KisoCD KisoCD
Version 0.5.7

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3. Usage

Well, there is not so much to say about this program...just open kfm and drag files/dirs onto the right window. When dropping them you can choose between some modes of how they should appear on the cd. The best way is to try it, you see the result at once. What you drop is put into the place of the tree which is selected in the left window.
That was the short form ;-)

If you can not use a kfm to drop files onto KisoCD you can try a very simple "file manager" (view|simple file manager). Instead of using drag'n'drop you select the file you want to drop and hit the button "transfer highlighted". The rest is the same....

3.1 Adding files and directories

Drag them from kfm into the rightmost window of KisoCD. 
When you drop them, you get a menu:
  1. only the file(s)
  2. in new directory
  3. with directory (only when dropping directories)
Here you can choose where they should be included on the cd. Well, actually it's hard for me to explain it....try all of them!

The item "CD" appears in the "directories"-box after the first drop.

Let's assume you dragged the file "kisocd-0.3pre2.tar.gz" into the right window as your first action, choose "in new directory" and typed "linux/packages" as directory. Then those directories are created and the file is put into "/linux/packages". 
Then you can, for example, choose "/linux" in the middle window and do the next drop. Choosing "only the file(s)" on a file would put the file into "/linux", on a directory it would put the files in the directory and its subdirs into "/linux".
Well, there are some possibilities, as I already mentoined it's best to try all of them so you get to know what you can do....
It is only important to know that the place at which the include starts is selected in the "directories"-box.
There is a new feature which makes things easier: create new directories without filling them at once using "virtual CD|new directory..".

The menu is slighty different when dropping several files/directories at once. 

3.2 Checking the size

At the bottom there is a progress-bar showing how much of the cd (650MB) is used. The bar is green as long as your contents fit on the CD...
But do not rely on this bar! It only counts the size of the files, not the size of directories and additional entries due to some filesystem-options! Before burning the CD you have to run "single step|simulate image creation", which tells you the real size!!!!!!

Furthermore there is no limitation to 650MB-CDs, you can make your images larger, if your cd-writer is able to do that--simply don't care --about the red color of the progress-bar. 

Underneath the progress-bar there are some labels telling you the size of the selected directory, of the selected directory with subdirs included and of the selected file. 

3.3 Undo addings, excluding ("deleting") files and directories

The "Edit..."-button on the main-window lets you delete assignments you have made (in the left part of the window) and exclude files/directories by using the right part. Here you can also drop files and directories.

3.4 Making traycards

There is a "cdDoc"-menu which lets you easily create a simple traycard for your CD. Its not very pretty, but does its job...you need to have LaTeX installed and some of its packages (now you also get a file which contains the same output for kover. But this file is only produced with "create from current view", it is not saved with the other things!). At the moment it is not a good idea to view the output with kdvi, as it does not display everything...however, xdvi is not able to rotate text...but it will be printed the right way.

The traycard is a LaTeX-document which you can edit via "cdDoc|Edit...". 

When you put your CD together simply run "cdDoc|create from current view".  Every toplevel-directory will be a "description-item" and if it has subdirectories and you made them visible before calling the creation the are automatically appended. 
You can view the ouput with "cdDoc|view...", of course. 

3.5 Saving and loading projects

You can save/load your project with "file|open.../save/save as....", of course.
All the settings you made (files on the CD, options, cdDoc) are saved in one file. When you first start KisoCD it creates a folder in your home-directory where everything is stored.

3.6 ...and finally burning the CD....

Before you burn the cd you should check its size with "single step|Simulate image creation".  After mkisofs is run (without writing an image) you are shown its output, then you get a message with the size which was computed from mkisofs' output (when mkisofs finished, it tells you "Total extents scheduled to be written = (a number)". Divide this number by 512 and you have the size of your CD in megabytes...if it differs a lot from what KisoCD told you, you have probably found a bug...(I experienced differences of 1..2 MB using "Rockridge", I don't know how it differs if you use other filesystem/extensions)).

To burn the cd you choose "single step|Create Shellscript" (and before that "single step|Create Image" if you do not want to burn on-the-fly). The file cdScript.sh is created in ~/KisoCD, you just have to execute it. I did it as a "paranoia-option"...you do not need to have a window-manager running to burn CDs....but you can also burn it at once with "single step|Burn CD now!" (KisoCD will execute cdScript.sh for you and show you the output).

Well, actually that was the difficult way to do it. Just hit "File|Burn CD" if you want to do it somewhat easier.

3.7 Options

The option-dialogs are divided into three parts:
  1. system: Options which concern your system (the device you burn the cds with, buffer sizes, paths and so on).
  2. cdDoc: The paths to certain programs you want to use for making traycards.
  3. cd: Here you set the options which only concern the one cd you are currently editing. 
I think most of the options should be quite clear, so I'll explain only some of them.
3.7.1 system
  • writing device (name of its special file; only for multisession): when you write a multisession cd you need to read the cds contents, if it is not the first session. Here you have to give the name of the special file which corresponds to your writing device(like /dev/sr0 or /dev/scd0).
  • writing from imagefile: when you want to create an imagefile before burning the cd (when writing multisession cds this is a must) KisoCD has to know where to save the image. So please give a filename using the browse...-button.
  • Where to mount images: The mountpoint to be used for the image if you use single step|mount and view image.
3.7.2 cdDoc
Here you only give the path or names of the executables to the programms for translating/viewing/editing/printing latex-files. Usually the defaults should be ok.
3.7.3 cd
  • basics|dummy write should be clear, but is VERY important. If you try some new things (fifo-size, new hardware, writing-speed, ...) you should "burn" one CD with dummy write enabled. This means the burning process will only be a test. Everything is done like "in real life" but the laser is not turned on. So you can see how your system performs without loosing a CD.
  • bootable cd is maybe somewhat different to what you expect it as you know other frontends. KisoCD only wants to know where the bootable image currently is to be found on your harddisk. You don't have to copy it somewhere, this is done automatically. Please also read  the next section. 
If you want to know more about some of those options it would be best to read the manpages for mkisofs and cdrecord.

3.8 Bootable CDs

BE WARNED: I have not tested making bootable CDs thoroughly. The interaction between KisoCD and mkisofs seems to be ok as far as this is concerned, as well as the tests I make in the shell scripts to prevent you from burning a cd when something is not OK. BUT THERE IS NO GUARANTEE! Until now (22.7.1999) I just tried to make one bootable CD which seems to fail because of a bad CD or something. On some systems it starts booting and decompressing the kernel before halting, on others nothing happens. I wanted to release this version nevertheless, I think you don't have to wait until I make the next try (which will possibly fail again as it's gonna be the same type of cd).
Making bootable CDs with KisoCD is easier than with other programs: you don't have to care about paths for the bootimage and the boot-catalogue, the only thing KisoCD wants to know is where the bootimage can be found on your hard-disk. Before creating the image it will copy the boot-image to a new directory, and delete those things afterwards.

The most important point when making a bootable CD is the bootable image. Here is what man mkisofs says about the image: 

The boot image must be exactly the size of either a  1.2,  1.44,  or  a  2.88  meg floppy,  and mkisofs will use this size when creating the output iso9660 filesystem.  It  is  assumed that  the first 512 byte sector should be read from the boot image (it is essentially emulating a  normal floppy drive).  This will work, for example, if the boot image is a LILO based boot floppy.
The BootDisk-HOWTO tells you how to make a bootable CD. A very good thing to use for bootable images is yard .
Remember to call "single step|Simulate image creation" before you burn the CD. This will also tell you if mkisofs has problems with the bootable image you chose.

3.9 settings for multi-users-systems

If you have multiple users sharing the same hardware it might be good to set some options which the users can't change, for example the burning-device, paths, writing speed and so on. 
Also it could be useful not to  show the users every option and possibility KisoCD has (hiding menus), for example if it would confuse them or ..whatever. 
I included one very special option, too (one user asked for it): using it one can give the user a simpler drag'n'drop which is less powerful but won't be confusing.
All that can be done by the super-user editing a global configuration file called kisocdrc which has to reside in share/config/ in the kde-directory, /etc/defaults/ or /usr/local/etc/defaults/. You find an example file in the source directory of the kisocd-distribution, it also includes a description of the simple syntax. 
You can have special settings for only one user and for a group of users too. On startup the program first looks for a section which is called like the users user-id. If that can't be found a section called like the users group-id is looked up. If this does not exist, too, KisoCD does not make restrictions. 

I don't plan to write a GUI-dialog for editing this file. If someone wants to do that, contact me, it will be included.
Also I will not set KisoCD to uid root or expect cdrecord to be this way. If you are someone who administrates a system with multiple users I'd like to hear your opinion about which way is best and if KisoCD lacks functions concerning this. 

3.10 Multisession CDs

For the creation of multisession cds you have to do some special things:
  1. Go to options|cd|type of cd and select multisession cd.
  2. Tell KisoCD wether it is the first session on the cd, one in the middle or the last.
  3. Make sure you have given a vaild directory and filename at options|system|devices, directories, ...|writing from imagefile. There the imagefile (at least for all sessions but the first) and and a temporary directory will be created. However, you have to give a filename.
When you make one of the sessions after the first, the following points are important:
  • You have to create an image. Burning on-the-fly is not possible.
  • When creating the image, the cd with the previous sessions has to be accesible through your writing device named via its special file name at options|system|writing device (name of its special file; only for multisession).
  • You can't include symbolic links as symbolic links. Depending on the choice you made at options|filesystem they are not included at all or they are followed.

3.11 Burning CDs as normal user

You have to set cdrecord suid root (of course you need to be root to do that):
chmod 4711 /usr/bin/cdrecord
If your cdrecord is not in /usr/bin, you can find its path using which cdrecord.
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