Yamaha CDR400t Specifications download pdf (Page 7)

software. As most CD−writers can be used to read CD−ROMs, too, you may want to read the Linux

CD−ROM HOWTO, the Linux SCSI HOWTO and the Linux Kernel HOWTO.

1.4 Terminology ... lasers at maximum ... fire!

CD−ROM stands for Compact Disc Read Only Memory, a storage medium utilizing an optical laser to sense

microscopic pits on a colorful shimmering disk. The pits represent the bits of the information and are so

petite that some billions of them fit on the disc. Thus a CD is a mass−storage medium.

The term CD−R is a short form of CD−ROM recordable and refers to a CD that doesn't have those

microscopic pits on its surface. Thus it is empty. The CD−R has a special chemical film inside into which pits

can be burned. This is done by giving the laser which normally just senses the pits a little bit more power so it

burns the pits. This action can only be taken once on a CD−R. You can leave out some areas for later writing,

creating a so called multi−session CD.

The CD−ROM rewritable (short: CD−RW) was developed to work around the limitation of CD−R media.

With a CD−RW burner the laser can do both, burn pits into the media and also melt the media back into its

original state. This is possible, because the laser does not really burn holes into the media, which would get

lost in a puff of smoke. A decent analogy for the technique is an ice−hockey game: by driving over the ice, a

players (laser) leave scratches in it. The pattern in the ice (media) is a recording of what happened on the ice

during one round. In between the periods of the game, the Zamboni cleaning car drives over the ice and fills

the scratches by melting the very top layer of the ice. (Zamboni is the brand name for cleaning cars in

ice−hockey stadiums). This way the pattern on the ice is cleared and a new round can begin. The scientific

term for evaporating, condensing, melting and freezing is "phase change", thus the name "phase change

devices" for CD−RW−writers.

This HOWTO deals with the task of writing CD−Rs and CD−RWs. Welcome on board, captain.

Adaptor vs. Adapter

The the most frequent spelling within the kernel sources is adapter (adapter: 4283, adaptor: 154). Even more

important, the parameters of module options and aliases are naturally affected, like in "scsi_hostadapter". So

in order to achieve a consistent spelling throughout configuration examples and document text, I follow that

convention regardless of the correct spelling.

1.5 Supported CD−writers

USB CD−writers are currently not supported at all. Apart from that you can safely assume that most newer

IDE/ATAPI− and SCSI−writers work under Linux. Newer drives are mostly MMC−compliant and are

therefore supported. If the SCSI−version of a particular writer works, the IDE/ATAPI−version will most

likely work and vice versa. However, some people want to get a warm and fuzzy feeling by reading the exact

model of their writer in some sort of compatibility list. That is the reason why I didn't throw the following list

CD−Writing HOWTO

1.4 Terminology ... lasers at maximum ... fire! 4

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Yamaha CDR400t Specifications Page 7