we are supposed to close disks, right???) and hit
"Write".

Things started whirring, lights lighting and progress bars
progressing... so far so good... After (long) while, a CD
with visibly written tracks popped out.

I resinserted the disk in the A1 and nothing. I stuck the disk
in my Mac, it asked if I wanted to format it. I rebooted the
A1 with the CD in the drive and UBoot said it was an Amiga
formatted disk (huh??!!) and wouldn't boot from my hard dive.

So what's the deal? I found no docs to help me with this -
the "Write" and "Burning Disks" pages on the website are blank.

And the only old docs I could find say the unregistered FP
doesn't burn disks (only test burns them) and yet the "Write"
button was active and the disk had something burned.

Can anyone tell me what the secret is to getting a successful
result from FryingPan?

Thanks,

PJS

@pjs

Quote:

Depends on what you want to do

Easiest way would be to burn a DATA CD, simply go to "Tracks"
page "ISO Builder" and "ADD" everything you need to burn.

On the "Write" page i have "Masterize Disc (DAO)",
"Close Disc" and "Eject after Write" set.

One must not "Blank disc before write" if one uses a CDR,
of course


AUDIO CD from MP3's are as easy but tricky to deal with.
FP only understands one MP3 format, from the top of my head
i think it was MP Layer II, everything else will just create
empty tracks (for now?)

Burning bootable CD's works only with .iso files for me
Go to "Tracks" page and "Data/Audio Tracks" and add the .iso

@pjs

Quote:

Register it. The docs are correct when they say it only writes in test mode. You shouldn't get anything visibly written on the disc, although the drive might acknowledge that the disc has data on it until it re-reads it.

Some drives will fixate for real even in test mode, I don't know whether Frying Pan has a workaround for that (MakeCD just skipped the fixation phase in test mode - there's no reason why it should fail anyway). I suspect your drive test-wrote all the data and then close the disc for real afterwards, hence why you can see data written to it.

edit Oh, and if you are just writing a few CDs and don't want to buy any software, MakeCD is now available for free.

Chris

Well, I tried FP once again... apparently ruined another
CD...

I tried selecting "Masterize Disk" (WTF is that supposed
to mean?) and that made no difference... created another
coaster.

As for the non-registered version only test writing...
I have no idea what to make of that... there is *NO*
control over FP's test writing (contrary to the online
docs)... and it is definately writing to the drive.

I gotta say, it's pretty frustrating with this software is
frying useless disks. And I want to buy some new burning
software, I'd just like to see it work. :-/

FWIW, I did also just try the newly free MasterCD. It
took something like 2hrs to test & burn 500 MBs to a
disk. Not very impressive.

Where is MasterISO when we NEED it?



PJS

@pjs

If you're making a data cd, with files and drawers from your hard drive, you should be using the ISO Builder.. which is the MUI page on the left. ("Data/Audio Tracks" is on the right).

You should use the "Data/Audio tracks" page if you want to create music cds with AIFF/WAV/MP3 files, or if you download an .iso file, and you want to put it on a cd.

P.S. It might be a good idea for you to buy a cdrw disc, so you can play with Frying Pan until it works, and not waste any more discs. In fact, these are handy anyway so theres less waste.

@jahc

Yeah, I've been using the ISO Builder page throughout,
to no avail.

I'm just amazed there isn't more control, configuration
or something available to get this thing working.

Dissappointing.



PJS

@pjs

I have successfully toasted two DVD+R with v1.2.2 just a minute ago, and data was correctly shown on discs, I don't know what can be going wrong with yours...

Anyway, 2 hrs. for MakeCD to test an burn a CD it's too much, I'd say. Are you sure your CDWriter unit is working OK?

Saluditos,

Ferr?n.

@pjs

Quote:

That's the whole point of test mode - the drive just simulates the entire write process but with the laser turned off. Some drives have a different colour LED or flash when they are in test mode. If it is really writing something, it will be the session fixation that some drives do for real in test mode (and will bugger up the disc).

I repeat: you will not be able to write anything with Frying Pan until you register it. If it appears to be writing, then you should find that it will actually write with the registered version.

As jahc said, get yourself a CD-RW while you are playing around to avoid wasting discs.

MakeCD shouldn't take two hours, at slowest speed the maximum will be 80 minutes. Either your drive is broken, misconnected or you didn't set MakeCD up correctly (hint: check settings=>speed and set everything to 0)

What is the make/model of drive?

Chris

@pjs

New data and correction: my two "seem-to-be-right" DVDs are not, files (mainly MP3) are listed but data is not there, it cannot be played, instead they are full of "abadcafe" text



Any hint about what could be causing this?

Saluditos,

Ferr?n.

@pjs

Quote:

Actually, it probably isn't writing to the drive. Test mode is something that CDR/DVDR drives support. The drive will spin up, the LED on the front will flash (or do whatever it does during writing) but the laser is switched off. This means that it looks like it's writing, but it's not.

FryingPan works fine for me on both drives that I have.

Hans

@Ferry

abadcafe means it's reading memory it shouldn't. Probably the TOC is pointing to files that aren't really there (can easily happen if writing fails and the session still gets closed - you are using the registered version of Frying Pan, aren't you?)

@Ferry

1.2.2 of FP is faulty, I've gone back to 1.2, and no problems.
Haven't tried 1.2.3 yet, as I wasted to many CD-R's with 1.2.2.

Cheers,
Tim

@pjs

First, regarding MakeCD... I did check the settings... looks as though
it didn't do so well with "0" (max speed) set. I changed it to "8"
drammatically improved burn speed. This may have to do with the fact
that I don't have my A1's transfer speeds maxed-out (trying to max-out
reliability).

As for the drive, it's a LiteOn LTR-52246S CD burning drive (52x 24x 52x
speeds). I've had it from the outset, used it with MakeCD as well as the
OS4's own burn facilities consistently. With MakeCD, the "test burn"
function has consistently worked.

So I have my doubts it's the drive... somehow FryingPan doesn't appear to
be using Test mode.

re: FryingPan's Test Mode - the online docs refer to a mythical set of
buttons that are supposed to be in the interface to enable/disable Test
mode. They are *not* present in v.1.2.3. While damn pretty, a lot is
not as it is in the documentation. Maybe the ommissions have something
to do with the failures?

At this rate, I can't say that I'm terribly excited about registering
to see it "enable writing"... It already **IS** writing and failing at
doing so.

Ferry, sorry about the problem with your burns... Not even getting a regular
CD to burn, I doubt I have any insight.

Thanks,

PJS

@pjs

T_Bone was right, v 1.2.2 is faulty, burning same files with v1.2.3 seems to work fine again.

Saluditos,

Ferr?n.