Re: [linuxdc-dev]Burning bootable CD

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* edd...@wa... <edd...@wa...> on Wed, Mar 20, 2002:

>=20
> And what do you call the areas "bootstrap 1" and "bootstrap 2"? Standard=
=20
> boot code? No way! As MC says:
> "...this code can be modified. The default implementation sets up a few=
=20
> hardware registers and then transfers control to Bootstrap 2. ... Like=20
> Bootstrap 1, it can be modified. The default implementation sets up the=
=20
> CPU stack, the VBR, disables the cache, and transfers control to the=20
> 1ST_READ.BIN."
>=20

I never said it was standard or that the bootstrap code couldn't be
modified.  But what does the above have to do with the original discussion
about pairing IP.BIN and 1ST_READ.BIN?

> As far as I can understand, there is a *default* implementation, not a=20
> *standard* one. I believe (from my own experiments) that games using=20
> different APIs (as in Sega opposed to WinCE) use different IP.BIN, but=20
> that should not be taken as proved.
>=20

Right, because you're wrong.  WinCE games use the same bootstraps as
non-WinCE games.  There is a replacement IP.BIN on www.boob.co.uk that
replaces the Sega bootstraps with non-Sega (OSS) code, but since the
license screen can't be removed it's pretty much moot (unless it does
something spectacular that the Sega bootstraps don't).

>=20
> Having a boot sector in the beginning of the second track, and not of=20
> the CD, is not a common thing. Therefore, most CD authoring software=20
> don't do it correctly, which leads to weird manipulations. We're not=20
> talking odd hardware problems, we're talking general use of software. If=
=20
> it was so straightforward, it would'nt be so long and complicated to=20
> burn such a CD.
>=20

Any CD authoring software worth its salt doesn't care what tracks you burn
to a CD, or what order you burn them in.  You burn track 1 as audio, and
leave the session open.  You burn track 2 as mode 2 form 1 (CD-XA) and close
the session.  What software is unable to do that?

The boot sector is irrelevant as it's inserted by a 3rd-party program (at
least under Windows sans Cygwin it is, under Linux you can use cat and dd).
The boot sector is embedded in the first 16 sectors of the CD image, and no
CD authoring software that I'm aware of cares about or otherwise utilizes t=
his
data.

Furthermore, there have been countless tutorials, guides, and scripts that
show you how to generate valid DC CD boot images.  Even if you are inept
enough not to be able to follow those, do you mean to tell me that you
can't burn the countless homebrew demos and games that are already provided
in a burnable image?

> Moreover, do you really believe that Sega would sell a console with no=20
> media protection? As advertised in one of their presentations, this=20
> implementation provides some sort of protection for the non-literate=20
> people, unable with standard software (at the time) to do a perfect copy.
>=20

Windows CD authoring programs were designed for non-literate people, as are
the guides that demonstrate creating a bootable CD.  The only protection
afforded by the GD-ROM media was that it was proprietary, and once that
limitation was overcome there were no other protections.  Sega did a
presentation on how hard it was to pirate via CDRs?  Or were you referring
to the GD-ROM format?

M. R.