Play CD Freeware v1.0b2 March 17, 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a BETA version! As such, it will probably have bugs, one of which may include crashing your machine. Play CD does not access your hard drive or anything like that, so any problems you may encounter should not be serious. Save any important work before trying this out! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- changes from v1.0b1 - Added support for Apple CDSC drive (Sony internals). Probably added support for other Sony drives as well. Also displays the ID string returned from drive, as an aid for debugging. About Play CD is a IIGS Classic Desk Accessory (CDA) that will play your audio CDs from ProDOS 8 or any non-desktop application. No more returning to a desktop application just to use the Media Controller to start playing your CD! What It Does Install Play CD into your SYSTEM/DESK.ACCS folder on your startup volume. Restart your computer and you should have a new item named Play CD in the Desk Accessories menu. If you have an audio CD in your CDROM drive, you may choose this item and your CD should start playing. Press to exit the Play CD screen, and you should be all set to listen to your favorite music! NOTE: Play CD does only what it says; it PLAYS a CD. It will not stop the playing, jump to another track, or anything other than playing your CD from the beginning. More features may be put in later, but no promises are being made. System Requirements You must have a IIGS with enough free memory to load Play CD. You must also have a RamFAST SCSI card and, of course, a CDROM drive. Play CD will NOT work with an Apple SCSI card. If your CDROM drive worked with one of the Media Controller RamFAST drivers (RF.CD150, RF.NEC, RF.SCSI2, or RF.Texel), you should be all set. Please remember that you must boot GS/OS to load the CDA, before you enter ProDOS 8. What If Nothing Happens? Or Worse? Play CD has worked with most systems so far. It has been tested with a few drives, including NEC, SCSI2, and Apple CDSC. Apple CD150 and Texel drives SHOULD work, but without testing, I won't promise anything. Here's a list of problems you may have: 1. Play CD says it can't find my RamFAST card. Do you really have a RamFAST SCSI card? If so, let me know what kind of a setup you have; the ROM revision of your RamFAST, drives attached, etc. 2. Play CD says it can't find a CDROM drive. Is your drive attached and powered up? Try inserting an audio CD if you haven't already. Check your RamFAST configuration, and if all else fails, let me know what type of drive you have. 3. Play CD reports an error when I try to play a CD I just inserted. You should wait a few seconds after inserting a CD into your drive before trying to play it. It takes a little while for the RamFAST and the drive to figure out what you put in. Make sure you have inserted an AUDIO CD. 4. Play CD crashes when there is no CD is the drive. Let me know what drive ID is reported, and the brand and model name of the drive. 5. Play CD won't play my CD again after it finishes. Eject the CD and re-insert it. Wait a couple of seconds and try again. Once again, let me know what drive ID is reported, and I'll see what I can do. 6. Play CD won't PLAY! If nothing good ever happens when you try to use Play CD, let me know and I'll see if I can fix it. Let me know exactly what the ID string for your drive is. Currently, Play CD handles drives with ID strings of APPLE, SONY, TEXEL, ShinaKen, NEC, plus all SCSI2 drives (I hope). Credits and Contact Information Play CD is based on the RamFAST Media Control drivers by Sequential Systems, and was written in C and assembly. I used ORCA/C and ORCA/M, so this program contains material from the ORCA Run-Time Libraries, copyright 1987-1996 by Byte Works, Inc. Thanks to Kirk and Doug for giving me the idea for the CDA! I'm really busy with my REAL job, but feel free to E-mail me with any problems you have with Play CD. I'll try to fix them when I have time. Enjoy! Aaron Pulver E-mail: apulver@delphi.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apple II Forever!