CD Emu Web Site

CDEMU WEBSITE CLICK HERE

For updated info / status please goto the official site renosite.com. Will keep you posted when updates are available.

CRENO@CSUOBERLIN.COM







CD Emulator Features and Specifications

Concept/Test unit:

USB 2.0 Full-Speed interface
Teens++ development board
40 x 4 LCD screen
4 button control
Hard disk drive for massive ISO storage
Standard fat32 format for easy ISO copying from most OS's
Self Powered through USB
Bootable from systems supporting USB boot



Production unit:

USB 2.0 High-Speed interface
Avr32 atmel soc
4x20 lcd display
4 Button control
SD for ISO MassStorage and Easy swapping
format from within firmware
Standard Fat32 format for easy ISO copying from most OS's
Self Powered through USB
Bootable from systems supporting USB boot

Monday, June 28, 2010

To open source - or - To Not open source

I don't know, would like some input. I really think this needs to be developed - and open to everyone.
There has already been a device realeased to the public for purchase( search iodd ). I'm thinking that selling something new like that would just slow the spread of knowledge - give it away.

New devices or new thoughts patterns should be shared. And being that all of the code used in this project is either created by me or code borrowed from public domain....... Why not share this?

I'm not 100% there yet - it's kinda my baby... I would like some input - Please share your thoughts.

Peace,
CReno

6 comments:

  1. Hey Reno, first of all, either you will go open source or not i will still wait for the neat device you are going to build.

    So here some thoughts from me:

    + Open-source:
    faster and saver development due to the multieye developer team.

    a wider adaption of that technic which will suit everyone's needs.

    always up to date with everyone.

    - Againt open-source:
    no control of the code.

    the chance of getting scrumbeled code if not correctly managed.


    _____________________
    in my opinion it would be worth it to set up an SVN and let the people build what the people want to do. But thats just mine ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That sounds like an interesting idea, SVN - never set one up before. Will look into some sort of online system like that.

    Thanks for the input.
    Curt

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maybe you can post your code to GitHub? That way, people can browse the code easily in a web-browser (and from the command-line) and make whatever changes they want in a private "fork" and you can can pull back in the changes that you think make sense. So it would still be "your baby".

    I don't think releasing the code hurts your product at all since people still will pay for the prepopulated pcb+AVR+LCD boards you've designed. I would definetely buy one, as ISO boot is still the way to go for rescuing most PCs and I think developing live-OSs on FAT32 would make test booting real PC's much faster.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi,

    I'm looking after this kind of device. A USB disk where you can copy ISO files and then switch to a mode where the device act perfectly as a USB DVD-ROM drive with boot possibilities.

    I'm looking at that for OS installation on blade or servers that doesn't have a CD-ROM drive or have a CD-ROM when you need a DVD-ROM drive.

    If you did it I'm really interested. Does it support EJECT commands ? (In some automatic OS installation process you sometimes need to eject the CD-ROM to proceed farther and support of EJECT command would be a good thing).

    Also, even if floppy disks are no more available on hardware, some OS installation process NEEDS a floppy drive. As an example when you want to reinstall a Windows 2000 or Windows XP platform with a SCSI disk controller you MUST insert a floppy with matching drivers, only floppy...)
    So, if you're on the way to create a USB CD-ROM emulator wouldn't eb a good idea to add the USB floppy emulator functionality, based on classical floppy image file format like Winimage ?

    About your device, is it already available ?

    Thanks for your work

    Bruno

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes I have done it, on both 8 bit and 32 bit atmel chips. The current working example is on atmels 32 bit line - needed the high-speed usb thoughput. Eject isn't incorperated - yet. I got a little burnt out a couple of months ago. But eject and floppy support will be added. Your needs are the same as mine, this is exactly what the project was made for.

    I want this to be open source, but first I want to develop a hardware platform, with full SD card support instead of hdd. The hdd storage would be faster on the 32 bit platform but the added power and io strain would make an unreliable gadget. Will get ride of the graphics screen and just use 1 or 2 line lcd.

    Once I have that designed, then I will probable make everything open to everyone - hardware and source.

    ReplyDelete
  6. PS:it just dawned on me, yes it has eject, That was built in early on. when you change cd's it sends though sense sequences the the equivalent of eject and reload of new media. To add a full eject ill just add a routine to just eject- and keep sense request response at not ready/no media.

    ReplyDelete